railway

Historic Environment Scotland – The Archives

Historic Environment Scotland – The Archives

A Treasure Trove of Scottish Resources Kirkhouse Inn and Farm and the Blane Valley Railway crossing the A81. July 1952. National Collection of Aerial Photography If you didn’t know your SCRAN from your NCAP, or your Canmore from your HES…….then you sure will now if...

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Blanefield Thistle

Blanefield Thistle

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...

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Strathblane Lawn Tennis Club

Strathblane Lawn Tennis Club

On a pleasant summer’s evening back in the late 1990s, Strathblane Lawn Tennis Club president Professor David Hole and a fellow-player headed to Dunblane for a doubles match in the Lawn Tennis Association’s Central Scotland league. Their cheery mood was enhanced when...

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Ballewan

Ballewan

BALLEWAN Painting of Ballewan House, often known as The Ha', by Connie Simmers BALZEOUN Ballewan is an estate in the Blane Valley that was carved out of the earldom of Lennox. For two centuries it belonged largely to the Craig family, culminating in Milliken Craig...

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Shops

Shops

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....

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Duntreath and the Edmonstones

Duntreath and the Edmonstones

A Brief History of Duntreath Castle and the Edmonstone FamilyBy Juliet Edmonstone 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...

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Missing Men – John Douglas Walker

Missing Men – John Douglas Walker

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...

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Missing Men – Edward & Harry Miller-Stirling

Missing Men – Edward & Harry Miller-Stirling

Edward Bradshaw Miller-Stirling, Lt Black Watch, aged 26. Harry James Graham Miller-Stirling, Lt Nigeria Regiment, aged 31. Edward and Harry Miller-Stirling are commemorated together on a large headstone in the family plot at Strathblane Cemetery but lie in solitary...

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Missing Men – James McKenzie

Missing Men – James McKenzie

James McKenzie, Private Royal Lancashire Fusiliers, aged 19. James McKenzie’s family was long established in Strathblane. His father, also James, worked at the waterworks and lived at Dumbrock. His mother Margaret Kennedy, though born in Busby came from an Irish...

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Missing Men – John Kennedy

Missing Men – John Kennedy

John Kennedy, Private Royal Scots Fusiliers, aged 32 Several of the men of Strathblane who died in the First World War left behind children so young that they may never even have held them in their arms.Private John McCulloch of the Argyll & Sutherland...

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Missing Men – Andrew Fitzpatrick

Missing Men – Andrew Fitzpatrick

Andrew Fitzpatrick, Quartermaster Sergeant Scottish Rifles, aged 37. Of all the First World War casualties with local connections and who do not feature on Strathblane War Memorial, the case of Quartermaster Sergeant Andrew Fitzpatrick is the most puzzling. Though...

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STRATHBLANE WW1 PROJECT: 27 JOHN DILLON

STRATHBLANE WW1 PROJECT: 27 JOHN DILLON

STRATHBLANE WW1 PROJECT: 27 JOHN DILLON, PRIVATE ROYAL ARMY MEDICAL CORPS, AGED 24. John's CWGC gravestone in France with a poignant inscription from his family Colonel Otto Elsner with "A" Section of 129th Field Ambulance "somewhere in Flanders" As Elsner names John...

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STRATHBLANE WW1 PROJECT: 24 FERGUSON THOMSON

STRATHBLANE WW1 PROJECT: 24 FERGUSON THOMSON

STRATHBLANE FIRST WORLD WAR PROJECT: 24 FERGUSON THOMSON, PRIVATE, SCOTS GUARDS, AGED 22. Private Fergie Thomson The Thomson family assembled en masse, probably for the wedding of Annie (back row, second from left) in September 1906. Fergie, aged ten (front row,...

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STRATHBLANE WW1 PROJECT: 21 JAMES ROBB

STRATHBLANE WW1 PROJECT: 21 JAMES ROBB

STRATHBLANE FIRST WORLD WAR PROJECT: 21 JAMES ROBB, TROOPER, LIFE GUARDS (HOUSEHOLD BATTALION), AGED 21. Household Battalion “Having gone into this action 498 men strong, the Household Battalion suffered 348 casualties. 13 officers were also hit. The majority of these...

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STRATHBLANE WW1 PROJECT: 18 WILLIAM PATERSON

STRATHBLANE WW1 PROJECT: 18 WILLIAM PATERSON

STRATHBLANE FIRST WORLD WAR PROJECT: 18 WILLIAM PATERSON, PRIVATE ARGYLL & SUTHERLAND HIGHLANDERS, AGED 27. Above: Williams attestation papers from November 22 1915, when the family was staying in Balfron Memorial to the 51st Highland Division with Gaelic...

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STRATHBLANE WW1 PROJECT: 14 DONALD MCINTYRE

STRATHBLANE WW1 PROJECT: 14 DONALD MCINTYRE

STRATHBLANE FIRST WORLD WAR PROJECT: 14 DONALD MCINTYRE, TROOPER LOVAT SCOUTS, AGED 23. The Blairquhosh Meikle Tree and Donald's childhood home Report of Donald's death in the Southern Reporter. Floors Castle where Donald worked as a gardener. “Both as a civilian and...

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STRATHBLANE WW1 PROJECT: 9 ALEXANDER LOWE

STRATHBLANE WW1 PROJECT: 9 ALEXANDER LOWE

STRATHBLANE WORLD WAR 1 PROJECT: 9 ALEXANDER LOWE, SAPPER ROYAL ENGINEERS, AGED 25 Alex Lowe's grave Steam train on the Somme 1918 with men ofthe Railway Operating Division Effie Lowe (MOBE) in her QMAAC uniform The lodge at Parklea (now Blanefield House) where Alex...

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STRATHBLANE WW1 PROJECT: 5 WILLIAM DEVLYN

STRATHBLANE WW1 PROJECT: 5 WILLIAM DEVLYN

STRATHBLANE FIRST WORLD WAR PROJECT: 5 WILLIAM DEVLYN, PRIVATE HIGHLAND LIGHT INFANTRY, AGED 22. Private William Devlyn, Highland Light Infantry, aged 22 Burnside, Station Road, Blanefield, home of William's mother, Jessie The Mons Star Diary extract from William...

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Edenkill/Edenkiln

Edenkill/Edenkiln

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...

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Netherton/Blanefield

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...

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Blane Valley Railway

Blane Valley Railway

RAILWAY MANIA By 8.30 on the morning of Monday 1 July 1867 an excited crowd had gathered in Blanefield near the bottom of the Cuilt Brae to greet the community’s first passenger train. Britain was in the grip of railway mania. The 1861 Blane Valley Railway Act...

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World War Two

World War Two

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...

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Water

Water

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...

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Blanefield Printworks

Blanefield Printworks

The Printworks (from John Guthrie Smith 1886. Photograph by John Coubrough) 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...

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Free Church

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...

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Farming

Farming

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...

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Ballagan

Ballagan

Ballagan House by Frederick Alsop, 1884, from The Parish of Strathblane by John Guthrie Smith, 1886 Strathblane Valley has a long history and Ballagan has been part of it since early times. When a cairn on the estate was opened, a cist containing ashes and a piece of...

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This Is Our Parish 1957 -1958 by Harry & Helen Arnold

This Is Our Parish 1957 -1958 by Harry & Helen Arnold

This Is Our Parish 1957 -1958 is based on footage taken by Harry and Helen Arnold during this period. It is three parts. The first is a comprehensive view of life in the Parish focussing on all aspects, from the road sweepers to the trades people and the doctor, the...

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The Campsies and the Land of Lennox by Iain C Lees (1933)

The Campsies and the Land of Lennox by Iain C Lees (1933)

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...

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Missing Men

Missing Men

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...

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A Village Remembers: Strathblane First World War Project

A Village Remembers: Strathblane First World War Project

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...

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