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 origianl papers are also available, at £1 each, but these are not being re-printed.

Since the completion of the original project five further papers have been produced. these are :-

• "Drymen and District by Road" written by John Mitchell.
• "The Rise and Decline of the Railway in Drymen and District" written by John Mitchell.
• "From East Lomondside to the Clyde: A Short History of Local Travel and Transportation by Water"written by Jon Mitchell.
• "Buchanan Castle, The Military Years 1939-1948" written by Clair Calder.
• "Eleven Large Houses of the Lennox" written by Jim Leiper.

Copies of these five papers are available for purchase for £2 per copy (£4 for the Buchanan Castle and Large Houses papers) from Jim Leiper (01360 660497) or at meetings. They are also available in Drymen Library.