Extracts from The Campsies and the Land of Lennox by Iain C Lees, describing walks around Strathblane. (Blackie & Sons, Glasgow, 1933) Secrets of the Campsie Fells The rich valley of the Blane, which can be traced to its junction with Strathendrick, is the finest...
Extract from A New Kind of Life by Helen Lillie (Argyll Publishing, 1999) The older people living in the Blane Valley between the wars usually had unmarried daughters at home. And these middle class, middle-aged women spent their days taking care of their mothers'...
Extract from A New Kind of Life by Helen Lillie (Argyll Publishing, 1999) When they were first married, my parents lived on Cecil Street in the West End of Glasgow which I know my mother hated. I remember nothing of that period because as soon as she could, she...
Every now and then at Strathblane Heritage, a true gem falls into our laps that lights up a facet of local history at risk of being lost forever. While the Carbeth Hutters are rightly famous and celebrated, few today remember a parallel but quite separate movement...
On 2 May 1919 the people of Strathblane gathered to honour a local hero. They presented an inscribed gold watch to local gamekeeper James Norval Paul “in recognition of his gallantry”. Around 115,000 non-commissioned men who fought in the First World War were...
For various reasons, a number of men from the parish fell in the First World War yet are not commemorated on the War Memorial. These men are also therefore only briefly mentioned in "A Village Remembers", a book about the men commemorated on Strathblane War Memorial...
Families of some of the men on the memorial A Village Remembers (pdf)Download Contents Foreword by the Wright family Introduction by Anne Balfour (nee Johnstone) Jack Barr, inventor’s son Robert Blair, gardener James Cartwright, joiner William Cartwright, storeman...
The Strathblane Notebooks Life in a Stirlingshire Village before the First World WarBy Alex Urquhart edited by Anne Balfour Quotation from the headstone of Alex Urquhart's parents in Strathblane Cemetery Alex Urquhart (1894-1978) Strathblane Heritage Society...
In response to suggestions from several friends I have sought to give a picture of life in the village during the period 1900-1910, during the whole of which time I was resident in it. It is not intended to be what is generally known as a "history." I wish to...
The applications for poor relief often survive as a separate series. Between 1845 and 1865 the information they contain is not much less than that in the registers of poor, but they are considerably less detailed than the general registers of poor introduced in 1865. For example, the application forms will not include the religious denomination, and probably there will be no details about dependants or other relatives. They will, however, contain far more entries per year than the registers, partly because of multiple applications from individual paupers, but also because they include the ‘casual poor’, that is, those relieved by the inspector without a decision by the board and therefore not on the poor roll.
The main source of early historical information about the area is John Guthrie Smith's book "The Parish of Strathblane and its Inhabitants from Early Times". This weighty tome was published in 1886 and contains vast amounts of information and is available to refer to...
Groome’s Gazetteer of Scotland offers a snapshot of Strathblane in 1884 at which point the valley contained “an ex-quisite assemblage of mansions, lakes, woods, and luxuriant corn fields”, according to the author. The huge printworks, employing hundreds of men, women and children, living in cramped tenements and cottages, receives only a passing mention.
This poem was first printed in the Lennox Herald on 10 September 1881 and was “inscribed to AP Coubrough Esq, Blanefield Printworks”. McAuslane was clearly a friend of the Coubroughs, who owned the Printworks. It may be intended to voice the thoughts of Anthony Park...
The poet Thomas Thorpe was born on 9 March, 1829 in Milton, Dunbartonshire, son of a block printer at the local works. When he was five, he moved with his family to Strathblane. One of his earliest childhood memories was being with his sisters in a wood where wild...
Hugh MacDonald was a Scottish journalist, poet and author from Glasgow. He wrote for the newspaper the Glasgow Citizen for many years under the pen name ‘Caleb’. He is best known for his book Rambles Round Glasgow, published in 1854 by Thomas Murray and Son.
The second Statistical Account (or NSA) was initiated by the Sons and Daughters of the Clergy in 1832 and published by Blackwoods and Sons. The first edition, which took the form of 52 quarterly parts, was published between March 1834 and October 1845. A re-issue in 33 county volumes was published between 1841 and 1845. A second re-issue, in 1845, took the form of 15 collected county volumes. The Statistical Accounts of Scotland online service hold digitised versions of the second re-issue.
The Reverend Dr William Hamilton was the minister of Strathblane from 1809 until his death in 1835. In 1836 a memoir of his life and work was published by his son, Rev James Hamilton. (The Life and Remains of the Late Rev. William Hamilton, Minister of Strathblane:...
Ray's Gazetteer, published in 1803, describes the parish of Strathblane in pre-industrial times, stressing the beauty of the Blane Valley with its spectacular views towards the Trossachs. Several errors are worth noting: it is not bounded by the Grampians and the...
A tax on farm horses was imposed in Scotland in 1797 to raise money to support the army and navy during the French Revolutionary Wars. In Strathblane inspectors counted 92 horses, of which 66 were eligible for the tax.
The first Statistical Account (or OSA) was initiated by Sir John Sinclair and published by William Creech of Edinburgh. It took several years to obtain all the reports and, rather than waiting until he had the complete set in his possession, Sinclair issued volumes as and when there was sufficient content: this means that the reports are not arranged by county or region.
This tax roll lists landowners and tenants liable for a 14 shilling tax on each hearth in their property, as well as six parish paupers who were exempt
In 1988 the Reverend Alex Fleming, who was then the parish minister of Strathblane Church, commissioned Dr Perry Harrison to write an illustrated pamphlet describing the seven coats of arms that are displayed in the church. Dr Harrison was a senior elder, as well as...