Industrial Archaeology

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.

Duchess Bridge near Langholm is one of Scotland’s earliest surviving cast-iron bridges. It spans the River Esk within the policies of the one-time Buccleuch mansion of Langholm Lodge in Dumfries and Galloway, and it was cast and erected in 1813. This note reproduces some contemporary documentation concerning the bridge and something of the narrative that caused it to be.

This paper uses a variety of original sources on planned settlements in South West Scotland and the local industrial archaeology in order to explore the progress of Gatehouse of Fleet from the early 1760s, focusing first on the early feuars in the settlement established by James Murray of Broughton near his new mansion at Cally. The paper tracks attempts to bring industry such as tanning and brewing to Gatehouse. Using legal papers in particular, evidence shows how James Murray, other landowners, his partners in the new businesses and local tradesmen all became caught up in the rapid rise and subsequent failure of the Ayr Bank in 1772. The lasting effects of the bank’s failure on the local economy due to the financial burden on Murray and others is examined and we see how this led to a lack of new building, followed by the emigration of a number of the Gatehouse feuars. Development began to pick up only in 1777 when Murray promoted the settlement in the press and reduced feu duties for all new building. Cotton manufacture came to Gatehouse in 1785 with the signing of a contract between Murray and the Birtwhistle family, which led to the construction of a substantial mill. The rapid but short lived development and subsequent decline of the cotton industry and its effect on Gatehouse is examined in some detail. Finally we see how Gatehouse returned to its earlier role as a supplier of tradesmen to Cally Estate under Alexander Murray of Broughton.

A short article describing a grooved stone tool from the Wanlockhead area presented to the Society's Museum in 1929. It is considered to represent a form of tool utilised in prehistoric mining activities - parallels are provided from other sites.

Railways in Scotland began with the Kilmarnock and Troon Railway, built by the Duke of Portland and opened in 1812. The first main line in the south west was the Glasgow and South Western Railway. This company came to dominate the south west, although alw

The speaker gave a comprehensive review of all aspects of shipping in Kirkcudbright throughout the period 1300 to 2005. Particular attention has been devoted to identifying the individual vessels and further information will be found in the author's publi

In 2003, during a survey of the collection of decorative carved stones from the ecclesiastical buildings on the site of Whithorn Cathedral Priory, the writer was asked to add a geological annotation to the stonework typologies. Upon analysis, the stonewor

The purpose of this addendum is to make it known that copies of the above summary have been deposited for reference in the Ewart Library and the Archive Centre, Dumfries and the Stewartry Museum. It may be used to locate references to roads, bridges and

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

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

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 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 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