Two fine fireplaces

One of Scotland's most elegant hotels is the Cally Palace, once the home of the Murrays, great men and women of the 18th century in Galloway.

The beautiful house was completed in 1756 and it is surrounded by extensive rolling landscaped grounds, with forests as a background.

Today the Cally Palace hotel attracts visitors in search of a taste of the elegance of the past with the facilities and cuisine of today.

In the grand main drawing room there is a beautiful marble fireplace, on which stand Chinese vases and a clock, set against gold Chinese pattern walpaper. In another room there is a second, equally stylish fireplace.


The owners of the hotel have lavished care and attention on the interior design, choosing appropriate furnishings and decorations that reflect the ethos of the original house, designed for an 18th century gentleman and his family. The 150 acres of parkland and woodland include an excellent golf course, exclusively for guests, putting and croquet lawns and a tennis court. The hotel facilities include an indoor swimming pool and a fine billiard room, as well as a noted restaurant, gymnasium and spa.

Cally Palace Hotel, Gatehouse of Fleet, Dumfries and Galloway, DG7 2DL. Telephone 01557 814 341. www.callypalace.co.uk info@callypalace.co.uk. It is worth noting that the hotel is not part of a huge chain but is owned by the McMillan group which features a selection of historic luxury hotels in Scotland – www.mcmillanhotels.co.uk.

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Bridging Galloway's rivers came late

The powerfully-flowing rivers of Galloway were always a problem for travellers. By the middle of the 18th century there were still only a few bridges in existence.

In 1737, the Commissioners of the Stewartry of Kirkudbright, signed a contract worth a thousand pounds with William Beck, a mason, to build three bridges, the Bridge of Dee, Tongland old Bridge and Bridge-ford Bridge, over the Black Water of Dee.

The river Cree drains a huge area of wild hills and it had to be crossed when travelling across lower Galloway. The town now known as Creetown was originally named Ferrytown of Cree, which indicates, obviously, that there used to be a ferry there. A ford also existed and it is still marked on the modern Ordnance Survey map.

One of the region's first major bridges was built a little up-river. “The bridge at Newton-Stewart, which first connected Wigtownshire and the Stewartry of Kirkudbright was erected in 1745 at the joint expense of the two counties. It cost 750 pounds sterling. John Douglas, architect. This bridge was swept away by a flood, about the year 1810. The erection of the present bridge (see picture) across the Cree at Newton Stewart, was commenced in the summer of 1813, and built of native granite, chiefly from the moors of Minnigaff, at a cost of 6,000 pounds by Mr Kenneth Mathison of Inverness, who brought masons from Aberdeenshire for that purpose, they being more cunning in the art of splitting and squaring granite, than the craftsmen of Galloway were at that time. Mr Mathison subsequently built the bridge across the Ken at New Galloway, the bridge over the Black Water of Dee at Duchrae, the Pier at Stranraer, the Quay at Port Nessock, and the Harbour of Kirkudbright.

Source: The History of Galloway, from the Earliest Period to the Present Time, volume II, published by John Nicholson, in Kirkudbright, in 1816, page 405.

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Women in their own right

In England tombstones in old churchyards often treat wives as an afterthought.

The wife is usually listed under her husband's surname: “John Smith and Mary Smith, his wife.”

In Scotland, however, women's own names appeared on their tombstones.

This picture, taken in the graveyard of Wigtown Parish Church, shows the grave of Samuel William, who died in 1850. His wife died five years before and is buried in the same grave. She is listed on the stone under her own name “Mary Stewart his spouse.” Several other members of the family are also in the grave, with all the wives similarly referred to by their maiden names.

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Sphagnum moss saved lives

In quiet corners all over Galloway Sphagnum moss grows. The moss covers fallen tree branches, stones, rocks, and flourishes un-noticed today and just a part of the carpet of greenery.

In the First and Second World Wars however, the moss was a vital element in the battle not to kill but to save lives. Sphagnum moss was used extensively in field dressings to be applied to wounds. The moss can hold up to 20 times its dry weight in liquid – ideal for soaking up the blood. And it is extremely acidic which hinders the growth of harmful bacteria and fungi.

In the First World War Sir Dennis Forman, who lived at Beattock, south of Moffat in Annandale, was responsible for organising the collection of the moss throughout the whole of Scotland. Much of the picking was done by hard-working members of the Women's Auxiliary Corps. Sir Dennis wrote at autobiography, Son of Adam, which is quoted on page 105, of the book Annandale, Scotland in Old Photographs, by David Carroll, Sutton Publishing, 1998, ISBN 0 7509 1625 7.

“All manner of sphagnum detritus was piled in the Moss Room,' Sir Denis recalls. 'There were wooden monorails and wide flat sleepers and two-wheeled wooden trolley-like giant scooters...There were jute sacks in their thousands, frames, Heath Robinson machines of all kinds...and in one corner, like grain in a Pharoh's tomb, a dusty pile of sphagnum moss itself.”

Older people around Wigtown Bay, in Galloway, still remember the moss being collected in local woods and damp places.

A young woodsman who works today amidst the trees confirmed that the sphagnum moss is flourishing where it is left in peace. Apparently, it is very popular with the deer. If they injure themselves or have aches and pains they lie down on patches of the moss.

The biggest threat today to the moss, also known as peat moss, is the draining of wetlands to create more farmland. Large scale extraction of moss, which could see deposits laid down over thousands of years stripped in a week, has largely stopped. In England 90 per cent of peat bogs have been destroyed. Today, New Zealand has developed a sustainable moss industry. The moss is very popular in a wide range of products, particularly for gardeners where it is added to bagged soils to increase water retention capacity. Moss is also essential in growing mushrooms and it makes a fine habitat in which to breed tarantula spiders.

Ancient human bodies have been preserved for thousands of years in moss bogs. Although the bones have dissolved, the skin, hair and clothing is marvellously preserved. Food was also preserved and “bog butters” dating back 2,000 years have been found in Scotland and Ireland. In the past dried moss was used by people living in the Arctic as insulation.

If you are thinking, however, of using moss as a home remedy, be careful. If applied directly to the skin, abrasions, cuts and scratches can allow the spores of the Sporotrichosis disease to enter the body. Perhaps that is why in the dressings used in wars it was carefully packed inside bandages to keep it from direct contact with open wounds.

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Iron nails at ancient church

The ancient church at Cruggleton sits at the site of what was once an important settlement of the Britons who once inhabited Galloway. Long afterwards a castle was built there but it is now in ruins and there are no traces of any settlement. Today the place is the preserve of the sheep and the circling crows.

The little church is surrounded by trees and a wall with stone steps set into it that allow the rare visitor to climb over and walk around the building. This door set with iron and huge hinges is particularly impressive. Cruggleton Church can be found on the B7063 a little south of Garlieston,

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Traces of the Vikings in Borgue blood?

Scholars hare argued for ages over the extend of Viking settlement in Galloway, with theories verging from the view that they were everywhere to the view that some were invited in and settled only in particular places to protect the locals from attack from wilder Norsemen.

Today the quiet village of Borgue, near Kirkudbright, is pretty and peaceful. But it is speculated that the name comes from the Old Norse language.

There is no better explanation of the history of the region than “Galloway, a Land Apart,” by Andrew McCulloch, 2000, published by Birlinn Limited, 579 pages, ISBN 1 84158 027 9.

It seems there may still be Vikings at Borgue, and McCulloch quotes on page 72, an 18th century source, “Heron, R. Observations made in a journey through the western counties of Scotland in the Autumn of 1792, 2 vols (Perth, 1793).

Heron wrote:, volume two page 204: “It is worthy of notice that the inhabitants of the district of Borgue...were long regarded by other people in the district as a sort of peculiar, insulated tribe. The families of the farmers had been settled there for many generations...were all mutually related by intermarriage [and] a person of singular appearance of manners was commonly said by the people of the country to be a Borgue body...I take them to have been a more unmixed race either of Danes or Anglo-Saxons than remained in any other part of this country.”

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Mysterious stones stand the test of time

Students of the strange should visit the Torehouse Stones which stand about three miles west of Wigtown, Scotland.

This is one of the best preserved ancient stone circles in Britain. Although much smaller than sites such as Stonehenge all the stones are still present and in good condition. There are 19 granite boulders, set on their ends. Three of the boulders are in the centre of the circle. The site is unusual for the area and is of a type more commonly found in northeast Scotland or in Ireland.

Of course, whenever a stone circle is mentioned lovers of myth quickly refer to the Druids although sceptics sigh at the wilder flights of fancy. What is certain is that the Torehouse Stones are very ancient indeed, perhaps Bronze Age (3300BC to 1200BC).

Local legend maintains that they are the burial place of King Galdus, a hero who fought the Romans in about 80AD. The three central stones are supposed to cover his grave while other stones a little distance to the north, across the road, are said to be where his generals lie and nearby cairns are said to be graves of soldiers. The circle certainly dates back a thousand years or more before the Romans came anywhere near the area but, who knows, perhaps such a significant site was used to bury the King much later? Are the stones across the road “heel stones” related to astronomical alignments or observations? The site has never been excavated so there are plenty of questions to be asked. If this site was “down south” it would have been massively investigated with all sorts of academic research and New Age speculation.

The diameter of the stone circle is from 61 to 66 feet and the stones are positioned between five and 11 feet apart, with the ones on the west side being smaller and closer to each other than on the west. It is unusual to find three stones in the centre of such circles. The stone in the centre of the trio is smaller than the other two and they are arranged in a line running northeast to southwest.

The site, which is open all the time and free, is in the care of Historic Scotland – see http://www.historic-scotland.gov.uk/index/places/propertyresults/propertydetail.htm?PropID=PL_291&PropName=Torhouse%20Stone%20Circle The stones are right next to the B733 road.

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