Agriculture

Lit by gaslight and powered by steam, by 1815 the cotton-spinning mills of Ancoats in Manchester represented technology at the leading edge of the industrial revolution. Side by side on the Rochdale canal, two huge cotton-spinning factories dominated Ancoats, each employing over 1000 workers (Kidd, 1993, p.24). Remarkably, the founders of these two mill complexes, partners John Kennedy (1769–1855) and James McConnel (1762– 1831), and brothers Adam (1767–1818) and George Murray (1761–1855), all came from Kells parish in the Glenkens district of Galloway. The industrial revolution, which transformed Britain between the 1780s and 1830s, drew many thousands of people from similar rural backgrounds into fast-growing towns and cities. Very few, however, were able to succeed and prosper by mastering the technological and economic challenges of these new environments. Why were the Glenkens group able to do so? To answer this question requires an understanding of the social and economic background from which they emerged. A key argument will be that the development of the cattle trade with England led to the early advent of capitalist farming in Galloway. By the later eighteenth century, the social and economic environment of Galloway had been shaped by market forces for the best part of a century. Although this was a form of agricultural rather than industrial capitalism, it meant that when Kennedy, McConnell and the Murray brothers began their businesses in Manchester, the marketplace was a familiar rather than alien environment.

In 2012–2013 Alastair and Catriona Duncan recorded nineteen audio interviews with over-sixty residents or former residents of the parish of Kirkpatrick Fleming, Dumfries and Galloway, and with four groups: older people, 30-year-olds, new residents, pupils of Primary 6. Kirkpatrick (as the village of Kirkpatrick Fleming is commonly known) lies twelve miles south-east of Lockerbie and three miles north-west of Gretna and the English border. Individual interviews between an hour and three hours long, took the form of life histories. Questions were also asked about the respondents’ sense of local and national identity and about their speech. In the 1930s the village of Kirkpatrick had many shops and there was a vibrant community life based round the Victoria Hall and the church. Some housing conditions were very poor. School discipline was harsh. During the Second World War, the population was expanded by the presence of evacuees, Honduran woodcutters, Canadian air force personnel and prisoners of war. A strong community spirit persisted into the 1950s and 1960s, but communal activities — outings, dances, sports clubs, churchgoing and Sunday School attendance — began to decline. Larger farms have increased in size and modernized mainly into large-scale milk production. An influx of new residents has stabilized the population. Older residents and thirty-year-olds have a strong sense of belonging to Kirkpatrick and of being Scottish, but are unanimously against independence. Speech is the main marker of belonging but differences in speech are fading. All generations share three sites of memory: the school, the river Kirtle and the one remaining shop.

John Heathcoat was the inventor of a steam ploughing engine which he demonstrated on marshland near Dumfries in 1837. The organisers were disappointed with its performance, and thereafter it was believed that the machine had sunk into the marsh; but there is evidence against that account of its fate.

A presentation which revealed how the Murray family developed their parks and pleasure grounds at Cally, Gatehouse of Fleet. Although the designed landscape is now largely hidden by forestry planting many historical features are still recognisable and hel

This report has arisen from the production of a management plan for Cally designed landscape for the Gatehouse Development Initiative in 2007. That plan is a practical tool to inform management and maintenance of the landscape and interpretation and enjoy

During the complete county census of 2008 the total of 13,459 rook nests was recorded. Thus, in the five years since 2003, there has been a 25% decline in nest numbers. This continues to confirm the 5% per annum rate of decline extrapolated from the parti

Review article

Lecture to the Society, 20th January, 2006. This talk related that Dumfries and Galloway has some of the finest gardens in the country which reflect the climate, topography and history of the area. There is a range of gardens that are right on the sea goi

During the course of a Field Study Meeting in Galloway, centred on Newton Stewart, the Institute of Sociology heard a lecture on 9th August, 1939. The talk had been prepared by Alexander S Morton but to his incapacity because of illness the talk was read

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

Rooks have nested in Dumfriesshire since time immemorial and their numbers have been surveyed since at least 1908. During the decade (1993-2003) they decreased dramatically by 30% and by a further 5% between 2003 and 2004. The climate and topography are c

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

A lantern lecture covering a wide field of investigation and speculation

This meeting was held in the hall of the High School. It was illustrated by Mr Bratley's own colour films showing the different variation of the birds, with particular reference to their plumage and physical characteristics. The lecturer ended with a film

This lecture by H.M.Inspector of Fisheries for Scotland traced the evolution of this industry from earliest times and also gave an idea of how salmon were preserved for transport before the days of canning and freezing. The various kinds of traps for the

A very interesting paper was contributed on this subject, dealing mainly with Mr Beattie's own experiences when accompanying the herring fishers of the Firth of Clyde and also with the boats fishing for hake, etc., from Fleetwood. For the first time in th

Mr Duncan gave a number of extremely interesting sketches of bird life in the neighbourhood of Closeburn and elsewhere. These may be printed on another occasion. [Not printed in Transactions]