#dumfries & galloway

[scotianostra]

On April 16th 1914 the Galloway born writer and ‘Scotland’s Forgotten Bestseller’ S.R.Crockett died.

Born plain Sam Crocket at Little Duchrae in Balmaghie, Galloway on 24th September 1859, he was raised in Castle Douglas, won the Galloway Bursary to Edinburgh University in 1876 and supported himself by journalism and as a travelling tutor.

His Scottish works, many set in Galloway, unveil social history and the reality of life for the rural working classes, as well as delving into the history of the Covenanters and the Hanoverian period.

Travelling extensively he also wrote European novels, often based in Spain and France. His work was widely serialised in the late 19th century and was both ‘popular’ and commercially successful. This led to jealousy and accusations (unfounded) of being a ‘Kailyard’ writer, though his writing ranges far and wide over a thirty year career. However, the kailyard writer label stuck and sadly it means that many who might really enjoy reading about Scotland and her people from the perspective of the ‘ordinary’ rural dweller have missed out for generations.

For anyone who enjoys Stevenson, Hardy or Dickens, Crockett has plenty to offer. 9 years ago The Galloway Raiders was founded to preserve his memory and promote his life and writing. To date more than 40 of his novels/short story collections have been republished and he is finding a whole new readership of folk who can see beyond the stigma of labels and enjoy history adventure and romance in their fiction.

Throughout his life Crockett never forgot his native Galloway and though his native Galloway has all but forgotten him, The Galloway Raiders’ exist to commemorate and celebrate his writing all over the world. find out more at www.gallowayraiders.co.uk

[katystraveltips]

A week in Dumfries & Galloway, Scotland

A week in Dumfries & Galloway, Scotland

Staying at – Lord Galloway Lodge 35, Conifer Lodges by Solid Luxury, Newton Stewart We decided on a UK staycation in Dumfries & Galloway, Scotland to Celebrate my partner Simon’s Dad having a very special Birthday and turning 60! So we booked up a Lodge by Solid Luxury at their Conifer Lodges location just outside of Newton Stewart for a week away. Location of Conifer Lodges, Newton Stewart We…

[suevincent]

Walking off the mince pies#04 ~ Mary Smith

Walking off the mince pies#04 ~ Mary Smith

Reblogged from MarySmith’sPlace: Happy New Year! It’s becoming a New Year tradition to walk off the mince pies, though the first one took place between Christmas and New Year and was my first blog post, which you can read here. The following years, we walked on New Year’s Day itself and you can read those posts here and here. This year, I was determined to walk (I may not have eaten many mince…

[explorerfloyd]

Kenmure Drone Footage

[earthstory]

International Dark Skies Park – Galloway Forest Park, Scotland

The UK’s largest Forest Park, Galloway Forest Park, has over 75,000 hectares of land, few buildings that need lighting, and relatively few neighbors. In 2009, it became the first Dark Sky Parks in the UK after Scotland’s Forestry Commission turned in a 100-page application. They had to state Galloway’s case for becoming a DSP, prove that the night sky meets the conditions for certification, commit to providing educational programming on astronomy and light pollution, prove they have support from local government and nearby private property owners (including the villages of Dumfries & Galloway), and provide a management plan to prevent light pollution long-term both within and near the park.

Not only was Galloway approved, it was certified as Gold tier. This means that the full array of visible sky phenomena can be viewed—e.g. aurora, airglow, Milky Way, zodiacal light, and faint meteors. The designation has allowed Galloway to promote itself as a tourist destination for anyone interested in seeing an exceptional night sky.

RE

Photo Credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/laurienevay/42807116435

References: http://bit.ly/1uuapE5 http://bit.ly/1IDMFVV http://bit.ly/1DcS7tb

[42soul]

Frairs' Carse by connor173

[lillithphoto]

Annan Councillor Sean Marshall seeks for power to be given to local authorities to tackle “eyesore” listed buildings.

Central hotel, Annan sits opposite our railway station has been left in disarray. Disused over years.

Sean Marshall, Annan councillor wants help to be able to tackle derelict sites like central hotel which is opposite the train station and the Erskine Church.

From my research Sean Marshall told the Standard: “In Annan, we are a conservation area and that can make it worse, we are working to regenerate and then you have these buildings, some of them an eyesore, sometimes sitting in prominent sites. In Annan you have the Erskine Church, which is just off the High Street, and we have the Central Hotel, which is just opposite the station. We also have a regeneration steering group, part of which is a masterplan to regenerate the High Street and bring derelict buildings back into use. Being in a conservation area can actually hinder that because there is greater protection of listed buildings and local authorities don’t have sufficient powers at the current moment.”

The Labour councillor, who represents Annandale south. Affixed: “This isn’t just happening in Annan but there are examples in communities big and small across Dumfries and Galloway - and Scotland in general. https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/local-news/annan-councillor-calls-more-powers-23795988.amp

[scotianostra]

Good Morning from Scotland 

Sunrise at Carsphairn, Galloway Forest in South West Scotland 

📸elrohirleather on Instagram 

[explorerfloyd]

Loch Ken

[isegarth]

Saturday 11th, we woke at Taste of Perth and manfully elected not to go in to the restaurant for one of their wonderful breakfasts but we did buy some provisions. We were going all the way to Kippford and planned only to stop at Abington to fuel up with Autogas, with a call in at Falkirk to see the Kelpies if time permitted. The idea was to arrive at  the site as close to the earliest check-in time of 2pm as we could.

Naturally nothing went as planned. Mr L had been feeling poorly for the week before we went away and his condition had by now worsened. I don’t wish to examine the topic too closely but it meant a deferred preparation for departure…

I grabbed a shot of some fungus on a tree stump for my 30 Days Wild contribution whilst Mr L fretted over his wiper blades

That preparation included an investigation of the windscreen wipers. It had been raining in Pitlochry last night and we had used the wipers for the first time since buying the van. It turned out that they were in poor condition, particularly the driver’s side.  We fired up the WiFi and Googled for the nearest Halford’s, which was in Perth. So we set off for Perth, where we found Halford’s in a small retail park, the city kind, the kind with small car parks with tiny car spaces in them… Luckily, I spotted four spaces together at the end of two rows. We utilised them.

They didn’t stock the kind of wiper that we needed, nor could they order them in but an extremely helpful young man did at least produce some tools and swap the wipers over for us and make us safe to travel on. There followed a hiatus during which we attempted t leave the car park by the only navigable route for a vehicle of our size. It was against the traffic flow and one particular drive was in no mind to give way  or to recognise our plight. Tempers were fraying…

It was well past lunchtime when we finally got on our way and so Falkirk was cancelled. We wanted only to get through the Central Belt as quickly as possible.

Then I smelled gas.

We travelled many miles on an “I can smell gas, can you?” “No” basis before agreeing that, yes, we could both smell some kind of fuel smell. We agreed to leave the motorway at Lesmahagow but did not find a place to stop before Happenden services. I tracked the smell down to the oven, fiddled with some knobs and convinced myself that the smell had dissipated. We made a quick lunch, seeing as we had stopped. Then we set off again for Abington for our LPG fillup, turning off the motorway again around Moffat to head for Kippford.

It was good to be in familiar country and Dumfriesshire is so very beautiful, all Belties and billowing hills. The GPS took us by a good route, with no scary moments but lots of scenery, and skirting just the edge of Dalbeattie. The sun came out to greet us at the moment we approached the site.

Teddy was keen to be out and about and to explore and was very cross to be kept leashed but we did take him out for some fresh air before we were ready to be off and exploring with the dog.

It is a hilly site, with its own private woodlands which are (of course) accessed by walking to the top of the hill. I huffed and puffed my way up, pausing to take photographs of the views that revealed themselves at every turn.

The site is large but very skillfully landscaped such that at no point is one ever aware of the size of the place or the number of vans around about. The views are stunning. I was captivated by the range of shrubs, especially the rhodies and azaleas in bloom and the number of wild birds, red squirrels and rabbits.

It was really good to have some proper darkness and we slept well, particularly as teddy behaved himself and did not try to get into our bed at any point. That’s not like him…

Part 3 follows

Teddy’s Last Trip part 2 Saturday 11th, we woke at Taste of Perth and manfully elected not to go in to the restaurant for one of their wonderful breakfasts but we did buy some provisions.

[visibilityblog]

This week’s top Tweets

Twitter is bursting with stories, initiatives and information on anything and everything.  But with the average lifespan of a Tweet just two hours, you’d be forgiven for missing out some on of this week’s top Tweets on visual impairment.

The average blog post lifespan, however, is 2-3 years, so if you did miss out on some of this week’s top stories, hopefully you can catch up on them here on Visibility’s blog.  Oh, and if you’re reading this in 2016, do let us know how things are in the future @WeAreVisibility

A menu that speaks for itself!  Fed up with having menus read out to him, Matthew Wadsworth wanted to take the stress out of ordering.  Although some restaurants provide Braille menus, a tiny percentage of people with a visual impairment can utilise these.  So the blind entrepreneur has launched a new app to revolutionise the way Britain's 1.5 million visually impaired people eat out in the country's restaurants with the Good Food Talks app.  Check out the full story here, and download the app via @GoodFoodTalks

New program helps visually-impaired Kinect with Yoga:  Researchers at the University of Washington have developed Eyes-Free Yoga, a program that allows the visually-impaired to practice yoga at home without the need for a live instructor.  The program is able to give positive feedback like “Your arms are good” or “Your core is good” to let the users know what they’re doing correctly and also give instructions like “Lean forward” or “Straighten your left arm” to correct the their pose.

A woman who had to hang on for her life after a suspension bridge lifted her 22-feet in the air during a charity walk will not be charged with trespassing – after police discovered she is legally blind.  Wanda McGowan, 55, was brought to safety by firefighters after witnesses called emergency crews to rescue her.  Full story.

eSight helps blind girl see:  “I went from just seeing nothing to seeing everything in my classroom”.  The device - made by Ottawa-based eSight Corporation - reconfigures images captured by its high-definition camera in a way to optimize a user’s vision.  The processed images are then fed into two LED screens in front of the user’s eyes.  We need to get a pair of these!  Great story with pics and video can be viewed here.

And finally… for the animal lovers out there, check out the heart-warming story of Zola, the 14 year-old deaf-blind terrier who has been re-united with her owner - eight days after she first went missing on a beach near Padstow.

[howatdesigns]

Emailed my brief yesterday, for the Marketing Society Star Awards 2013. We had to think of a way to get 16-25 year olds out of the city and into the countryside...it was difficult!! I was proposing an event held at Galloway Forest Park in Dumfries & Galloway, as it has the first, and the only, dark sky park in the UK. With only 2 in Europe, it's a very rare and exciting thing, I thought. Let's see what the big dogs think.

[scotianostra]

On January 21st 1290 Sweetheart Abbey, near Dumfries, was founded by Devorguilla, mother of King John Balliol.

Lady Devorgilla was reputed to be so devoted to her husband that after his death, she kept his heart in a small casket and carried it with her always.  When she died, she and her husband’s heart were buried together in the abbey.  

Sweetheart is a ‘daughter’ abbey of Dundrennen Abbey nearby.  It was largely constructed by and populated with monks from Dundrennan.  Scotland’s “Archibald the Grim,” eEen credited as a second founder.

The last of the Cistercian Abbeys in Scotland, Sweetheart Abbey also managed to hold out against the English enforcers of reformation. The local Scots people and the local Lord all supported both Sweetheart Abbey and its Abbot and in so doing, the Abbey functioned as a place of worship much longer than many other abbeys of the time.  

The last Abbot was taken prisoner by the Crown in the early 1600s, and Sweetheart Abbey fell into decay, its relics & treasures plundered, and the very stones of its once great walls picked away by scavengers for use elsewhere.

[scotianostra]

On February 10th 1306, The Red Comyn, a leading claimant to the vacant Scottish throne, was murdered in a Dumfries church.

This was a pivotal point in the story of the Bruce, and no matter how you try to brush it up and tidy it, the event in Greyfriar's Kirk, in Dumfries on 10th February 1306 was a brutal ruthless act, it left the way clear for the 7th Lord of Annandale to seize the Scottish throne. 

English accounts of the period say Robert the Bruce lured Red Comyn to the church in order to kill him. Scottish accounts say Comyn betrayed Bruce, who killed him for his treachery.

Killing someone was, a big deal. Killing someone in a church was a very big dwal. Killing John Comyn in a church, well…

Comyn was one of , if not  THE, most powerful noble in Scotland, and was descended on both sides from previous kings of Scotland. He was the nephew of John Balliol aka Toom Tabard, who’d been forced to abdicate as King of Scots a decade earlier. Comyn’s wife, Joan de Valence, was the cousin of Edward I, King of England.

Bruce was the grandson of Robert de Brus, twhose claim to the throne had been rejected by Edward I. Bruce was descended from David I via two of his great-grandparents. His grandfather, second cousin to King Alexander II, had served as regent during that king’s minority.

As you can probably guess, there was a touch of rivalry between the two families. And it went a bit beyond two nobles jostling for position. In the past, acting as Joint Guardians of Scotland, they’d had a bit of a tiff while fighting the English together, and Comyn is said to have grabbed Bruce by the throat.

It’s all a bit complicated,  the two had a various times, been on opposite sides of the war, with Bruce supporting Edward I, and Comyn supporting his uncle, John Balliol. Comyn was captured by the English in the one actual battle of 1296, the Battle of Dunbar.  Bruce had also fought with the English at times, such was the power that Edward Longshanks yielded, I think at times he would have been a charismatic character and it suited him to have the two factions “fighting” each other, while not actually shedding blood, this was all about to change. The reason for the chopping and changing can be explained down to a lot of Scottish nobles of the time, including Bruce and Comyn, held lands in both England and Scotland, so they were looking after the own interests at this time.

Ten years after the Wars of Independence began, Bruce and Comyn met at Greyfriars church. This was after the death of William Wallace, and eight years before the victory at Bannockburn tin the absence of a king, Scotland was still being governed by Guardians, by now though King Edward had put in place his own man,  John of Brittany, Earl of Richmond.

The most contemporary record of the murder comes from messages by Edward I who sends a couple of friars to Dumfries to find out about Comyn’s death. At the same time, Edward seems pretty meh about it. A couple of months later he’s really angry, possibly cause Bruce has had himself crowned king and is in open rebellion, and he’s accusing Bruce of the premeditated murder of Comyn, premeditated or not, Bruce had just committed a sacrilege, and broken an awful lot of oaths, it saw The Bruce being excommunicated by the Pope, a massive thing back in the day, and a thing that played on him till his dying day.

You know how I like to quote the Chronicles, they were/are basically the nearest thing we hav to the newspapers of the day, thisis  from the Flores Historiarum, a chronicle written in 1306, Bruce is said to have murdered Comyn because he stood in his way to the throne: Comyn refuses to rebel with Bruce. The following year, this account is expanded to add in some details, like Bruce drawing a sword on an unarmed Comyn, but Comyn managing to wrestle the sword from Bruce before he’s struck down by Bruce’s attendants.

Another chronicle has poor Comyn lured into a trap at Dumfries, where he’s accused of treachery by Bruce. And his denials mean his violent death. Later chronicles add more details: Bruce was wearing concealed armour, Comyn gets dragged back to the altar to be killed, he has a chance to confess and reaffirm his loyalty to Edward before he dies, there’s time enough between his wounding and death for Bruce to capture Dumfries castle

So there are no shortage of accounts, the thing is they all had their own axe to grind, think of it like the Scottish newspapers The National and The Scotsman writing about the same story and you get the idea.

The evolution of the chronicles is interesting in and of itself, but as accounts of what actually happened, they’re not very useful. The one thing they are consistent in is that the killing was premediated: Bruce planned to kill Comyn because Comyn could stop him becoming king. And their versions are useful. To Edward.  

 All these chronicles also emphasise Comyn’s loyalty to Edward, and his refusal to betray his oaths of fealty. But this is also the man who was fighting with William Wallace against Edward long before Bruce. And, after being captured and agreeing to fight for Edward on the continent, Comyn deserted and went home to Scotland. Such facts however, were less helpful to Edward. * Spoiler alert in two weeks time I shall post about one of those said occasions when I tell you about The Battle of Roslin.

There are four existing later medieval chronicles that address the murder, all of them written decades after it happened. But they *do* draw on earlier sources that are now lost, and include evidence that there could have been support for Comyn as king, thus upping the rivalry between him and Bruce.

These accounts are by Scottish authors, written under Bruce’s descendants. So this time it’s Comyn who’s the villain: a traitor that agrees to aid Bruce and then betrays him. And this is how John Comyn continues to exist in our cultural memory today. Not as a great leader, or warrior. Not for his victories. Or his defeats. But for betraying our greatest hero to our oldest enemy.

The chronicles are actually quite nice about Comyn’s victory over the English at Roslin; they’re not straight-up BAD COMYN BAD, but they do all use various means, secular and religious, to try and justify Comyn’s death. The religious justification is fascinating: Comyn was a necessary sacrifice to purge the country of the poison of its internal divisions so we could unite and become whole again under Bruce.)

So, did Robert the Bruce go to the Greyfriars church with the intention of murdering John Comyn? We don’t know. We’ll never know. We can only explore and speculate, and bring our own biases and prejudices to the table. The one fact is that Comyn was slain in a house of god, and, as I said earlier, it was a big bad no-no! 

This event at the end of the day meant  there was now no going back for Bruce: he had committed to war with England and fighting for the throne and the independence of Scotland. No more chopping and changing sides.

The site of the murder is long gone, a plaque marks the supposed spot, it was a pound shop or a Greggs, such is history, a bit vague on actual locations too, it lies beneath the street and a few years ago there was talk of it becoming a night club  Greggs also has a blue plaque claiming they are the site!  Maybe in the future a fight will break out over the rival claims  ;) 

[hummingzone]

Potter Hannah's prize draw for charity

Potter Hannah’s prize draw for charity

A Corsock potter is holding a prize draw for one of her pieces to raise money to help tackle hunger and poverty. Hannah McAndrew is aiming to raise thousands of pounds for FareShare as well as highlighting the issue of racism through the online draw for her slipware charger called This is England. The piece includes three lions, similar to those on the England football team’s badge, which are…