A number of years ago, for Christmas, I bought Sian from a second-hand bookshop, an old copy of The Face of Scotland. That same Christmas, Sian bought for me, also from a second-hand bookshop, an old copy of A Future for the Past:
Recently, I came across this photograph in the Trove archive:
It was dated 1958 and annotated: “Allanbank House, Dunblane, to be demolished. Frontage of 300 year old house.”
I then came across another photograph of Allanbank:
In the newspaper archive, I found this piece written by Moultrie Kelsall [one of the authors of A Future for the Past]:
In this 1962 article, Moultrie Kelsall says:
Moultrie Kelsall concludes:
This first edition Ordnance Survey map shows its location:
This is the Ordnance Survey entry for Allanbank from the same date:
The 1841 census for Allanbank lists James Boyd, Land Valuator, aged 65 years as head of the house with his wife Elizabeth, along with four daughters, aged between 25 and 15 years. They had one servant, Janet Stewart.
In 1841, their neighbours included Adam Baird and his wife Susannah Rutherfoord. Adam Baird was overseer of Dunblane Mill [after Susannah’s death, due to cholera, he moved to Drumdruils]. In their Mill Row home, a sampler stitched by Susannah Rutherfoord, would have been displayed on the wall. That sampler now hangs above our fireplace in Mossgrove, Bridge of Allan:
Here are some sketches [based on old photographs in Dunblane museum] that give an idea of how Allanbank once looked:
Footnote: Ewing Wallace, who was born in Allanbank, shares some of his early reflections of the house in this short film.