Antiquarian

Although Joseph Train (1779-1852), the celebrated antiquarian and associate of Sir Walter Scott, was an Ayrshireman, he was based for the principal part of his career in Dumfriesshire and Galloway.2 Train’s antiquarian endeavours have been noted in these Transactions on previous occasions as have the Statistical Accounts.3 This article argues that antiquarianism had a considerable impact on the Statistical Accounts and notes Train’s contribution to them in particular. It also suggests that Train’s production of a Statistical Account of the Isle of Man (1845) was the direct result of his involvement with Scott, ‘statistics’ and South-West Scotland; and that his work on Man should be seen as an expression of territorial identity within an over-arching and increasingly patriotic British state. The article begins by contrasting the background and career of Train with the principal authors of the Accounts, the ministers of the Church of Scotland, as a means of emphasising his achievements.

In 1965 the Grierson Museum, Thornhill, was disbanded and its rich collections of natural history and antiquities were distributed to other museums and to private dealers. Glasgow Museums acquired several pieces, including some rare items of clothing that mostly originated in the Great Lakes region of North America. The collection history of these items has become obscured, but current research to reattach the clothing to surviving documentation suggests that it was acquired by a Dumfriesshire man, Thomas Whyte, early in the nineteenth century. This paper introduces this little-known collection and the archival processes through which its history is now being reconstructed and recast. It also reflects upon the social relationships through which the Grierson Museum was developed and highlights possibilities for future research into its fascinating history.

A review article

A short article describing, from newspaper reports, the finding of an unclothed bog-body at Glenhead, parish of Leswalt, in 1852.

The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland was established by Royal Warrant in February 1908, entrusted with the task of making an inventory of the ancient and historical monuments and constructions connected with or illustra

This article explores the distinctive features of the Accounts for the shires of Dumfries, Kirkcudbright and Wigtown and the changes revealed in the lives of the people and their environments between the First and Second and between the Second and Third A

A seclection of notes on Torthorwald Kirk Session, 1696-1882; the Baronie of Cluden papers, 1712-31 and Dumfries Burgh Treasurer's Accounts for 1708-10. The notes and observations were made during the course of the transciption of these records held on mi

Between 1st and 15th August 1939 the Institute of Sociology, Le Play House, 35 Gordon Square, London held a field study meeting in Galloway. Centred on Newton Stewart the group set out to investigate the natural history, history and social science of the

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

In 1906 the so-called Dumfriesshire fragments were presented to the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland in Edinburgh by a certain Norman B. Kinnear. They were registered under the number FC 179 and are still partly exhibited in the current archaeological e

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 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

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

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.

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

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

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

Review of the publication by Anne Cone and others of 'The Excavation of a Scottish Lowland Crannog: Excavations at Buiston, Ayrshire 1989-90'. Covers all aspects of the archaeology - including a review of Robert Munro's 19th century excavations. Includes

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

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

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

Joint meetings with the Royal Archaeological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland on 15th July 1939. A Reception took place at the Station Hotel, Dumfries on the 14th July. The site visits were to. Morton Castle (described by Mr T.S. Richardson), Duris