The Town
The western approach to Annan affords a spectacular view of the town. The plans for the 176 year-old road bridge with its graceful arches were by the great engineer Rennie.
Outstanding amongst the important sandstone buildings at this end of the High Street is Bridge House, built in 1780 and considered to be one of the finest Georgian town houses in Scotland. From 1802 to 1820 it served as the town Academy, where Thomas Carlyle was both pupil and teacher. Plans are under way to restore this Grade A listed building for public use, and to build a museum for East Dumfriesshire which will house the present collections of the Historic Research Centre and provide permanent and temporary exhibition galleries, a café, shop, family research room, education room, marriage room and business facilities.
The High Street widens in front of the Victorian Town Hall of 1878, in the Gothic Style. The rope work carved above the central doorway is a reminder of Annan’s success as a port.
The War Memorial is one of many in the area. WW2 names will eventually be added to it. Bruce Street branches off the High Street at the War Memorial. It leads to the public park where the mounds of Robert de Brus’ 12th century motte and bailey (covered with trees on the right of the photograph) still tower impressively over the site of the original river crossing. This was the first of the castles built by this powerful Norman dynasty, who gave the settlement of Annan baronial burgh status.
Opposite the entrance to the park a plaque marks the cottage where the distinguished Victorian artist William Ewart Lockhart, painter to Queen Victoria, was brought up. His last self-portrait, won a posthumous Paris Salon medal.
Many of the fine sandstone buildings along the High Street and Bank Street are the subjects of a survey for a restoration project. All the buildings in Bank Street are Grade B listed, including the former library, now the Historic Resources Centre, the present Museum and Archive centre for East Dumfriesshire. Its 2002 series of exhibitions (entrance free) lasts from 27 March to 23 November. (Check for opening times : 01461 201384). The modern public library is in Charles Street (01461 202809)
The continuation of Bank Street leads past the late Victorian private houses of St John’s Road to the railway station, built by the Glasgow and South Western Railway Company in 1848 and one of the best surviving early stations in the region. On the other side of the road are the late 19th and late 20th century versions of Annan Academy, which celebrates its 200th anniversary in 2002.
During his retreat from Derby, Bonnie Prince Charlie stayed in the High Street at the inn where L’Auberge now stands. As an exciseman based in Dumfries, Robert Burns was a frequent visitor to the town and harbour, and is said to have written The Deils Awa wi th’ Exciseman in a building on the site of the present Pagani’s restaurant. Annan Old Parish Church, built in 1789, marks the eastern end of the town in the Georgian period. Its elegant interior includes a canopied Provost’s Pew.
The old graveyard behind provides important evidence of the variety of trades that brought prosperity to the area in the 18th and 19th centuries. In front of the church is a statue to Edward Irving, the famous preacher deposed from the ministry of the Church of Scotland in 1833 for his heretical views.
The Harbour & Waterfoot
Port Street branches off the High Street at Bridge House. It is now the official Sustrans cycle route leading to the new cycle bridge. Its imposing private houses belonging to port officials and merchants are reminders of Annan’s success in trade and shipbuilding. Many of the old warehouses are gone, but the harbour quay has been partially restored.
In the 18th and 19th centuries Annan was a major point for emigration. Waterfoot Road runs along the riverside merse to the remains of the two piers where families caught boats for the New World. Shrimp boats still anchor in the Annan river mouth, and the haaf net fishermen can often be seen standing out in the tide for salmon and sea trout.
The Burns Cairn, erected by Annan’s Solway Burns Club, commemorates the fact that Robert Burns as an exciseman patrolled the shore here.
The views across the Solway are sensational - the Lake District mountains to the south, here photographed at sunset, Criffel to the west, and the Pennines to the south east. There is also a good view of the sandstone-faced embankment of the old railway viaduct, built in 1865-9. The metal viaduct itself was demolished in 1934-5, but the embankment still provides a popular walk.
The large boulder known as the Altar Stane, visited by the riders at the annual Annan Riding of the Marches, is just to the east of the line of the viaduct and on the edge of the main channel of the Solway. It marks the seaward boundary of the Royal Burgh.
Round & About (1)
One of the easy walks recommended in the new booklet Walking In and Around Annan is that along the riverbank from Annan, via the Jubilee Bridge, to the pleasant village of Brydekirk, where a bar meal may be enjoyed. Licences may be obtained for river fishing.
The road on the west side of the river passes Annan cemetery, containing graves from the 19th century to date, and including the official war graves of the airmen from R.A.F. Annan. The Sustrans cycle route continues along the coastal roads west of Annan, past the villages of Cummertrees, Powfoot, Ruthwell and Clarencefield.
Powfoot was built as a Victorian seaside holiday resort. Nowadays it boasts an excellent golf course, a hotel and the Queensberry Bay Caravan Site.
In Ruthwell village there is the fascinating Savings Bank Museum, commemorating the life and work of the Rev. Henry Duncan founder of the first savings bank. (Tel: 01387 870 640) The museum also contains information on the famous Ruthwell Cross in Ruthwell Church, with carved panels and runic inscriptions of the 8th century AD.
A kilometre west of Ruthwell on the B725 is the Brow Well where the dying Robert Burns drank the water in an attempt to cure his illness.
On its way to Dumfries the B725 passes Caerlaverock Castle, besieged by Edward 1st in 1300, unique for its three-sided design, and one of the most impressive and photogenic castles in Britain. There are replica siege engines, an excellent museum and a teashop. The nearby Caerlaverock Nature Reserve, most famous for its famous flock of wintering barnacle geese, is an ideal centre for observing many kinds of wildlife.
Dalton is a charming village with meals available at the inn or home-made baking for all the family at Dalton Pottery art café (Web site: www.daltonpottery.co.uk).
Round & About (2)
It is a short journey from Annan on the B723 Lockerbie road to Hoddom Bridge, on a tranquil stretch of the River Annan. It was here in the 7th century AD that St Kentigern (St Mungo) built his monastery.
Excavations have located his small church under the old riverside graveyard, 300 metres west of the bridge. The 1992 excavations on the slope to the north found the boundary and several buildings of the monastery, including this remarkable stone-lined baptistry, which is seen here being dismantled for future restoration on a suitable site.
The beautiful grounds of nearby Hoddom Castle contain a nine-hole golf course, an award-winning caravan site, a seasonal tearoom and shop, and several clearly signed walks. (Website: www.hoddomcastle.co.uk) The castle dates from the 16th century and is crowned by an unusual beacon platform, designed to provide fire and bell signals of the approach of English marauders, with similar warning provided by the nearby Repentance Tower. The latter’s bell and fire-pan were replaced by a dovecote in the 18th century.
Across Hoddom Bridge the road forks to Ecclefechan, birthplace of the Victorian polymath Thomas Carlyle. His statue looks down on the village, and the house built by his father and uncle has contemporary furniture and many souvenirs of the great man (National Trust for Scotland, Telephone 01576 300666 for opening times).
North of Ecclefechan lies the prominent saddleback of Burnswark Hill, an Iron Age hillfort, with extensive views in all directions. The line of its defences is only faintly visible, but the ramparts of the southern of the two Roman camps at its foot are still prominent. The Romans used the ruined hillfort for practice assaults, the three mounds being platforms for artillery.
Birrens Roman fort, Blatobulgium, (G.R. 219753) is on the side of the minor road between Middlebie and the Motorway Bridge at Eaglesfield. Its playing card shape and multiple ditches are still prominent. Some of the exceptionally fine sculptured and inscribed stones from the site are on display in Dumfries Museum, including this tombstone of centurion Afutianus.
Round & About (3)
Eaglesfield Village was the birthplace of the artist W.E. Lockhart RSA RSW. Bar meals and dinners are available.
In the ruined churchyard of Kirkconnel on the banks of the Kirtle in Springkell estate is the grave of Fair Helen Irving of Kirkconnel Lea of Robert Burns’ poem. (G.R. 250754).
The Merkland Cross (G.R. 250721), in a field next to the M74 at Kirtlebridge, is of 15th century date and is associated with legends of the slaughter of a military commander. The village of Kirkpatrick Fleming offers bar meals and has a caravan site, adjacent to which is Bruce’s Cave, reputed to be the cave where Robert the Bruce saw the spider.
Three kilometres south west of the village, on the B6357, is Westlands Outdoor Activity Centre, offering a variety of challenges and games for all ages. (Website: www.westlands-activities.co.uk).
Two of the many border tower-houses, reminders of the endless raids of the Border Wars, are within easy reach of Annan. Bonshaw Tower (G.R. 243721), the scene of fierce fighting, is still the seat of the Irving clan. (Visits by special appointment only). Stapleton Tower (G.R. 235689), built by the Johnstones, is empty but kept in good repair by the Vivers family. To the north west of this the giant towers belonging to Chapelcross Power Station have been constructed on the side of the runway of R.A.F. Annan. Many of the huts of this Second World War airfield still survive in the village of Creca (G.R. 227704). The three main hangars which housed Magisters, Hurricanes and Typhoons are still used by the Power Station; they are not accessible, but are visible from the B722 road.
The churchyard in the village of Dornock has two early mediaeval coped grave covers propped up by four Romanesque capitals from a 12th century belfry.
The modern burial ground for Dornock is at nearby Eastriggs, a town created in the First World War to provide for workers at the Gretna munitions factory. St John’s Church in Dunedin Road houses the fascinating exhibition about the workers, The Devil’s Porridge (Telephone 01461 40460 for opening times. Website: www.devilsporridge.co.uk)