Recent

Undeniably, old (parish and other) churches of any given area, particularly a rural region like Galloway, figure prominently in the historic and aesthetic landscape. Yet as ‘active’ components in their communities, for decades they have been facing an ong

The eighteenth century was a period of considerable agricultural, social and economic change across Scotland, the era of Enlightenment. Many changes that took place then, agricultural enclosure, the development of new mansion houses with landscaped pleas

The difficulty of inland communication had long encouraged the proliferation of ports along the Scottish coastline, with little to choose between them before the expansion and reorientation of trade in the decades following the Restoration. In common with

Throughout the latter part of the 19th century, while shooting was widespread, ‘flightnetting’ emerged as an alternative method of obtaining wildfowl and waders for the table, barter or the market. Netting was practised intensively only on the north shore

Summary of a lecture delivered to the Society at its meeting of 26th March 2005 at Kirkcudbright.
A planned village was defined as a settlement that was founded or substantially rebuilt in the 18th and early to mid 19th centuries with the support or appr

Summary of a lecture delivered to the Society on the occasion Members' Night 4th March 2005.
The Dumfriesshire part of the route of the old coach road through Tinwald, Lochmaben, Beattock and Moffat to the county boundary was described in considerable de

Summary of a lecture delivered to the Society on 18th March 2005.
The factory constructed in Gretna to produce cordite (the Devil’s porridge) needed for the manufacture of munitions for World War I was part of a much larger site extending from Longtown t

Summary of a lecture delivered to the Society on 4th February 2005.
A study of the Library bequeathed to the Presbytery of Dumfries in 1712 by John Hutton MD MP, to which later gifts and purchases were added. Hutton, a native of Caerlaverock, studied in

Summary of a lecture delivered to the Society on 18th February 2005.
The project involves the generation of a computer database of Dumfries and Galloway artists throughout time to increase the awareness of art and artists in south-west Scotland and ther

Summary of a lecture delivered to the Society on the occasion of Members' Night 4th March 2005.
A concise summary of the excavations at the Old Caerlaverock Castle was given. The talk coincided with the Society’s publication of the monograph ‘Excavations

Summary of a lecture presented to the Society on 15th October 2004. Displays of prehistoric artefacts in the museums of Scotland include much material from Wigtownshire, mostly collected during the latter decades of the 19th century. George Wilson, Free

The results of an archaeological evaluation of Annan burgh ditch presented in Volume 76 of the Transactions tentatively suggested that the late 16th century appeared the most likely date for the origin of the burgh ditch revealed at Butts Street, Annan. T

Description of recent research on the lives of Helen and Isobell Walker from the parish of Kirkpatrick Irongray: Helen Walker was Sir Walter Scott's prototype for Jeannie Deans in his novel 'The Heart of Midlothian.' The research makes extensive use of o

In 1946 a Miss Helen Selby brought into the National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland a collection of artefacts gathered largely from local sources by her father, William McDowall Selby, and grandfather, Robert Bird Selby, who served successively as medi

Report on the slag remains recovered during the Excavations of a Bronze Age Settlement Site at Ross Bay, Kirkcudbright

In January 2002, during the archaeological monitoring of topsoil stripping for the construction corridor of a 1.2km gas pipeline at Ross Bay, near Kirkcudbright, Dumfries and Galloway, previously unknown archaeological remains were recorded at three locat

Summary of a lecture delivered to the Society on 27th March 2004 by Alastair Dodds of the National Museums of Scotland. The factory was built to a ferro-concrete design similar to that at Heathhall, Dumfries, itself based on Ford factory designs which all

Summary of a lecture delivered to the Society on Members' Night, 5th March 2004, by Michael Taylor. Postcards soon acquire historical value and this was well exemplified by the range of old and modern postcards used to illustrate this point - many were of

Summary of a lecture delivered to the Society by Morag Williams at members' Night, 5th March 2004. The term 'Art Therapy' did not come into use as a term in connection with the treatment of mentally ill patients till the 1940s but was effectively introduc

Summary of a lecture delivered to the Society on 20th February 2004 by Ian Gow, Senior Curator of the National Trust for Scotland. Mr Gow outlined the history of the Gordon family of Liverpool merchants who moved to the area in the 1870s. After renting ac

Summary of a lecture delivered to the Society on 16th January 2004 by Derek Hextall of the Kirkconnel Parish Heritage Society. The society was set up in 1997. The society has developed several projects to mark the vast heritage of the parish. Cairn School

Summary of a lecture delivered to the Society on 21st November 2003 regarding life and times of Robert Douglas 'Collector' of Customs and Master Smuggler. Douglas married Margaret Corbet, daughter of a Glasgow merchant. He obtained credit on the Isle of m

Summary of lecture given on 3rd October 2003. The Dundrennan range was established in 1942. The RCAHMS, in partnership with the Ministry of Defence, has recently undertaken a baseline archaeological survey. The survey, including all relict military featur

Summary of a lecture delivered 7th November 2003. A review of the Moffat Spa town over the centuries was provided but the lecture concentrated on the Victorian period - with particular reference to the history of the Hydro Hotel and its subsequent destruc

Review of a publication by Dr J B Wilson. This latest volume is based upon a re-examination of the Minutes of Lochmaben Town Council which run from 1612 to 1974. It refers to a recent publication by the Scottish Record Society of a transcription of the ea

Review of a volume detailing two late eighteenth century visitation rolls of the town of Kirkcudbright. Background to the town is provided against collated lists of the inhabitants and their genealogy.

This volume is literally an alphabetic index of almost every aspect of the life, times and especially the people of Kirkcudbright. Although mainly covering the town of Kirkcudbright it also ranges over the countryside between Ross Island and Tongland.

Extracts and commentary from the Journal of David Gibson a baptist lay missionary who worked all over the south-west of Scotland - centred at Auchencairn. The author has used the volume to provide details of the background to the life and times of Gibson.

In an earlier volume of these Transactions, a case has been made for the burgh ditch of Annan not having been dug until the (later) 16th century (Toolis and Cavanagh, 2002, 151-55). The discussion appears in the report on some archaeological evaluation wo

A transcript of this volume was published in 2001 by the Scottish Record Society. It covers 221 pages and records 404 meetings. The minutes were written by the clerk of the time, or his deputy, sometimes in a fair, sometimes in an almost indecipherable ha

The distinquished tradition of Scots linguistic scholarship began long before the twentieth century and the advent of modern dialectology and lexicography. By far the greatest reference work on the Scots tongue to appear before this period, namely John Ja

This paper was prepared by Mr Truckell following his transcription of a microfilm copy of the Minutes of the Incorporation of Fleshers at Dumfries. It provides detailed extracts of the business of the incorporation with much information on the families an

A programme of building recording survey was undertaken in connection with alterations to 53 George Street, Whithorn, a Listed Building. The building lies at the junction of Bruce Street and George Street and forms the north side of the pend that leads up

This paper announces the discovery of a potentially important early historic and mediaeval site, with likely ecclesiastical associations at Chapelton, Haugh of Urr. The previously unrecorded remains were exposed during topsoil stripping associated with th

A recent review of the evidence for bog bodies in Scotland has added 14 previously unrecogbised examples to the existing gazeteer. Seven of these 'new discoveries' - actually old finds hidden in local newspaper accounts and antiquarian reports - are fro G

Obituary of William Fleming Cormack of Lockerbie (1920-2002). Although a practicing lawyer in the family firm in Lockerbie he was associated with local and national archaeology societies for over fifty years. He excavated extensively throughout Dumfries a

Reviews the historical status of the Galloway Pony or Nag. Although now extinct it bears a relationship to the still extant Cumbrian Fell Pony. Shakespearean references are included as also an entry from the Dumfries Weekly Journal of 1801 advertising rac

In the 1860s this Society made a number of field excursions to the eroding coastline at Newbie near Annan. These excursions are described from notes in the early printed Transactions and the earliest MS Minute book of the Society. The article is illustrat

This article reproduces the text of Sir Christopher Booth's lecture to CUSSAG at the Crichton University, Dumfries, during 2002. The text traces the families of Currie and Duncan from their origins in Kirkcudbrightshire and Dumfriesshire in the early 18th

The year 2002 saw the centenary of the death of John Faed the artist. This article, illustrated by extensive genealogical and contemporary detail, shows the Faed family's influence on the development of the Kirkcudbright area as an artists' colony and, ul

According to the Board of Customs in Edinburgh, 'very considerable' quantities of contraband goods were landed in Wigtownshire during the eighteenth century. Only 1.3% of Scotland's population lived here at the time so that the region could not provide cu

This paper includes extrensive extracts from the Kirk Session Minutes of the parish of Mouswald for the period 1640-1659. The original volume is in Edinburgh University Library and the transcript has been prepared from a microfilm which has been lodged, a

Review of aspects of life of the Faeds in Gatehouse of Fleet - it has the specific aim of adding to what is known about the family by drawing largely on the legal papers of R S Glover, the solicitor acting for John Faed (1819-1902) and his sister Susan Be

Review of the second edition of John B Wilson's 'The Royal Burgh of Lochmaben' which includes additional material.

Extracts from a transcript of the customs records for Alisonbank at Gretna for the period 1665 to 1699

Transcript of William Fullarton's 'special expenses' on behalf of the Privy Council regarding his gathering of intelligence, for the period 1689-92, with the war in Ireland - as extracted from the Portpatrick customs' records

Summarises the transcription of the customs, excise and bullion books for Portpatrick in the period 1671 to 1699.

Describes a volume within the Tolbooth at Lochmaben, covering the period 1826 to 1880, which contains records of the charters granted to those who had purchased portions of the Commonty of Lochmaben after the Sequestration of the Burgh in 1824. It provide

The Scottish Urban Archaeological Trust Ltd (SUAT) carried out an excavation in advance of development at the site of the former British legion Club House at 67-71 Irish Street, Dumfries (NGR NX 9717 7595). The excavation was jointly funded by Callander L

A review of Andrew McCulloch's 'Galloway - A Land Apart'. This new work assesses the history of Galloway as it affected all social strata, through the fresh and unrestrained eyes of a historian at the end of the 20th century. McCulloch successfully incorp