Dumfries
 Abbeys |  Castles |  Royal Britain |
Dumfries was created a Royal Burgh by William the Lion in 1186, and received its first known charter from Robert III in 1393. It was here, in 1306, that the Scottish patriot Robert the Bruce, committed the first act of rebellion against Edward I, which led eventually to the Wars of Independence. Bruce slew Sir John Comyn, his own bitter enemy and also the king's representative, on the altar of the Greyfriars Monastery; this in turn led to Bruce declaring himself King of Scotland, and to the resultant Anglo-Scottish conflict. In Castle Street, a plaque on a wall marks the site of the former monastery - the present Greyfriars Church was built in 1868. Robert the Bruce's first victory in the bitter struggle with Edward I, was the capture of Dumfries Castle. Sadly, only remnants of the castle survive, at Castledykes, and the site is now laid out to wooded parkland.
The most prominent of the older buildings is the Mid Steeple, constructed in 1707 as courthouse and prison. The old Scots 'ell' measure of 37 inches is carved on the front of the building, and a table of distances to other towns includes the mileage to Huntingdon in England. In the 18th cent, this was the destination for Scottish drovers herding their beasts south for the English markets.
Robert Burns lived in Dumfries from 1791 until his death in 1796; the poet's funeral procession led off from the Mid Steeple. Here it was, in Dumfries, that Burns penned some of his most famous songs, including 'Auld Lang Syne'. The house in which he died, now called Burns House, is a museum containing many of his personal possessions and literary relics. Very near the house, in St Michael's churchyard, stands the poet's mausoleum, where he is buried together with his wife Jean Armour and five of his children. Burns appears to have spent a good many evenings in the Globe Inn, where 'his' chair is preserved, and on a pane of glass in an upper room are two verses of poetry, scratched, so the story goes, by the poet with a diamond. The Town Museum and The Hole in the Wall Tavern, also contain Burns' relics. A statue outside Greyfriars Church commemorates the poet.
Although the parish church of St Michael dates from 1744, its eventual completion was delayed when Bonnie Prince Charlie visited the town in 1745. Finding Dumfries indifferent to his claims on the English Crown, in a fit of pique, he had the church lead stripped from the roof, to add to his plunder of £1000 cash and 1000 pairs of shoes for his soldiers. Dumfries Burgh Museum was founded in 1835 in a restored 18th cent windmill. Located at the top of the structure is a camera obscura, which permits visitors a panoramic view of the city below. Another museum, in the Old Bridge House, has six period rooms, and is located at one end of Devorgilla Bridge. Built in 1426, this medieval stone bridge, with six arches, was named after Lady Devorgilla, who founded Sweetheart Abbey, lying six miles south of Dumfries in the grounds of New Abbey. When her husband, John de Baliol (founder of Balliol College, Oxford) died in 1269, she had his heart embalmed; at her own death 21 years later; the heart was buried with her body in front of the abbey altar. This devotion to her husband is said to have given the word 'sweetheart' to the English language.
Also close to Dumfries is Caerlaverock Castle, a triangular fortress built of pink sandstone that gives off a rosy hue in the sunlight. Mystery surrounds the castle's origin; whether English or Scottish it was built during the 1290's, rebuilt several times after this, finally to become a stronghold of the Maxwells, a powerful Border family, in the 15th century.