Strathblane residents turned out in force to celebrate the centenary of a venerable local institution: the Edmonstone Hall.
In 1926 the Stirling Observer described its opening as “a red-letter day in the Blane Valley” and remarked on the large crowd that assembled to witness Gwendolyn Edmonstone (“the pretty young mistress of the mansion”) perform the opening ceremony.
There was a similar scene on the afternoon of 9 May as her son, 91-year-old Sir Archibald Edmonstone, was on hand to launch the hall’s 100th birthday proceedings with bunting, bagpipes and generous quantities of cake. Sir Archie and Lady Julie were welcomed on arrival by the management committee and a performance by members of Strathendrick Pipe Band. He then shared memories of his mother, who donated the hall to the community, and cut a one-hundredth birthday cake bearing an image of the hall to launch proceedings.
At the 1926 opening, Mrs Edmonstone was presented with a golden key bearing the family’s coat of arms. A century later Sir Archie was presented with an original copy of the February 1923 edition of Country Life that carried news of the engagement of his parents and featured his mother on the front cover.
The centenary tea party was accompanied by an illustrated exhibition from Strathblane Heritage Society about the history of the hall and its many and various users. See Edmonstone Hall
Gwendolyn Mary Field, born in 1902, was an American heiress. Her grandfather was Marshall Field, the famous Chicago department store millionaire. In 1923 she married Charles Edmonstone, who had become heir to the Duntreath Estate, based near Blanefield, following the death of his elder brother William during the First World War.
As the architect made clear at the opening, she not only helped to design the hall (as well as paying for it) but chose and supplied all the furniture and fittings, including a piano. Though the main hall was heated with radiators, elsewhere there were open fires and the place was lit with petrol lamps.
The hall was built by local contractor Daniel Muir, who was also responsible for Strathblane’s Village Club and a number of houses on Blanefield’s Glasgow Road.
The Observer refrained from mentioning the bill for the hall on the basis that “it is not considered good manners to pry into the cost of anybody’s gift”. Less discreet publications quoted the price as being around £3,000, a very considerable sum at the time.
The Observer’s 1926 coverage expressed the wish that the Edmonstone Hall would be “a boon to the people of the district”. So it has proved. The second part of the exhibition records some of the many uses to which the hall has been put over the years.
Rob Davies, Chair of the Edmonstone Hall Management Committee said: “The huge turnout for our centenary – in excess of 100 people- was a fitting tribute to how well loved and used the building is by so many residents and others. It was a great honour and privilege to have Sir Archie Edmonstone there, along with Lady Julie, to cut the cake and say a few words about his mother, Gwendolyn, who so generously provided the funds for its construction 100 years ago.”