DGNHAS

Stones and Stories: some medieval monuments in Eastern Dumfries by Peter F Ryder FSA is a well-illustrated and extensively researched survey of cross and grave-slabs from eastern Dumfriesshire, published by Broomlee Publications in A5 format, 62 pages in length, with black and white drawings and some colour photographs. It is a companion volume to The Medieval Cross Slabs of the Borders by the same author (available from the Berwickshire Naturalists' Field Club.

Tongland Abbey was founded by Alan, Lord of Galloway, for the Premonstratensian order in 1218. Very little of it survives above ground, although documentary evidence suggests that it was an extensive site within and around the area of the present Tongland kirkyard. It appears to have been built on the same scale as the much better preserved Glenluce Abbey in Wigtownshire. In 1455, during the siege of the Douglas family’s stronghold at Threave Castle, the abbey was used by the king’s army as its operational base.

The Resort of All Married Couples is a new book by Alverie Weighill, the Society's Treasurer.

The book describes how Thomas Telford’s 1820 toll-house at Gretna came to be built and how it became part of Gretna’s infamous marriage trade. Based on original sources and contemporary accounts and placed in the context of nineteenth-century Gretna, it traces the house’s history from the turnpike and stagecoach era, through two World Wars, to its present role in the Gretna story.

Video recordings of most of the Zoom meeings held so far are now available online. These are:

23 October 2020
Crystal Maw, Royal Society for the Protection of Birds
The secret life of cowpats

6 November 2020
John Anstey, Trustee Eastriggs and Gretna Heritage Group
The story of the navvies and how they changed the landscape of Cumbria and south-west Scotland

Despite the enormity of it all, one thing is certain — we are living through extraordinary times.

Clish-Clash is the e-newsletter of the Scottish Local History Forum.

The newsletter gives recent and forthcoming news about activities in the local history community.

“Clish-clash” means “repeated gossip” in Scots, and the newsletter passes on information about local history activities.

The aim is to issue Clish-Clash bi-monthly, but this depends on the amount of information received from SLHF members and others.