Dumfries Things to Do

Rober Burns died young. In his 37 years he published only 4 collections of his work, led a wild and wacky life, and wrote some of the wittiest, most romantic and insightful poetry of his time. He moved to the Dumfries are from his native Ayshire as an adult, and to Dumfries town in 1791.

He ended his days here, an ill man, in 1796, on the same day as his son, Maxwell was born. He was given a military funeral, and interrred at St Michael's cemetry, near his house. His body was relocated some 11 years later in the Burns mausoleum, in the same graveyard under the startling image of Burns being accosted by the poetic muse, a tribute to his life, that was paid for by public subscription.

His life is celebrated at home and throughout the Scottish diaspora on January 25th every year.

The following are all within easy reach of Dumfries if anything takes your interest

* Solway Coast ("Costa del Solway" in Spanish)

* Sweetheart Abbey in the village of New Abbey

http://www.dumfriesmuseum.demon.co.uk

* New Abbey Corn Mill Museum

http://www.dumfriesmuseum.demon.co.uk

* Criffel - a hill on the Solway Coast popular with hill walkers for it's magnificent views of the Southern Scottish coastline and across the Solway Firth to the Lake District of Cumbria. Not the highest hill in South West Scotland by a long way (for example Merrick and Broad Law are much higher as are many others) but still very worth a visit if hill walking is your thing.

* Threave Castle in Castle Douglas, home to the Douglas Clan of James Douglas who fought with Robert Bruce

http://www.dumfriesmuseum.demon.co.uk

* Moniaive conservation village

* Moffat and the views nearby of The Devil's Beef Tub, The Grey Mare's Tail waterfall and the road once allegedly described by Jimmy Saville as his favourite road (don't quote me on that as someone may have been on the wind up but the A708 from Moffat past the Grey Mare's Tail to St Mary's loch is certainly beautiful). For even better panorama take a circuit from Moffat going out the A708 and then turn left at the sign for Tweedsmuir to eventually come back into Moffat on the A701 past the Devil's Beef Tub

In 1935, the remains of the victims of the Lancaster murderer, Dr Buck Ruxton, were found in a stream near The Devil's Beef Tub. A landmark case in legal history, it was the first in which the murderer was successfully convicted using the type of highly sophisticated forensic techniques which are taken for granted in the 21st century. The bridge at the top is still used to this day - near the very top it is a switchback that is not quite wide enough for two vehicles to pass on.

* Mabie Forest

* Ae - shortest name of anywhere in Europe - in the beauty of the Annan valley and the Ae Forest

* Lochmaben with it's lochs popular with boaters and also it's history with Robert the Bruce

* Wanlockhead - Britain's highest village registered at 1531 feet above sea level and the Lead Mining Museum

http://www.dumfriesmuseum.demon.co.uk

* Caerlaverock Castle

http://www.dumfriesmuseum.demon.co.uk

* Drumlanrig Castle

http://www.dumfriesmuseum.demon.co.uk

* Kagyu Samye Ling was the first Tibetan Buddhist Centre to have been established in the West. It is a centre for wisdom and learning within the Karma Kagyu tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. It is in the picturesque village of Eskdalemuir in the Scottish Southern Uplands

http://www.samyeling.org/

* Ecclefechan - Thomas Carlyle's birthplace "The Arched House" is a tourist attraction and has been maintained by the National Trust for Scotland since 1936.

http://www.dumfriesmuseum.demon.co.uk

Ecclefechan lies at the foot of the large Roman Fort, Burnswark, which dominates the horizon with its flat top

* At Twynholm for motor sport enthusiasts there is the David Coulthard Museum

http://www.davidcoulthardmuseum.co.uk/

* Gretna Green and the Old Blacksmith's Shop famous the world over for runaway marriages

http://www.dumfriesmuseum.demon.co.uk

The following is from the weblink below (the weblink has photos as well as the text pasted into this page)

Some sections have been added in from elsewhere.
---------------------------

"Known, like its football club, as "Queen of the South", Dumfries is an ancient town with a long and turbulent history. Today it is by far the biggest town in south west Scotland, the administrative centre for Dumfries and Galloway, and the focus of a large rural hinterland.

Foundation and early years
Dumfries was founded as a Royal Burgh in 1186 on the east side of the lowest crossing point of the River Nith. The location was around a mile downstream from Lincluden Abbey but on the opposite bank of the Nith. The abbey ruins are on the site of the Bailey of the very early Lincluden Castle, as are those of the later Lincluden Tower. This religious house was founded circa. 1160 and was used for various purposes, until its abandonment around 1700. Lincluden Abbey and its grounds are now within the Dumfries urban conurbation boundary.

The land West of the Nith, Galloway, only securely became part of Scotland during Alexander II's reign in 1234: Dumfries was very much on the frontier during its first 50 years and it grew rapidly as a market town and port.

A royal castle, which no longer exists, was built in the 13th century on the site of the present Castledykes Park.

Robert the Bruce
Before becoming King of Scots, Robert the Bruce slew his rival the Red Comyn at Greyfriars Kirk in the town on 10 February 1306. His uncertainty about the fatality of his stabbing caused one of his followers, Roger de Kirkpatrick, to utter the famous, "I mak siccar" ("I make sure") and finish the Comyn off. Robert the Bruce was excommunicated as a result, less for the murder than for its location, but nonetheless went on to become King of Scotland. Today's Greyfriars Church was built in 1868, overlooking the site of the murder on the opposite side of Castle Street, marked by a plaque on a shop wall.

Devorgilla Bridge
The first bridge over the Nith, Devorgilla Bridge, named after Devorgilla, the mother of King John Balliol, was built here in 1432. Rebuilt more than once and shortened from the east in the 19th century, this is still used by pedestrians and is one of Scotland's oldest standing bridges.

Invasion
It was not from Galloway but from England that most of Dumfries' problems came during its first 500 years. English armies variously sacked, plundered or occupied the town in 1300, 1448, 1536, 1542, 1547, and 1570. It suffered again during the strife of the 1640s.

Witchcraft and executions
Not all of Dumfries' bloody reputation was externally inflicted. Nine women were burned to death for witchcraft in the town in 1659, and two centuries later in 1868, Dumfries was the site of Scotland's last public hanging.

Bonnie Prince Charlie and the 1745 Jacobite Rebellion
Opposite the fountain in Dumfries High Street, adjacent to the present Marks and Spencer, was the Commercial and later the County Hotel. Although the latter was demolished in the 1980s, the original facade of the building was kept. Room No. 6 of the hotel was known as Bonnie Prince Charlie's Room and appropriately carpeted in the Royal Stuart tartan. The Young Pretender had his headquarters here during a 3-day sojourn in Dumfries towards the end of 1745. £2,000 was demanded by the Prince, together with 1,000 pairs of brogues for his kilted Jacobite rebel army, which was camping in a field not one hundred yards distant. A rumour, however, that the Duke of Cumberland was approaching, made Bonnie Prince Charlie decide to leave with his army, with only £1,000 and 255 pairs of shoes having been handed over.

Robert Burns
Today's Greyfriars Church overlooks the location of a statue of Robert Burns, sculpted in Italy in 1882. Burns spent the last years of his life in Dumfries, dying here in 1796. The statue is just one of a series of associations with Scotland's most famous poet to be found in the town. Heading south past the spectacular Mid Steeple on the High Street, once the town tolbooth and prison, you come to a tiny vennel leading to the Globe Inn, his favourite drinking place.

There is also Robert Burns' house at 24 Burns Street, South of the High Street, and his mausoleum in St Michael's Churchyard. On the West side of the River Nith is the Robert Burns Centre, housed in what was once the Dumfries Mill. Beyond it is Dumfries Museum built partly in a windmill later converted to a camera obscura. In the suburb of Summerhill the majority of streets are named with Burns connotations.

Öffnungszeiten April-September Montag-Samstag 10 - 17, Sonntag 14 - 17

Oktober-März Dienstag-Samstag 10 - 13, 14 - 17

Eintritt frei

Camera Obscura Nur von April bis September geöffnet (je nach Wetter)

Eintritt Erwachsene £1.90 Ermäßigung: 95p

Die ursprüngliche Windmühle auf Corbelly Hill wurde um 1790 erbaut, wurde aber schon im Jahre 1830 durch die darunterliegende Wassermühle am Ufer des Nith unrentabel. Im Jahre 1834 schlug man seine Umwandlung vor und so wurde das Gebäude vom Abriß geschützt. In den beiden folgenden Jahren wurde die Windmühle umgebaut, und eine "Camera Obscura" - oder "Lochkamera" - und ein Teleskop gleichzeitig eingebaut. Man hatte gehofft, daß das Observatorium rechtzeitig für die Erscheinung des Halley’schen Kometen im Jahr 1835 fertig würde, aber der Bau des Teleskops verzögerte sich, so daß die Eröffnung schließlich erst im August 1836 stattfand.
Die Camera Obscura funktioniert nach dem Prinzip, daß Licht, das durch ein kleines Loch in einem abgedunkelten Raum auf eine Leinwand fällt, dort ein Abbild der Szene im Freien entstehen läßt. Die Camera Obscura wird heute noch benutzt und fasziniert die Zuschauer, die mit Fotographie, Filmen und Fernsehen vertraut sind, genauso wie das Publikum vor 160 Jahren, das zusah, wie Schiffe entladen und Baumstämme zu Flößen zusammengebunden wurden, und das das geschäftige Treiben auf den Vieh - und Pferdemärkten auf dem Uferplatz Whitesands beobachtete.

Von Anfang an sammelte die Astronomical Society Gegenstände, und im Jahre 1862 wurde die Haupthalle gebaut, um die Samlungen der neu gegründeten Dumfries and Galloway Natural History and Antiquarian Society aufzunehem. Das Gebäude wurde im Jahre 1934 vom Stadtrat übernommen, und im Jahre 1975 fiel es unter die Zuständigkeit des Bezirksrats von Nithsdale. Die Sammlung des Museums befaßt sich jetzt mit dem Bezirk Dumfries and Galloway, und ein großer Teil des Materials wird im Jahre 1981 eröffnet wurde.

Das Museum hat eine bemerkenswerte Sammlung von Gegenständen aus allen historischen Perioden, angefangen von Steinäxten des Neolithicums und mittelalterlichen Dreifüßen bis hin zu medizinischen Geräten des 19. Jahrhunderts und dem ersten Pedalfahrrad der Welt. Die Sammlung umfaßt die meisten Aspekte von Handwerkszeugen und Branchen der Handwerke. Erwähnenswert sind hier die ausgestellten Werkzeuge zur Herstellung von Sätteln und zur Lederbearbeitung. Eine große Gallerie dient als Heimatmuseum. Themen dieser Ausstellung sind Entwicklungen der Stadt Dumfries und Umgebung seit mittelalterlichen Zeiten. Gemälde lokaler Szenen und Persönlichkeiten und Bürgern hängen an den Wänden der Gallerie. Hier hat man nicht nur die Gelegenheit eine der bedeudesten Sammlung historischer Landkarten zu sehen sondern auch eine einzigartige Gelegenheit eine umfassende Sammlung von Trachten, des Zeitraumes vom Ende des 18 Jahrhunderts bis zur Gegenwart, zu bewundern.

Die geologische Sammlung des Museums zeigt die vielen Bodenschätze des oberen Gebietes von Nithsdale, das jahrhundertelang das wichtigste Abbaugebiet Schottlands für Gold, Silber, Blei und Zink war. Auch einige Sandsteinplatten sind ausgestellt, die die Faßabdrücke urzeitlicher Reptilien zeigen, die unser Gebiet vor mehr als 210 Millionen Jahren bewohnten.

Vielfalt ist das Hauptmerkmal der Naturgeschichte des Bezirks Dumfries and Galloway. Er ist einer der ursprünglichsten Gegenden von Großbritanniens und hat eine breite Palette von Habitaten und Landschatften aufzuweisen. Das zeigt sich auch in den naturgeschichtlichen Ausstellungen des Museums, die viele schöne Exemplare aufzuweisen haben, darunter Vögel der Salzsümpfe von Solway, Gartenvögel und gewöhnliche britische Säugetiere.

Terrassenförmig angelegte Rasen und Blumenbeete bilden das Museumsgelände, auf dem auch eine Statue von Robert Paterson, Sir Walter Scott’s "Old Mortality" und seinem Pony stehen. Paterson war ein Steinmetz aus Balmaclellan, der in der Region herumreiste und Grabsteine für die namenlosen Gräber der Mitglieder der Covenantensekte, die im 17. Jahrhundert wegen ihres religiösen Glaubens verfolgt wurden, errichtete.

The Theatre Royal was built in 1792 and has been in use for most of this time as either a Theatre or a Cinema. The Guild of Players are dedicated to providing a venue for live theatre in Dumfries. They bought the Theatre Royal in 1959, thus saving it from demolition, and have run it successfully ever since. The Guild's aim is to promote the tradition of live theatre in Dumfries for the enjoyment of members and public alike.

BRIEF BACKGROUND OF THEATRE ROYAL
The Theatre Royal, Dumfries was built in 1792 and is the oldest working theatre in Scotland.

The theatre is owned by the Guild of Players who bought it in 1959, thereby saving it from demolition.

The Theatre is run on a voluntary basis by the members of the Guild of Players.

The Theatre is funded entirely by Guild membership subscriptions, and by Box Office receipts. It does not currently receive any grant-aid towards running costs.

The Guild's aim is to promote the tradition of live theatre in Dumfries for the enjoyment of members and the public alike

In recent years the Theatre has been re-roofed and the outside refurbished to restore it to its former glory
It is the venue for the Guild of Players' own productions and for performances from visiting companies. These include: Scottish Opera, TAG, the Borderline and 784.

In addition it is extensively used for Dumfries and Galloway Arts Festival, Dumfries Music Festival, the Dumfries Musical and Operatic Society.

The Guild of Players was founded as an amateur dramatic company in 1913. It has put on a season of plays for all but six of the 94 years since then. There were no productions between 1915 and 1919, and none in 1944.
Nowadays the Guild puts on a season of five plays (each running for a week) and a pantomime (running for a fortnight) every year. Every job, from directing the plays to serving the coffee in the intervals, is undertaken voluntarily by the Guild members. There are no paid staff in the Theatre.

The plays are open to the public but taking out membership of the Guild brings entitlement to priority ticket booking at half price. For those who wish to become actively involved there are jobs for all interests and age groups.

If you are at a loose end on a Saturday afternoon, you can visit Palmerston Park, the home of the local soccer team, Queen of the South. Phone to ask what time the match starts, and you'll be asked: What time can you get here? The team once had a bustling centre forward, Billy Houliston, who pulled a Scottish shirt over his head, scored twice in his first match for his country and was dropped two matches later. But that was more than half a century ago. Queens last appeared in the top division of Scottish soccer when the Beatles were appearing on the Ed Sullivan Show. People say that Manchester City fans come here to remind themselves that things really could be worse. If your interest in the game flags - as it most certainly will - you can always look over the fence at the Saturday afternoon shoppers manoeuvring their trolleys in the supermarket car park next door.

May 2008: Queens are in the Scottish Cup Final! A memorable 4-3 win against Aberdeen in the semifinal takes the little team from Dumfries to Hampden Park in Glasgow on 24 May.

The following is from http://www.dumfriesmuseum.demon.co.uk

Based in the control tower of R.A.F Tinwald Downs the museum has an extensive indoor display of memorabilia which strives to preserve aviation heritage, much of which has come various recovery activities. During the second world war, aerial navigation was taught at Dumfries also at Wigtown and nearby Annan was a fighter training unit. R.A.F Dumfries doubled as an important maintenance unit and aircraft storage unit. The museum is run by the Dumfries and Galloway Aviation Group and is the only private aviation museum in Scotland, the museums has cosiderably increased in size in recent years making room for a new shop display area, picnic area etc. The control tower has been reroofed, the pathways given metalled surfaces and much other work has been done.

The following is from http://www.dumfriesaviationmuseum.com/

The restored Control Tower of the former WWII airfield at Dumfries, Scotland is the centrepiece of the Museum and is now a listed building. The Museum is run by volunteers and houses a large and ever expanding aircraft collection, aero engines and a very impressive display of artefacts and personal histories relating to aviation, past and present. Both civil and military are represented. There is also a small, but ever expanding collection of memorabilia honouring airborne forces, a new display representing aviation in Scotland and a mock-up of a WWII living room are now complete.

Aviation enthusiats may also be interested to know that nearby Moffat has a recreation park with a boating pond and a memorial to Air Chief Marshall Hugh Dowding, commander of RAF Fighter Command during the Battle of Britain, who was born in Moffat in 1882.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dowding
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moffat

The following is from Wikipedia:-

"Lincluden Collegiate Church, known earlier as Lincluden Priory or Lincluden Abbey, is a ruined religious house, situated to the north of the Royal Burgh of Dumfries, Scotland. Situated in a bend of the Cluden Water, at its confluence with the River Nith, the ruins are on the site of the Bailey of the very early Lincluden Castle, as are those of the later Lincluden Tower. This religious house was founded circa. 1160 and was used for various purposes, until its abandonment around 1700.

The foundation of the priory is accredited to Uchtred who had co-ruled Galloway with his brother Gille Brigte. Uchtred did not have the benefit of the relative peace of his father's reign in Galloway. Fergus of Galloway had founded such establishments such as Soulseat Abbey, St Mary's Isle Priory, Dundrennan Abbey, the foundation at Kirkcudbright (Kirk of St. Cuthbert) and re-established the foundation at Whithorn, the historic community of St Ninian. Uchtred's focus of power was in Eastern Galloway, while his brother's was in the west, their reigns were marked by turbulent relationships between themselves, the Kings of Ailech, the King of Scots, William the Lyon, and the King of England, Henry II. Lincluden was the first and only monastic house that Uchtred would found, meeting his death at the hand of his brother in 1174.

Prior to the foundation of Lincluden, there had been only been houses of Monks in Galloway, Uchtred's new house was the first Nunnery within the Lordship. The first intake of religieuses, were probably Cluniac sisters from France or England, later being supplemented by local novices."

The following is from http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/dumfries/lincluden/index.html

"The story of Lincluden Collegiate Church begins in about 1160, when a priory of Benedictine nuns was formed here. At about the same time the now wooded motte to the south east was formed to support a small castle.

In 1389, Archibald, 3rd Earl of Douglas, better known as Archibald the Grim of Threave Castle, was granted permission by the Pope to replace the priory with a college of canons. The college took over the buildings of the priory, which comprised a priory church with a range of domestic buildings to its north.

Extensive building works to make Lincluden a much grander establishment were under way through most of the 1400s. Part of the renovation was to accommodate the spectacular tomb of Princess Margaret in a rebuilt choir after her death in 1450. She had been daughter of King Robert III and widow of the 4th Earl of Douglas.

It is thought that a lot of the finer rebuilding of Lincluden in the early 1400s was done by Paris-born John Morow, who also produced similar work at Melrose Abbey and Paisley Abbey.

The Reformation of 1560 inevitably brought change to Lincluden Collegiate Church, as it did to all religious communities across Scotland. Lincluden was attacked and badly damaged by Protestant reformers.

Repairs were quickly completed by William Douglas, the younger brother of the last Provost of the college, for the considerable sum of £3,000. This proved a sound investment when he was then granted the college and associated "mansion" (probably the rebuilt north range) by his brother. The sunken garden to the east and remodelling of the motte as a large garden ornament probably date back to around this time.

After passing through various hands the buildings of Lincluden Collegiate Church were abandoned by 1700, and then used as a quarry until 1882 when the laird stepped in to consolidate and tidy up the ruins. The church was later passed into State care and is now looked after by Historic Scotland.

The remains themselves can be confusing, and are best viewed from the motte to the south east. It is easy to start with an assumption that the church must have run, unusually, from north to south, given the trend of most of the stonework on view.

It didn't. This impression is given because most of the nave of the church has disappeared, leaving just the walls of the south transept and a neighbouring piece of the south wall of the nave containing the outline of two magnificent windows.

The walls of the choir are largely complete, and contain some fine examples of decorative stonework, some of it still remarkably crisp. Lady Margaret's tomb and the nearby door to the Sacristy are the highlights. To the north of the Choir are the remains of a range of domestic buildings, today comprising a series of vaulted ground floor rooms, some now roofless. At the far north end the stonework of a taller tower still remains, pointing raggedly to the sky."

"Lincluden Collegiate Church is signposted to the east of the A76 a little north of its junction with the A75 Dumfries bypass. It lies in a bend of the Cluden Water near its confluence with the River Nith, and on the eastern edge of the housing estate that today forms most of Lincluden itself. Parking arrangements are not obvious: you are probably best leaving your car near the Abbey Inn and walking along the narrow road beside it. This becomes a track leading past the gate in the metal railings surrounding the remains of the church, a couple of hundred yards from the Inn."

Further info is available from:-

http://www.openlibrary.org/details/chroniclesoflinc00mdowuoft