Strathblane Heritage Trail Walkabout

News

On Friday 17 October 2025, Strathblane Heritage committee members, Keith Vass and Anne and Alastair Balfour, plus drone photographer Jamie Ballantine met with Kenny French of Kenwil Ltd, the Kirkintilloch-based company awarded the contract to produce the boards for our Strathblane Heritage Trail.

Jamie Ballantine, Anne Balfour, Keith Vass and Kenny French of Kenwil Ltd walking the proposed route of the Strathblane Heritage Trail. Photograph by Alastair Balfour.

We walked around the two-mile circuit, starting and ending at Strathblane Parish Church. With the funding package now in place, the next step is to decide on the exact locations for the six boards, which will be designed to complement the existing Railway Path sign on the Gary Wright Way.

Kenny, who has 25 years experience and produces signs and noticeboards for locations throughout Scotland, shared his expertise and made lots of helpful suggestions. Next we will move on to creating the text, selecting eye-catching illustrations and devising maps to aid navigation around the site. QR codes on the boards will link to this website for those who would like more in-depth information. The boards should be in place by spring 2026. Drone footage by Jamie Ballantine will be used to publicise the trail and enable visitors to this website to take a “virtual tour”.

The six locations are as follows:

  1. Strathblane Parish Church. Introduction, plus the histories of the Parish Church and the Kirkhouse Inn.
  2. The Village Club. Histories of the Bowling Club, the Tennis Courts and the Village Club itself.
  3. Foot of Campsie Dene Road. This will cover the Loch Katrine water pipeline, St Kessog’s RC Church and Strathblane War Memorial.
  4. Station Road/Blane Avenue. The story of the Printworks.
  5. The corner of the Wildlife Sanctuary beside the entrance to the horses’ field. The Bleachfields and the playing field.
  6. Old Mugdock Road/Dumbrock Road. Edenkiln.

If there are any aspects of local history that you would like to see included, please email the website or speak to a member of the committee.

More

Discovering John Dillon

When Strathblane War Memorial was unveiled in 1921, it had 25 names inscribed across three panels, with nine on each of the first two panels and seven on the third. Later two more names were added, filling up the third panel: Philip Binnie, a lieutenant in the...

Strathblane Primary School Printmaking Project

As part of the launch of the Strathblane Heritage Trail in May, children in the primary school have created their own printed artworks. The project included all eight classes in the school working with Blanefield resident Jane Parfitt on a range of printmaking...

Daniel Davidson: his name liveth for evermore

Like many other war memorials, the one in Strathblane carries the quotation from the Book of Ecclesiastes: “Their name liveth for evermore”. But in 2025, when members of Strathblane Heritage decided to research the lives of the local men who died in the Second World...

Strathblane Heritage Trail: A Community Steps Back in Time

A Celtic saint, a royal mistress, an American heiress and eight-year-olds working twelve hours a day for two shillings a week. All feature in the new Strathblane Heritage Trail, launched on 17 May. The two-mile trail has been created by Strathblane Heritage Society....

Edmonstone Hall Centenary Celebrations

The Edmonstone Hall decked out for the centenary tea party on 9 May 2026 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...

Edmonstone Hall: Gwendolyn’s Gift

Gwendolyn Edmonstone As the Edmonstone Hall marks its centenary in 2026, here is a short piece about the young heiress who came up with the idea of donating a community hall to Strathblane, which had lost so many of its young men in the First World War, including her...