Blanefield’s charming art gallery is housed in a smithy that is thought to be around 300 years old, though its exact age is unknown. It is certainly one of the very oldest surviving buildings in the parish of Strathblane. It appears on John Grassom’s map of the area...
A Distillation of Whisky-Making in the Blane Valley As long as there have been humans, there has been alcohol. Production of wine and beer has been dated back 7,000-odd years in Central Asia, according to archaeologists. But the origins of whisky distilling, at...
Memoir Summer Knickers – a Scottish Wartime Childhood by Sarah Paton Wiseman A chance conversation at a party in January 2024 was behind the latest great addition to the Reminiscences section of Strathblane Heritage. That’s how co-chair Anne Balfour heard about an...
A true tale of footballing fortunes. Your recently-formed village football club obtains the priceless opportunity to play one of the nearby city’s leading clubs after a good first run in the Scottish Cup against rival local teams. As this is likely to provide...
The club’s own painting of Robert Burns, by local artist Norrie Barclay. Itself a copy of the famous Alexander Nasmyth portrait (above), mysteriously disappeared in the mid-1990s. (National Portrait Gallery) Picture the scene: a snowy January evening at the...
Local Shops Over the years a surprising number of people have run shops in the community. Some have lasted longer than others, but all have been memorable in their own way. The fortunes of retailers have waxed and waned with the general fortunes of the community....
In July 2023 we posted on the local Strathblanefield FACEBOOK group asking people to share their memories of the old school. Here are some of the responses: It’s so nice to create a bit of history about the old school. I was only there my first two years of school...
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Stained Glass panel from Maryhill Burgh Halls showing bleachfield workers The abundance of water meant that bleaching and water-driven industries were commonplace in the parish in the 18th century and lasted well into the 19th century. By 1870 most of them had closed...
May 19-22 2023 Back in the summer of 2022 we received an email, out of the blue, from Derwyn in the Canadian town of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, asking for help in arranging a research visit to Strathblane to study the history and heritage of his great-great-uncle – the...
John Douglas Walker, Gunner Royal Garrison Artillery, aged 36 It is easy to imagine the wife and children of Gunner John Douglas Walker celebrating the news of the Armistice of 1918 and joyfully anticipating his return to Blanefield from the Front. It was a Monday...
James McLean Love, Private Seaforth Highlanders, aged 43. James spent a year fighting for his country and the next 11 fighting for his life, after being caught in the first German chlorine gas attack of the war.He died of chronic nephritis in February 1927, too late...
By Dr Murray Cook As every patriotic Scot knows, the Romans tried and failed to conquer Scotland…the only nation in Europe to resist the might of the Eagles. Unfortunately, this is not really true. The Romans didn’t really try. They just gave up: the cost of...
Mugdock Village Mugdock was at one time the most important place in the Parish of Strathblane. It was "The Towne and Burgh of Mugdock" and the "head Burgh of the Regalitie of Montrose” with a “weekly mercat ilk fryday and two free faires yearlie", granted by a 1661...
STRATHBLANE WW1 PROJECT: 25 ERIC FERNANDEZ YARROW, LIEUTENANT ARGYLL & SUTHERLAND HIGHLANDERS, AGED 20. In 1914 Eric could have avoided war service but it wasn't his style. Here, writing soon after war was declared, he begs his father to allow him to "jion (sic),...
STRATHBLANE WORLD WAR 1: 23 MICHAEL STEWART, PRIVATE KING’S LIVERPOOL REGIMENT, AGED 29. The glasshouses at Dinneiddwg, the mansion in Mugdock where Michael worked as second gardener Michael joined Lowland Division Cycle Corps but was soon transferred to the Army...
STRATHBLANE WW1 PROJECT: 22 ARCHIBALD (ARCHIE) LAMONT SCOTT, PRIVATE MACHINE GUN CORPS, AGED 27. Machine Gun Corps Archie Scott The Machine Gun Corps Memorial at Hyde Park Corner.The boy David is flanked by real Vickers machine guns encased in bronze. “He was a fine...
STRATHBLANE FIRST WORLD WAR PROJECT: 20 ROBERT RIGG, CORPORAL GORDON HIGHLANDERS, AGED 21. Robert Rigg's grave In the early 20th century, well-heeled families in the Strathblane area began swapping their horse drawn carriages for motor cars. Some of those, including...
STRATHBLANE WW1 Project: 8 WILLIAM KER LIEUTENANT HAWKE BATTALION ROYAL NAVAL DIVISION, AGED 24. William Ker William Ker RND 1916 Christmas Card “I crossed the blood red ribbon, that once was no man’s land, I saw a misty daybreak and a creeping minute-hand; And here...
STRATHBLANE WW1 PROJECT: 1 JOHN YOUNG BARR, LIEUTENANT ARGYLL & SUTHERLAND HIGHLANDERS, AGED 23. Lieut. Barr, Killed April 25, 1915, St Julien. Eric Yarrow's letter of condolence to Jack Barr's sister Morag, May 7 1915, in which he compares the shattered landscape...
According to John Guthrie Smith’s history of Strathblane, “the compact little estate of Carbeth Guthrie” was constructed between 1808 and 1817 by West Indies merchant John Guthrie. Guthrie was a prominent member of Glasgow’s “Sugar Aristocracy”. He had managed an...
View from Old Mugdock Road, where a lone cyclist contemplates the grandeur of the Campsies. 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...
6. Netherton cottages including Sunnyside 9. The "Noo Hooses" today The white building in the foreground is Sunnyside which was demolished by a landmine in March 1941 killing four people. During the Second World War Strathblane, in common with many other villages, was...
Local Workmen with the Water BoardLeft to right : Tom McCulloch, Jimmy Baxter, Tommy Miller, David Getty , John Harkins The Glasgow Water Supply The Blane Valley is the final stage of what justifiably can be called one of the greatest civil engineering achievements of...
“The church is a beautiful building of modern Gothic, reared in 1803.” Rev Hamilton Buchanan, Second Statistical Account of the Parish of Strathblane, 1841. Strathblane Church, 1897 (Photograph courtesy of Angus Graham) Early History The parish of Strathblane is more...
Blane Valley from the Cuilt Brae Until the mid-20th century farming was very much an integral part of the life of the parish of Strathblane. The school log contains frequent references to children skipping school to help with the harvest. The Blanefield printworks...
Helen Lillie produced historical novels, Home to Strathblane in 1993 and Strathblane & Away in 1996.
The parish of Strathblane, some twenty square miles in size, lies in the south-west corner of Stirlingshire. It was at one time part of the county of Dunbarton and as an ecclesiastical parish is still part of Dunbarton Presbytery. It is a very beautiful district. The...
Early Days I was not born in the village but in Salisbury House, Campsie Glen. My dad was a native of Strathblane, being born in Milndavie House. My mum was born at Little Gala near Biggar but came to Ballagan Farm when her father took over the tenancy there in about...
A delightful memoir of a small girl’s life in Strathblane in the 1940s & 50s
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...
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...
Containing a particular and concise description of the counties, parishes, islands, cities, etc. With an account of the political constitution. Illustrated with an elegant map. F. Ray for W. Chalmers, 1803....