Balfron

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The church and war memorial in Balfron

Balfron, is a village in Stirling council area, Scotland. It is situated near Endrick Water on the A875 road, 18 miles (29 km) west of Stirling and 16 miles (26 km) north of Glasgow. Although a rural settlement, it lies within commuting distance of Glasgow, and serves as a dormitory town. It has shops, a health centre, a village hall and a secondary school (Balfron High School). The village also contains a fire station, garage, ambulance depot, police station, primary school, bowling green and 18 hole golf course. The residential special school Ballikinrain is also located in Balfron and cater to intervening for boys with special needs from all over Scotland.

The Secondary School (Balfron High School) opened in 2001, replacing a 1960s era building, and was built under the governments PPP Public-private partnership project with the company Jarvis. It and the local primary school are located in separate buildings on the same campus and is signposted in the village as "Balfron Campus". The old school facade, which originated from the 19th centuary and was still used as classroom space until 2001 is now being made into two homes. The new school is in need of some work as there have been problems with the roof.

The name means 'village of mourning' in Gaelic. This originates from a legend that the village was attacked by Wolves, which stole children out of their homes. Modern historians believe that an attack by Vikings was more likely, as they did steal children, Haakon’s Saga and Exchequer Rolls of the time give evidence of a Norse invasion as far as Stirling Castle through the Endrick Valley in 1263 – the same year as the Battle of Largs.

Balfron Church is situation in the settlement and shares a minister with the neighbouring parish of Fintry.

Balfron has an ancient oak – The Clachan Oak – where Wallace is said to have rested and later Rob Roy is supposed to have hidden. Rob Roy’s sons abducted young widow-heiress Jean Key from nearby Edinbellie and forced her to marry Robin Oig MacGregor who was hanged for the crime.

In 1789, when Robert Dunmore built Ballindalloch Cotton Works and a planned village he transformed the village from a hamlet of about 50 to bustling Industrial Revolution village of almost 1000 in a year. Balfron is the birthplace of the architect Alexander 'Greek' Thomson whose father was a bookkeeper at Ballindalloch Mill.

As the cotton boom began to fail, the arrival of the Forth and Clyde Junction Railway transformed Balfron into a popular holiday resort. Testament to this was the presence of the Tontine Hotel, which stood at the corner of Buchanan Street and Cotton Street. The plethora of ex-army vehicles after World War I began the village’s connection with buses which still survives today. The village, in size is more of a small town and is the main centre for the area of Strathendrick as the main local police and health centres are here along with the fire station, registry office, council depot and ambulance station.

Many youth groups work in the village including the fire cadets, scouts, guides and a christian youth group. The fire cadets are the newest youth group to be set up be Central Scotland Fire and Rescue Service in 2002 and they operate from the local fire station and attract members from all over the area.