INDEX
Ballagan
Blane Valley Burns Club
Blane Valley Railway
Blanefield Printworks
Blanefield Smithy
Britons: Strathblane and the Britons, AD 400 to 1100
Children’s Home Hospital (1903-1994)
Dumbrock Mills and Bleachfields
Duntreath and the Edmonstones
Edenkill/Edenkiln
Edmonstone Hall
Farming
Free Church
Jenny Brash
Mugdock
Netherton/Blanefield
Romans and Picts Around Strathblane
School (1716 – 1966)
Shops
Slavery
Slavery and the Abolitionists
St Kessog’s Roman Catholic Church
Village Activities
Water
Whisky
World War One
World War Two – Strathblane Seven
World War Two – The Home Front
Blanefield Printworks
Block printing is the printing of patterns on fabrics using a carved block, usually made from wood. It originated in India around the 5th century BC but did not arrive in Scotland until the late 17th century. It later developed into a technique using rollers or cylinders, opening the possibility of printing several colours simultaneously.…
Duntreath and the Edmonstones
Originally thought to have been of Flemish stock, the Edmonstone family are said to have come to Scotland in the train of Princess Margaret who became the Queen of Malcolm Canmore III (1031-1093) and first settled in Midlothian. The line of ‘Edmonstone of Duntreath’ descends from a cadet (younger) son of the Edmonstones of Culloden…
Edenkill/Edenkiln
Edenkill (now Edenkiln) occupied the heart of the community we now call Strathblane and was one of the three villages that comprised the parish, along with Netherton (Blanefield) and Mugdock. Edenkill dates back to the 13th century and the name means “a place sloping towards the church”. There was a market every Friday and two…
Free Church
John Guthrie Smith records that the neat little church and manse belonging to the Free Church stands on the site of the old village of Netherton and the first ordained minister was the Rev George Rennie. Early records indicate that by 1864 there was a sufficient number of members and adherents to merit discussion of…
Netherton/Blanefield
“Nothing is now left of Old Netherton save the smithy and the school-house, and its very name seems likely to perish, for the factory originally called Blane Printfield has expanded to such ample proportions, and covered its environs with so many workers’ houses that the whole of Netherton and neighbourhood with its post-office and railway…
Parish Church (1216-1982)
“The church is a beautiful building of modern Gothic, reared in 1803.” Rev Hamilton Buchanan, Second Statistical Account of the Parish of Strathblane, 1841. Early History The parish of Strathblane is more than 800 years old. The “parochia de Strathblachane” is first mentioned in a document defining the boundaries of the parish of Campsie. Though…
Slavery
Introduction How is Strathblane linked to Black slavery? More than we might think. First some context. Two key dates: 1807, the abolition of the transatlantic trade in enslaved people and 1833, the abolition of slavery itself throughout the British Empire. In the past 25 years or so, academics such as Dr Stephen Mullen of Glasgow…
Slavery and the Abolitionists
Introduction How do we remember our past? A common response to the stories of Strathblane’s links to the institution of Black slavery is that our ancestors saw the world differently, a world in which racial stereotypes were deeply embedded, and it is not for us to judge them. The perspectives presented on this website on…
World War One
Boer War Of 1899-1902 One of the famous battles of this war was the Relief of Mafeking, which was marked by a bonfire in a field near Napier Lodge. The school children were also given a half-day’s holiday to commemorate the Peace of Pretoria and an exceptional holiday on the 2nd June 1902 to celebrate…
World War Two – The Home Front
Introduction During the Second World War Strathblane, in common with many other villages, was organised into areas to respond in case of enemy attack. Villagers were encouraged to attend the various Auxiliary Fire Service demonstrations and to “man the pumps”! With many of the men away fighting, women were quite often involved in these activities…
