The Drymen & District Local History Society was formed in 1982. Membership is open to all interested in local history and its aims include:

• The collection of historical material including books, maps and photographs relating to Drymen and the immediate area, to be kept in Drymen Library in a special collection.
• To carry out research on topics relevant to the history of Drymen and district and to prepare reports to be included in the above collection.
• To undertake an oral history programme based on interviewing older members of the community.
• To publish a booklet on local history.

This was later extended to files of cuttings and pamphlets and research notes, a contents list of which is posted on the Society’s web site.

The Society holds a programme of meetings, open to the public, with invited speakers on topics relating to Scottish local and national history. We invite those of you within reach to join us at our meetings on the fourth Thursday of each month in Drymen Village Hall. Meetings are open to non-members (at a cost of £3.00 per meeting) but we hope you will want to join the Society and get in free. Subscription is £10.00 for a full year starting in September.

In 2000 the Society produced A Millennium Account of Drymen & District, a series of 11 papers by a number of different authors on various aspects of the history of Drymen and the surrounding district. The book, running to over 160 pages in A4 format with a card cover, is available for £9 from committee members or from Drymen Library.
More details are available on the "Millennium Project" page of our website.
The eleven papers are:

• "A Millennium Account of Drymen District, A General History" written by Jim Leiper.
• "Drymen Parish Church" written by Walter Hemfrey.
• "Tales from a Country Churchyard, Drymen 2000, The Artisan, The Minister and The Laird,1-Chance Encounters" written by Walter Hemfrey.
• "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.
• "A Millennium Account of Drymen District, Early Rural Industry: Gartness" written by Jim Leiper.
• "The Story of Gateside House, The People who have Lived and Worked There" written by Jean Bowman.
• "The Govanes of Drumquhassle" written by Jim Leiper.
• "Buchanan Parish, The Land and The People 1700 - 1850" written by Jenny Oswald.
• "Eric Liddell's Strathendrick Forebears" written by Carol Hemfrey.
• "A Community in Wartime: Drymen, Croftamie and Buchanan in the Second World War" written by Alison Brown.
• "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 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.

As a continuation of the Millennium Project the Society intended to publish further papers on new subjects. Eight such papers have now been produced. 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, or at meetings of the Society.
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 (£4).
• "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 last 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:

• "Blarnarisk Corn Mill and Hydro-Electric Plant" writted by Jim Leiper.
• "The Reverend John Roy, M.A." written by Carol Hemfrey.
• "Fresh air Fortnights at Montrose Home, Balmaha for the Poor Children of Glasgow" written by Jenny Cronin.
• "Drymen Tank Trap in World War II" written by Jim Leiper (with the aid of material provided by George Gilfillan).
• "A Brief History of Willow Cottage, Gartness Road, Drymen" written by Margaret Mark.
• "The Strathendrick and County Yeomanry in the Early 19th Century" written by John Mitchell.
• "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.

Details of all are available on the "Millennium Project" page of our website.
The papers are available from the Drymen Library (or from the Society) at a cost of £2 to £4 per copy.