Historic Monthly Meeting Reports 2014 to 2019

October 2018: The Forgotten Railways of Galloway

Angus Rex who was originally brought up in Portpatrick and is a lifelong railway enthusiast gave a fascinating talk to a large audience of Stewartry U3A members on the Forgotten Railways of Galloway. He illustrated his talk with photographs of engines and rolling stock which operated on the various lines in the area and the former stations, most of which have now disappeared.

The main railway route was to Portpatrick, intended by the Government of the day as a means of taking the mail for the short ferry crossing to Ireland. The section from Castle Douglas to Stranraer opened in 1861 and reached Portpatrick in 1862 with a short steep branch line down to the harbour. The route for the railway was across the centre of Galloway often over rural land which was cheap to acquire even if this meant that stations were some distance away from the towns. The Gatehouse of Fleet station was 6 miles from the town and at Creetown the station was well above the village. The line dropped down to a lower level at Dunragit and the Stranraer Town station was built on the edge of the town where the line then headed west to Portpatrick, its intended destination.

The ten mile branch line from Castle Douglas to Kirkcudbright opened in 1864 and the Wigtownshire railway from Newton Stewart to Wigtown and Whithorn opened in stages from 1875 to 1877 and served the creameries in the area.

A line south from Ayr was opened, first with the Ayr and Maybole railway in 1856, and then extended and eventually reaching Challoch Junction between Dunragit and Glenluce on the Portpatrick railway in 1877. Part of this railway was again over the moors up above Girvan.

The Cairnryan Military railway was opened in 1942 to service the port of Cairnryan, an important location during the Second World War particularly in the preparation for the D Day landings. The line was finally removed in 1967.

Stewartry U3A Anniversary

The next meeting of the Stewartry U3A will be the Annual General Meeting which will be held at the Cocoabean, Twynholm on Tuesday 27 November starting at 2.00pm. This will be followed by a talk on the Peter Pan Moat Brae Trust by Cathy Agnew and then a tea party to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the Stewartry U3A. Unfortunately it is now too late to get tickets for the afternoon tea, tickets cannot be bought at the door,but you will be very welcome at the AGM and the talk beforehand.

September 2018: Hunting Witches in Galloway

“Hunting Witches in Galloway” was the enthralling subject of Stewartry U3A’s September meeting. Our speaker, Dr Lizanne Henderson, is author of Witchcraft and Folk Belief in the Age of Enlightenment: Scotland, c.1670-1740, the winner of the Katharine Briggs Book Award 2016, so we knew we would hear an authoritative account, and it was an added bonus that the speaker was also very engaging.

The legal framework of witch hunting in the period was the Witchcraft Act, 1563 which was repealed in 1736. However the reasons for the persecution were many and varied. A lot of accusations stemmed from neighbour disputes and were essentially malicious. Others arose when “charmers” or folk healers remedies failed and patients died.

Lizanne compared the incidence of witch hunting in Galloway with Europe, for it was certainly not just a local preoccupation! Across Europe there were estimated to have been over 100,000 witch trials, and about half resulted in executions. In Scotland, population around one million at the time, there were 3837 trials, and around 2000 executions. Around 15% of cases were men. In our region in the period there were 78 cases tried in Dumfries, 35 in Kirkcudbright and 15 in Wigtown.

The “witch panics” of the late 16thcentury were fuelled by the King, James VI, who was of the opinion that he was being personally attacked and 300 suspected witches (mostly from Lothian) were accused. He published a work on the subject, Dæmonologiein 1597.

A later “panic” in the 1661-2, when around 600 people were accused in Scotland, coincides with the covenanters, but Lizanne does not find evidence of a link as both Protestants and Catholics were equally concerned.

Fear of the unknown was at the root of people’s belief in the evil of witches. The accounts of these cases give an insight into the lives of people at that time. If an animal died unexpectedly, or a crop failed, the owner may recall a neighbour cursing them and lay the blame there. The mark of the devil would be searched for on the body of the accused; the head would be shaved and the body pricked with a pin to find evidence. The minister and church session had a significant role in investigating cases, it was considered their duty to rid society of this social pest and enemy of God. The Synod of Galloway at Kirkcudbright in 1669 found much wickedness and necromancy in the country, the presbyteries of Wigtown and Stranraer being the worst!

Examples of witches include Jonet Miller a folk healer of Rerrick, who was executed in 1656. It is understood she invoked the help of fairies in her work, an unforgiveable deed, and used foxglove as a medicine which may have brought about the death of a patient. Execution was by strangling and then burning.

Bessie Paine was imprisoned in Kirkcudbright Tolbooth in 1671 with 5 others in a dark dungeon, and it is recorded “she died of cold and hunger due to the inconvenience of prison”. She was a charmer, a self confessed professional witch, who treated people and livestock, but unsurprisingly not always with success.

Many were acquitted Marione Lewers of Richorn complained to the minister in 1658 that she was being slandered as a witch, she was however listed as a delinquent for misdemeanors against her neighbours.

May 2018: The Whithorn Trust

Julia Muir Watt, Development Manager at the Whithorn Trust, gave a talk to the Stewartry U3A on 22 May on the archaeological work at the Black Loch of Myrton, the construction of the Roundhouse by the Whithorn Trust and the Whithorn Pilgrimage Way.

The excavations at the Black Loch have identified one of the largest Iron Age settlements in Scotland with a number of roundhouses. The boggy conditions have helped preserve much of the wooden structures including some very large timbers.

The Iron Age Roundhouse constructed by the Whithorn Trust was completed two years ago although work is still required on the interior. Local woods, alder, ash and hazel were used in the construction but the thatch had to be brought in from Eastern Europe. Much of the work was carried out by local volunteers including the laborious task of removing the bark from the timbers. The Roundhouse is already attracting many visitors and school children and has won prestigious awards.

Whithorn is the most significant pilgrimage centre in Scotland. One of the routes is from Glasgow Cathedral to Whithorn, 143 miles with evidence of Pilgrim churches along the route as well as houses for lepers. James IV came as a pilgrim to Whithorn on a number of occasions. The Trust is now working to promote the Whithorn Pilgrimage Way.

April 2018: Communication Matters

At the April 2018 meeting of the Stewartry U3a Ruth McMorran, Co-Chair of the Trustees of the charity Communication Matters gave a talk on her work with people with communication difficulties and the supportive work of the charity.

Ruth stressed the importance of Augmentative and Alternative Communication – the means by which people can communicate – through speech, gestures, pointing, signing, use of pictures and use of technology. These different techniques may be used in communicating with children who have difficulty in communicating as a result of cerebral palsy, learning difficulties and other issues and adults who have Parkinson’s, MS or Motor Neuron disease. The techniques can assist in allowing those affected to express their needs, interact with others and improve general social inclusion.

Technological developments and applications are now an important means of enabling people to communicate and Ruth demonstrated a number of items which allow people to express their needs including electronic keyboards with not just letters but with phrases and expressions. These can be operated by a variety of means and she instanced the late Professor Stephen Hawkins who had a sensor on his cheek which had allowed him to operate his device. One of the latest developments is eye gaze technology which allows the person to move letters on a screen.

Another development is called “voicebanking”, where people about to lose their voice can record their voice or volunteers record their voices for use with technological devices in place of the more usual synthetic voices.

Communication Matters is actively involved in the development of Augmentative and Alternative Communication, in raising awareness of the issues and encouraging research.

March 2018: A Medical Medley

Inglis Lamont, a member of the Stewartry U3A, gave a talk to the March meeting of members on stories from medical history, describing it as” a scamper down the ages”.

He started with what could be the earliest evidence of major surgery – Neolithic skulls with holes drilled into them which could have been made while the people were alive or post mortem. Moving rapidly on he told of Hippocrates and his school of medicine and how he had established the Hippocratic Oath which had applied down the centuries although with amendments over the years.

In the Middle Ages medicine was based on the four humours and treatment was designed to keep these in balance such as by taking blood with leeches. The Monks in the monasteries specialised in healing, studying the urine of patients and by taking their pulses. They also used herbs from their herb gardens in their treatments. On the other hand astrology was thought to be important in medicine such as by the Doctor of Physics referred to by Chaucer in his Canterbury Tales. Apothecaries had developed from grocers who dealt in spices while surgeons developed from barbers who had sharp instruments!

At one time it was illegal for men to be present at a birth but Inglis amused members by pointing out that this changed when one of the French kings had men deliver the children of his mistresses!

There were many advances in medical knowledge in the 19th century with inoculations against smallpox, the study of microbiology and containment of bacteria. It was recognised in the cholera epidemic in Soho in 1854 that the disease was water borne but this had not been appreciated when cholera struck Dumfries earlier in 1832.

New members welcome.

February 2018: Personal Reflections of The Scottish Parliament

Sir Alex Ferguson, former MSP and Presiding Officer, gave his personal reflections of the first 17 years of the Scottish Parliament to members of the Stewartry U3A at their February meeting.
Sir Alex said that his initial motivation in becoming a MSP when the Scottish Parliament was established was to ensure that rural affairs were highlighted. He was offered the candidacy for Galloway and Upper Nithsdale and then selected as list MSP. Following this he moved from the family farm in Ayrshire to Glenkens.

There was a great feeling of excitement when the parliament was being formed but being new to politics he said that he was grateful to more experienced operators. There was a lot of focus on rural affairs in the first parliament and he was pleased to be appointed to the Rural Affairs Committee.

In the 2003 election he was elected by a slender majority of 99 votes and in 2007 his majority increased to 3,333 votes. It was then that he was elected as the third Presiding Officer following on from Sir David Steel and Sir George Reid. Sir Alex said that it is a wonderful position, similar to the Speaker in the House of Commons, representing the institution of the Scottish Parliament. As Presiding Officer he had a casting vote in any debate and said that he would always vote for the status quo. He was responsible for receiving delegations to the Scottish Parliament, up to 150 a year, and represented the Parliament abroad on a few occasions. At that time government was consensual and scrutiny of business by the various committees he felt worked effectively due to the balance of members on the committees but this has now changed with the SNP having a majority on the committees.

In 2011 he won West Dumfries but stood down as Presiding Officer, joined the Conservative benches and was again on the Rural Affairs Committee. He decided not to seek re-election at the 2016 elections and retired from politics after 17 years.

At the next meeting of the Stewartry U3A on Tuesday 27 March at 2.00pm in the Parish Church, Castle Douglas, Inglis Lamont will give a talk entitled “A Medical Medley – from Neolithic times to the 19th century, stories from medical history.”

January 2018: War Memorials of Galloway

At the January meeting of the Stewartry U3A, Paul Goodwin told members of the many War Memorials of Galloway and of the men and women who were remembered on them.

He started his talk by quoting from the famous poem of remembrance “In Flanders Fields” written by Canadian, John McCrae, whose father had been born in Laurieston.

Paul said that there were many different types of memorials from the large, often granite structures, to rolls of honour and stained glass windows. The first memorial which he showed was the Waterloo Memorial on the hill above New Abbey and which is unusual in that it commemorates the Battle of Waterloo rather than those who had died there.

In Balmaclellan there is a rare memorial to those from the parish who were killed during the Crimean War. On the hillside there is a memorial to John Murray, son of the minister, who was killed during the First World War. The memorial had become enclosed by forestry but Paul had arranged for the area around it to be cleared and a path to make it accessible.

The style of the Dalry war memorial is typical of many in Scotland with a Celtic Cross while the Kirkcudbright war memorial has a warrior with a shield, a maquette of which is held in Broughton House. These and similar war memorials provide a focus for the annual act of remembrance.

At Dundrennan there is a memorial plaque to those who were killed when a plane crashed into a house during the Second World War.

Of rolls of honour, in New Galloway town hall there is one designed by the artist Jessie M. King and below which she had designed a plaque “Symbolism of Flowers”. The Castle Douglas Roll of Honour is now in the Community Centre and Paul told of locating a Post Office roll of honour behind hanging coats.

In many churches there are stained glass war memorial windows, and one by the famous Scottish stained glass artist Douglas Strachan is in Buittle church and another by Douglas Hamilton is in the former church at Beeswing.

In closing his talk Paul emphasised the importance of caring and maintaining all forms of War Memorials in order that the fallen be remembered.

November 2017: The Kirkcudbright Poor House

Following the AGM, of the Stewartry U3A on 28 November, Professor Don Cowell gave a fascinating insight into the history of the Kirkcudbright Poor House which opened in 1850 and only closed in 1953.

Prior to 1845 the Parish was responsible for providing poor relief for those who could not work mainly by voluntary funding from the Kirk and local heritors. However the Poor Laws of 1845 set up Parochial Boards to raise funds by way of taxes as a securer way of looking after the poor. In Kirkcudbright it was decided to establish a poor house for not only those from the town but also from Borgue, Twynholm and Tongland. But due to local pressure the poor house had to be built half a mile outside the town and the first governor, a former army Sargent, and matron were appointed in 1850 when the poor house opened.

In 1853 over 20 other parishes agreed to combine with the Kirkcudbright poor house, agreeing to contribute towards the costs and it became known as the Kirkcudbright Combination Poor House. The building had a side for males and another for females, meaning that even married couples were split up, and was originally designed for 250 but there was rarely more than 70 to 80 in the house. Food was based mainly on porridge and only those who were working were given any meat. There were strict rules and regulations and even a punishment room where people could be kept in solitary confinement.

The local Inspector of the Poor was an important local official and he was responsible for deciding whether someone was eligible to go into the Poor House. The Board of Supervision in Edinburgh gave guidance but became more controlling and was responsible for regular inspections of Poor Houses.

Don said that some of the Inspectors’ records survive and are a wonderful source of information about the operation of the Poor House. From these records, Poor House records and Census records he had found that in early years many children, orphans or abandoned, were in the Poor House, there were also elderly people and some women came in while having a baby. Some people were in for short periods of weeks or months but others were there for 30 to 40 years.

Don said that he had found that there had been a local scandal in 1869 when a woman in the Poor House complained to the Inspector about various matters in the house including that she had been assaulted by the Governor. The complaints were investigated and the Governor decided to resign.

In 1920 the building was renamed Burnside House and became the responsibility of the County Council in 1930. In 1946 the building was abandoned and the Poor Law was abolished in 1948.

Finally Don said that he had been pleased to get information about the Poor House from Raymond Finnie, son of the last Governor and that Raymond was in the audience at the meeting.