DRYMEN and DISTRICT LOCAL HISTORY SOCIETY

The Millennium Project

One aim of the Society is to carry out research on topics relevant to the history of Drymen and district and to prepare reports to be included in the archive established in Drymen library.

Following the launch of the Open University's "Histories for the Millennium" scheme the Society's committee agreed that the Society would aim to prepare a series of occasional papers. Once the research had been undertaken, and the papers prepared, copies would be lodged in Drymen Library and given to the Open University's "Histories for the Millennium" scheme. The style of these occasional papers would be similar to those already completed by one of our members, Jim Leiper, and the length would be some 2,000 to 3,000 words. In the long term, if funding were available, a more ambitious publishing programme for them might be possible.

A number of topics were linked with members who had shown an interest in researching them or had already begun research. The initial aim was to produce 7 papers but such was the enthusiasm that eleven papers were prepared and most exceeded the proposed length!

As work progressed on these projects funding was obtained from the "Awards for All" scheme from the UK lottery. This has enabled the work to be professionally published as the Society's contribution to the Millennium celebrations.

The eleven papers are :-

1. "A Millennium Account of Drymen District, A General History" written by Jim Leiper;
2. "Drymen Parish Church" written by Walter Hemfrey.
3. "Tales from a Country Churchyard, Drymen 2000, The Artisan, The Minister and The Laird,1-Chance Encounters" written by Walter Hemfrey.
4. "Tales from a Country Churchyard, Drymen 2000, The Artisan, The Minister and The Laird, 2-Finis" (The story of the Maclachlans of Auchentroig) written by Walter Hemfrey.
5. "A Millennium Account of Drymen District, Early Rural Industry: Gartness" written by Jim Leiper.
6. "The Story of Gateside House, The People who have Lived and Worked There" written by Jean Bowman.
7. "The Govanes of Drumquhassle" written by Jim Leiper.
8. "Buchanan Parish, The Land and The People 1700 - 1850" written by Jenny Oswald.
9. "Eric Liddell's Strathendrick Forebears" written by Carol Hemfrey
10. "A Community in Wartime: Drymen, Croftamie and Buchanan in the Second World War" written by Alison Brown
11. "A Selection of Renowned Residents of Drymen" written by Carol Hemfrey.

The papers were printed individually but a compendium of all eleven papers in A4 format has now been produced and is available at £9 per copy from Jim Leiper, at meetings, or from Drymen Library. This compendium has proved popular and is now in its second re-print. A small number of some of the original papers are also available, at £1 each, but these are not being re-printed.

Later Publications

Since the completion of the original project further papers have been produced from time to time. These are all available for purchase from Drymen Library, at meetings of the Society, or from Jim Leiper ( 01360 660497 ). The papers are :-

• "Drymen and District by Road" which describes the development of road transport in the area. By John Mitchell. (£2 ).
• "The Rise and Decline of the Railway in Drymen and District" charting the history of the Forth & Clyde Junction Railway. By John Mitchell. (£2)
• "From East Lomondside to the Clyde: A Short History of Local Travel and Transportation by Water" describing commercial water traffic in the area. By John Mitchell. (£2)
• "Buchanan Castle, The Military Years 1939-1948". This paper, running to 48 pages, gives the history of the Military Hospital set up at Buchanan Castle in World War II. By Clair Calder. (£9)
• "Eleven Large Houses of the Lennox". This is a reworking of the author's out-of-print booklets on local houses with an additional house included. By Jim Leiper. (£4)
• "The History of Croftamie School 1907 - 2007" written by Ailsa Stirling with contributions from Kitty McWilliam and Annie Miller. (£4)
• "Drymen & District's Postal Service: the First Hundred Years". By John Mitchell. (£3).
• "Contributions Towards the History of Drymen and District: No. 1.". Contributions by several authors. (£4).
  This publication is a compilation of short articles, based on the work of members, which add significantly to the history of Drymen and District but which are not suitable for individual publication. The articles are :-
  
  1. "Blarnarisk Corn Mill and Hydro-Electric Plant" writted by Jim Leiper.
  2. "The Reverend John Roy, M.A." written by Carol Hemfrey.
  3. "Fresh air Fortnights at Montrose Home, Balmaha for the Poor Children of Glasgow" written by Jenny Cronin.
  4. "Drymen Tank Trap in World War II" written by Jim Leiper (with the aid of material provided by George Gilfillan).
  5. "A Brief History of Willow Cottage, Gartness Road, Drymen" written by Margaret Mark.
  6. "The Strathendrick and County Yeomanry in the Early 19th Century" written by John Mitchell.
  7. "The Listed Buildings of Drymen Parish" written by Walter Hemfrey.
• "The Fourth Statistical Account of Drymen: Fifty years of change in a Stirlingshire rural parish" written by John Mitchell (£4).
• "The Poems of Sam Henry, The Drymen Poet". Sam Henry was an amateur poet who was born around 1854 and died in 1909. He lived most of his life in Drymen and had some of his poems published in the Stirling Saturday Observer. Mary Bruce and Jenny Riddle collected his known poems together in 2000 but they were unable to publish the work. The society re-worked their compilation and published these collected poems in 2017.


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