Moffat is an attractive small town on the River Annan and just off the busy A74. With its very broad High Street lined with small family owned shops and C17 and C18th buildings, it is a popular place to break journey. Much of it a conservation area and the Museum in the old bakehouse tells the history of the town .
This map is copied from https://korthar2015.blogspot.com/2017/03/moffat-scotland-map.html
Until the C15th, Moffat was a small and insignificant place. Life was hard and during the ‘debatable years’ between 1300-1600, reiving (rustling) was a way of life and stolen animals were animals hidden in the Devil’s Beeftub, a natural hollow in the hills above Moffat.
The development of Moffat was based on three separate things - sheep a staging post between London and Edinburgh and as a spa town. It became an important important staging post between England and Edinburgh with pubs like the Black Bull which dates from 1568.
It later became an important spa town, when Rachel Whyteford, a local minister’s daughter, discovered a sulphurous mineral well in the hills above Moffat in 1633. The healing properties of the water were quickly advertised as an effective cure for skin conditions, gout, rheumatism and stomach complaints. A second Chalybeate spring was discovered.
Visitors could take the waters at the well head and carriages were available in the town from 7am to transport the visitors the couple of miles along along Well Road to the well. Later water was transported to the specially built Baths Hall (now the Town Hall) on High Street. Not only could visitors drink the waters here, they could also take hot or cold mineral baths to cure skin lesions and rashes at the cost of two shillings.
Moffat grew rapidly with many large hotels being built on the High Street to accommodate the increasing numbers of visitors. The largest and grandest was the Hydropathic Hotel which was built in 1878 with over 300 bedrooms. Unfortunately it was destroyed by fire in 1921, and the great days of Moffatt as a spa town declined rapidly.
The railway, a short branch line from Beattock, arrived in 1883. The journey only took a few minutes and in its heyday there were there were 12 to 15 trains a day. The line was closed to passengers in 1954 and all good by 1964.
The increase in visitors to the Spa resulted in the building of two new churches. St Andrew’s Church at the bottom of High Street was built in 1884 replacing an earlier church on the same site.
St Mary’s Church at the opposite end dates from 1893 but has now been turned into residential accommodation.
Sheep have always been an important source of income in the Moffat economy and the area is renowned for breeding black face sheep, with the fleece being used for weaving. The finest fibres came from the neck and shoulders. The roughest from the legs.
The bronze ram sculpture and drinking fountain on High Street were commissioned in 1875 by a local businessman William Colvin as a gift to his native town to commemorate its long association with sheep farming and the wool trade. Standing above a pile of sandstone rocks, this was the work of the celebrated Victorian Scottish sculptor, William Brodie. According to legend, when he statue was unveiled in front of all the local dignitaries legend, a local farmer exclaimed, “It has nae lugs!“. The sculptor had forgotten to give the ram ears beneath his horns. The shame of his mistake and the ridicule it received was too much for Brodie and he hanged himself in his room in the Annandale Arms Hotel. It makes a good story but has no basis in truth as Brodie died in Edinburgh six years later.
Moffat Handloom Weavers were formed in 1949 in the old abatoir building next to the railway line. It began to produce a small range of high quality tweed items for sale. When the mill closed in the 1980s, the building was taken over by the Edinburgh Woollen Mill and is now a major shopping complex with a wide range of clothing and a cafe.
At the back of the shop is a small ‘museum’ with examples of two of the looms.
cont...
This map is copied from https://korthar2015.blogspot.com/2017/03/moffat-scotland-map.html
Until the C15th, Moffat was a small and insignificant place. Life was hard and during the ‘debatable years’ between 1300-1600, reiving (rustling) was a way of life and stolen animals were animals hidden in the Devil’s Beeftub, a natural hollow in the hills above Moffat.
The development of Moffat was based on three separate things - sheep a staging post between London and Edinburgh and as a spa town. It became an important important staging post between England and Edinburgh with pubs like the Black Bull which dates from 1568.
It later became an important spa town, when Rachel Whyteford, a local minister’s daughter, discovered a sulphurous mineral well in the hills above Moffat in 1633. The healing properties of the water were quickly advertised as an effective cure for skin conditions, gout, rheumatism and stomach complaints. A second Chalybeate spring was discovered.
Visitors could take the waters at the well head and carriages were available in the town from 7am to transport the visitors the couple of miles along along Well Road to the well. Later water was transported to the specially built Baths Hall (now the Town Hall) on High Street. Not only could visitors drink the waters here, they could also take hot or cold mineral baths to cure skin lesions and rashes at the cost of two shillings.
Moffat grew rapidly with many large hotels being built on the High Street to accommodate the increasing numbers of visitors. The largest and grandest was the Hydropathic Hotel which was built in 1878 with over 300 bedrooms. Unfortunately it was destroyed by fire in 1921, and the great days of Moffatt as a spa town declined rapidly.
The railway, a short branch line from Beattock, arrived in 1883. The journey only took a few minutes and in its heyday there were there were 12 to 15 trains a day. The line was closed to passengers in 1954 and all good by 1964.
The increase in visitors to the Spa resulted in the building of two new churches. St Andrew’s Church at the bottom of High Street was built in 1884 replacing an earlier church on the same site.
St Mary’s Church at the opposite end dates from 1893 but has now been turned into residential accommodation.
Sheep have always been an important source of income in the Moffat economy and the area is renowned for breeding black face sheep, with the fleece being used for weaving. The finest fibres came from the neck and shoulders. The roughest from the legs.
The bronze ram sculpture and drinking fountain on High Street were commissioned in 1875 by a local businessman William Colvin as a gift to his native town to commemorate its long association with sheep farming and the wool trade. Standing above a pile of sandstone rocks, this was the work of the celebrated Victorian Scottish sculptor, William Brodie. According to legend, when he statue was unveiled in front of all the local dignitaries legend, a local farmer exclaimed, “It has nae lugs!“. The sculptor had forgotten to give the ram ears beneath his horns. The shame of his mistake and the ridicule it received was too much for Brodie and he hanged himself in his room in the Annandale Arms Hotel. It makes a good story but has no basis in truth as Brodie died in Edinburgh six years later.
Moffat Handloom Weavers were formed in 1949 in the old abatoir building next to the railway line. It began to produce a small range of high quality tweed items for sale. When the mill closed in the 1980s, the building was taken over by the Edinburgh Woollen Mill and is now a major shopping complex with a wide range of clothing and a cafe.
At the back of the shop is a small ‘museum’ with examples of two of the looms.
cont...
