Recent (Social)

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

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

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.

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 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

The 2003 Dumfriesshire Rookery census has revealed that since 1993, the number of nests has fallen from 25,489 to 17,853, a decline of 30%. Earlier surveys in 1908, 1921 and 1963 had indicated a relatively stable population. Subsequent censuses in 1973, 1

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

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

Review of a reprint of James Steuart's 'The Bell Family in Dumfriesshire' which was orginally published in 1932 as Vol. 2 of the 'Records of the Western Marches' series of this Society. Provides full accounts of all the major branches of the Bell Family i

Review of 'Autism in History: the case of Hugh Blair of Borgue' - quotes voluminous evidence of a cross-section of People from Borgue who were cited to help a jury decide whether Blair was mentally incapable of giving informed assent to his marriage to th

Full transcripts are provided of two Stewartry of Kirkcudbright Stewart Court Minutes. The earliest is dated March 1670 and took place at Dalbeattie and relates to an area from the western side of Kirkbean Parish (Torrorie), Preston, Mersehead in Southwic

A revised assessment of the status of the Dumfries Sillar Gun which was gifted to the Dumfries Incorporated Trades in 1617 by James VI. The Trades held a royal injunction to assemble in military array and shoot for the trophy once a year and to encourage

Brief explanation of the indexing protocols applied to A.E.Truckell's transcript of microfilm records relating to 17th century Dumfries and Kirkcudbright Custom and Excise Records - see article III/75/173. Examples of the extracts available are cited.

Summary article describing the contents of a series of microfilmed records relating to Dumfries and Kirkcudbright recently transcribed by A.E.Truckell - the records relate principally to the shipping, textile and droving trades. The transcripts have been

The important excavations at Whithorn, carried out during the 1880s and 1890s under the patronage of the Third Marquess of Bute, were unpublished at the time of the death, in 1897, of the architect in charge, William Galloway. The only published record of