Drymen Heritage Trail

Take a walk back in time and discover Drymen’s fascinating history, brought to life with short podcasts. Listen through headphones and play the audio below to experience ‘life as it was’ in the village throughout the centuries, recorded by village residents.

1) Winnock Hotel, Drymen Square

The Winnock houses what was originally a terrace of four separate buildings (early to mid 19th century) mostly residential but incorporating an ‘ale-house’ in the centre.

The ale-house evolved into an Inn by the 1850s and then in the 1930s the renamed Tearooms and Restaurant expanded into the last two end residential properties: retired butcher McEwan’s “Ivy House” which became the hotel’s Ptarmigan Bar and the house of the village Nuseryman, John Mason, now part of the formal restaurant. Further extensions have been added at the side and rear.

2) Winnock Court - Former Market Site

In 1850 the Drymen Annual Auction Fair moved location from Shandon Muir (up past the primary school) to the village square. The sale of cattle, sheep and horses, together with the hiring of farm servants, continued until the early 1900s. Livestock was banned from the square in 1932.

At the turn of the 20th century independent auctioneers were employed replacing the practice of local bargaining. The Auctioneer‘s wide experience enabled them to better judge the market value of a beast.

3) Ashbank, Old Gartmore Road – Former residence of Eric Liddle 

Ashbank was home for a short time (from 1907/8) to Scottish rugby player, athlete and Olympic hero Eric Liddell, whose performance in the 1924 Olympics inspired the film “Chariots of Fire”.

Ashbank was built in 1898 on ground feued from the Clachan for the publican’s daughter. She rented out rooms and the Liddell family stayed here when on furlough from missionary work in China.

The extension once housed a watchmaker’s workshop, a painter’s workshop and a garage for the mountain rescue service.

4) Riskhead, Old Balmaha Road

Risk Head is the oldest surviving croft house in the village, the oldest part of which is thought to date back to at least 1770. The croft originally had a garden area and a small rear field for a cow or two, and the obligatory haystack.

5) School of Industry, 1 Main Street

Formally ‘Drymen School of Industry’ - the site was gifted by the Duke of Montrose - the building is now a private residence.

Schools of Industry were set up to provide a network of Parish Schools throughout Scotland in the 18th Century.  These were open to both girls and boys where reading, religious education, writing and arithmetic were taught, as well as manual tasks such as spinning, weaving, knitting, gardening and carpentry. 

Not to be confused with Industrial schools which were set up in 1866 intended to care for abandoned and neglected children – to prevent them from becoming involved in crime and to teach them a trade.

6) Village Hall, 3 Main Street - Former reading rooms and library

The Village Hall was built in 1910 but only started being used as a village hall in the 1960s.

It was originally constructed as the Village Reading Rooms and Library. 

The ‘Drymen Recreation Club’ was housed upstairs and run as a separate entity until quite recently. Extensions and refurbishments have kept the building up to date and the hall is well used by the community.

7) The Clachan Inn, The Square

The Clachan is thought to be Scotland’s oldest licenced pub, established in 1734. The first landlady was Mistress Gow, purported to be Rob Roy’s (possibly younger) sister.

The original fireplace still stands decorated with a carved wooden plate which can be moved aside to reveal a secret salt larder (which kept salt dry and hidden in the days of salt tax 1711-1825).

Church Pews, from what was the United Free Church in the village, provide seating down one wall and famous faces to have crossed the threshold include: Billy Connolly and Barry Manilow.

8) Gilfillan Boots & Shoemakers now Drymen Bakery

No 7 Main Street started life as original village cottage before being redeveloped around 1887 into a house and shop for one of the local shoemakers. It has since accommodated several businesses such as a Drapers, Post Office and Police Stations to named a few before becoming the Bakery & Deli in 2021.

9) Drymen Inn, Stirling Road – Former Oddfellows Hall

The Drymen Inn was formally Oddfellows Hall. The Oddfellows Society is a non-political society that strives to promote friendliness, benevolence, charity and philanthropy and continues to operate to this day.

Over the past few hundred years when small business traders within the village did not have social or financial security, they joined the Oddfellows Society to help each other out.  To help create income for the society, the hall had a shop premises and house incorporated within.

10) Kip in the Kirk, 11 Stirling Road - Former United Secession Chapel / Former Free Church

Before it was Kip in the Kirk, it was the old Church Hall, and before that a church in its own right. The building dates from 1819 and was the United Secession Chapel.

The unusual stone plaque above the entrance dates back to 1716, which appears to have been removed from a previous church building possibly an ‘old disused chapel in Duncryne, in the parish of Kilmaronock’ as mentioned by John Guthrie Smith, a well-known local historian. 

After the Disruption in 1843 (a division within the established Church of Scotland in which 450 evangelical ministers of the church broke away)  it became the United Presbyterian in 1847. It amalgamated with the Free Church of Scotland in 1900 to form the United Free Church of Scotland and then re-joined the established Church of Scotland in 1929 as the “East Church”.

11) Spar, 2-4 Stirling Road – Former Forrester’s Hall

The Ancient Order of the Forresters began in 1834. Members had a duty to assist their fellow men who fell in need ‘as they walked through the forest of life’.   

This 'need' arose principally when a breadwinner fell ill, could not work and, therefore, received no wages. Illness and death left families financially distressed and often destitute. It was achieved by members paying, initially, a few pence a week into a common fund from which sick pay and funeral grants could be drawn.

The hall had a caretaker’s flat and was the venue for all the village entertainment, until it was sold off as a shop and small flats, circa 1956.

12) Drymen Village Square 

The square is the hub of the village now and has been for centuries. It is unusual for a Scottish village to have a ‘square’ - much more common in other parts of the UK. 

Originally clustered around the meeting place of Balmaha, Gartmore, Glasgow and Gartness roads, it still remains an active crossroads for many destinations, by car, bike or on foot. Drymen though is also a destination in itself - due to its rich history, its scenic beauty and geographical significance.

13) The Hawthorns, 1 Gartness Road

The Hawthornes B&B was the first concrete house to be built in the village in 1873. The 4th Duke of Montrose James Graham, who was very forward thinking and pro-active for his time, had the building built as a surgery to attract a doctor to the village. It became a B&B in 1995.

14) War Memorial, Main Street

The War Memorial was unveiled in 1922 by Earl Haig – Commander in Chief of the British Forces in France. The monument is in honour of the men of the Parish of Drymen who died fighting in the two world wars. 

It features a tripled stepped circular base of rough-hewn Whinstone blocks supporting a cairn style plinth surmounted by a Latin Cross. Stone tablets engraved with the names of soldiers are set into the faces of the plinth on three sides.  In total there are 42 names which is a tragic number for a village like Drymen. 

15) The Buchanan Arms Hotel, Main Street

Originally a farm and inn, under Buchanan of Drumakill family ownership, the building was at one point the local post house – all mail brought in by coaches arrived here.

In 1935 John and Janet Grant renovated and extended the property, adding gardens and the viewpoint across the road. Supplied by fresh produce and fresh flowers from their own estate, the Buchanan Arms Hotel became renowned country-wide. The Bowling Green was created by the hotel and opened by Mrs Grant in 1936.

16) Drymen Church & Graveyard

The present Church building stands on a site which has been a centre of Christian worship possibly since the 11th Century.

The present-day parish church was re-built circa 1772/3; designed in a simple rectangular arrangement, typical of country churches of the period. Major alterations, both internal and external, took place around 1880, again in 1904/5 and the Annex was opened in 2010.

An ancient graveyard, true to Scottish tradition, is to the south of the Church and contains headstones recording burials from the 17th century to the 1890’s, most of the earliest one now grassed over.

17) Viewpoint

The Grant Family also created the viewpoint walkway - situated up a short path opposite the Buchanan Arms Hotel, the viewpoint at the top looking out over Loch Lomond, with views of Conic Hill, Ben Lomond, Duncryne Hill (known locally as the Dumpling) and the Trossachs. A small flowerbed at the viewpoint is tendered to by the local gardening group ‘Drymen in Bloom’.

18) Buchanan Castle

This area of Strathendrick is the original seat of the chief branch of Clan Buchanan since around the 13th century. John Buchanan, Clan Chief, became bankrupt and his lands were sequested on his death in 1682.

The Estate was purchased by the 3rd Marquis of Montrose (1657-1684) whose son became the first Duke of Montrose in 1707. Generations of the family lived here until 1932, when they relocated to Auchmar.

The original house “The Place of Buchanan” was destroyed in a fire in 1852 and a new ‘baronial style’ mansion was built nearby in 1856. The ‘castle’ was turned into a hotel in the mid 1930’s before becoming a military hospital at the outbreak of WWII.  In 1954 the roof was removed for tax reasons and has since become a ruin.

At this point you can now retrace your steps back to the centre of the village, or follow the estate road towards the gatehouse and Drymen Bridge. If you do follow this route take care when crossing the main road, the bypass for the village.

19) Buchanan Castle Gate House, Castle Ave

The Gatehouse is officially known as the East Lodge. It was designed by William Henry Playfair (1790-1847) to mark the new entrance to the castle.

The Gatehouse, or East Lodge, was designed by William Henry Playfair (1790-1847) to mark the new entrance to the castle replacing the West Lodge which is located on Balmaha Road.

20) The Bridge, A811

The village of Drymen undoubtedly grew from a strategic point on Endrick water, where the bridge is now. The position of the bridge is at the lowest fording point on Endrick water. Being the lowest point, if offered ease of crossing whereby trade and village life evolved.

In recognition of this importance of the fording point, the Romans built Drumquhassle Fort – meaning ‘fort on the ridge’ in AD 84. 

The village of Drymen grew strategically on the south facing slope above the lowest fording point on the Endrick water. It was a meeting point with access north to Gartmore and the Trossachs, south to Glasgow, east to Stirling and west to Dumbarton and Loch Lomond.

In 1765 a five arched bridge replaced the ferry crossing – designed and engineered by John Brown, master mason of Dumbarton. This bridge (which was widened in 1929, re-cored and re-drained in 2003) made travelling from Stirling to Dumbarton, and to Glasgow much easier.