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| Established | 1879 |
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| Location | St Mary Street Kirkcudbright Scotland DG6 4AQ [1] |
| Coordinates | Coordinates: 54°50′07″N04°03′06″W / 54.83528°N 4.05167°W |
| Type | Local museum |
| Website | http://www.futuremuseum.co.uk/about/partner-museums/a-z-list-of-partners/the-stewartry-museum.aspx |
The Stewartry Museum is a local museum in Kirkcudbright, Scotland, which covers the history of this part of Galloway.
The museum was originally founded in 1879 and housed on the top floor of Kirkcudbright Town Hall. [2] [3] The museum moved to its current building designed by architect Robert Wallace, in 1893 due to the increasing size of the museum collection. [4] The museum was maintained by the Stewartry Museum Association until 1990 when control of both the museum and the building passed to Stewartry District Council. After the Scottish councils were reorganised in 1996, management of the museum was passed to Dumfries and Galloway Council. [2]
Collections chiefly relate to the human and natural history of the Stewartry, also known as Kirkcudbrightshire. The museum, and the companion art venue Kirkcudbright Galleries, house two nationally Recognised Collections [5] of art and archaeology. The museum houses one of the oldest surviving sports trophies in the United Kingdom called the Siller Cup. [4] Objects illustrative of the folklore, traditional crafts, and agricultural life of the area are also displayed here. Archaeological collections include significant Mesolithic and Neolithic holdings of barbed arrow heads, axe heads and other material from the Early Medieval and later periods - including Viking weaponry. The Museum is a recipient of finds from the Treasure Trove scheme. The Stewartry also houses a significant archive relating to local, family, civic, and social history, including early modern Borough Records with references to numerous witch-trials and attendant incarcerations in Kirkcudbright Tolbooth. The numerous bygones and natural history specimens from local fresh and saltwater habits are a well loved aspect of the museum. [6]
In 2015 the museum put a lens from Little Ross lighthouse on display for the first time. It was made in Paris by the French company, Barbier, Benard, et Turenne in 1896 and was used by the lighthouse until 1960. It was donated to the museum by the Northern Lighthouse Board in 2004. [7]
The museum also has casts made from rock art carvings at High Banks Farm which has several groups of cup and ring marks. The collection also has slabs with cup and ring marks from Blackmyre and Laggan. [8]
Dumfries and Galloway is one of 32 unitary council areas of Scotland and is located in the western Southern Uplands. It comprises the historic counties of Dumfriesshire, Stewartry of Kirkcudbright and Wigtownshire, the latter two of which are collectively known as Galloway. The administrative centre is the town of Dumfries.
Kirkcudbright is a town and parish and a Royal Burgh from 1455 in Kirkcudbrightshire, of which it is traditionally the county town, within Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland.
Castle Douglas is a town in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. It lies in the lieutenancy area of Kirkcudbrightshire, in the eastern part of Galloway, between the towns of Dalbeattie and Gatehouse of Fleet. It is in the ecclesiastical parish of Kelton.
Kirkcudbrightshire, or the County of Kirkcudbright or the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright, is a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area in the informal Galloway area of south-western Scotland. For local government purposes, it forms part of the wider Dumfries and Galloway council area of which it forms a committee area under the name of the Stewartry.
Wigtownshire or the County of Wigtown is a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area in south-west Scotland. It is popularly known as and referred to as The Shire. Until 1975, Wigtownshire was one of the administrative counties used for local government purposes, and is now administered as part of the council area of Dumfries and Galloway. As a lieutenancy area, Wigtownshire has its own Lord Lieutenant, currently John Alexander Ross. In the 19th century, it was also called West Galloway. The county town was historically Wigtown, with the administrative centre moving to Stranraer, the largest town, on the creation of a county council in 1890.
Dalbeattie is a town in the historical county of Kirkcudbrightshire in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. Dalbeattie is in a wooded valley on the Urr Water 4 miles (6 km) east of Castle Douglas and 12 miles (19 km) south west of Dumfries. The town is famed for its granite industry and for being the home town of William McMaster Murdoch, the First Officer of the RMS Titanic.
The Novantae were a people of the late 2nd century who lived in what is now Galloway and Carrick, in southwesternmost Scotland. They are mentioned briefly in Ptolemy's Geography, and there is no other historical record of them. Excavations at Rispain Camp, near Whithorn, show that it was a large fortified farmstead occupied between 100 BC and 200 AD, indicating that the people living in the area at that time were engaged in agriculture.
Creetown is a small seaside town in the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright, in Galloway in the Dumfries and Galloway council area in south-west Scotland. Its population is about 750 people. It is situated near the head of Wigtown Bay, 18 miles (29 km) west of Castle Douglas. The town was originally named Ferrytown of Cree as it formed one end of a ferry route that took pilgrims across the River Cree estuary to the shrine of St Ninian at Whithorn. This is why the local football team, formed in 1895, are known as "The Ferrytoun".
Kirkcudbright Stewartry, later known as Kirkcudbright or Kirkcudbrightshire, was a Scottish constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of Great Britain from 1708 to 1801 and of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1918. It was represented by one Member of Parliament (MP).
Borgue is a village and parish in the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. It lies 5 miles south-west of Kirkcudbright and 6 miles south of Gatehouse of Fleet. The name Borgue is from Old Norse borg 'stronghold'.
Gairloch Museum is an independent museum in the Wester Ross region of Scotland. The museum is located in the Highland village of Gairloch, in Achtercairn.
The Galloway Hoard, currently held in the National Museum of Scotland, is a hoard of more than 100 gold, silver, glass, crystal, stone, and earthen objects from the Viking Age discovered in the historical county of Kirkcudbrightshire in Dumfries and Galloway in Scotland in September 2014. Found on Church of Scotland land, the hoard has been described by experts as "one of the most significant Viking hoards ever found in Scotland". It was discovered by a metal detector enthusiast who reported the find to the authorities. A county archaeologist carried out an excavation which unearthed a rich and unusually varied collection of objects from the Viking Age, though some of the objects considerably pre-date that period. It is thought that the hoard was buried some time in the mid-ninth or tenth century, though it is not known why it was buried.
Kirkgunzeon is a village and civil parish in Dumfries and Galloway, south west Scotland. The village is 10.4 miles (16.7 km) south west of Dumfries and 4.1 miles (6.6 km) north east of Dalbeattie. The civil parish is in the former county of Kirkcudbrightshire, and is bounded by the parishes Lochrutton to the north, Urr to the west, Colvend and Southwick to the south and New Abbey to the east.
Kirroughtree House is the heritage-listed mansion house of the Kirroughtree estate. It occupies a prominent position 1 mile (1.6 km) northeast of the town of Newton Stewart in the Galloway region of southwest Scotland. The main access is from the A712 close to its junction with the A75. Kirroughtree House was the family seat of the Heron family from the 14th or the 15th century until the 1880s. The mansion house is now a luxury hotel. While remnants of an older house have been found in a blocked-off cellar, the current house dates to 1719 with extensions to the northeast added in the 19th and early 20th century. The house has connections with both James Boswell and Robert Burns, each of whom stayed at Kirroughtree House as guests in the later 18th century.
The 2017 Dumfries and Galloway Council election took place on 4 May 2017 to elect members of Dumfries and Galloway Council. The election used the twelve wards created as a result of the Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004, with each ward electing three or four councillors using the single transferable vote system form of proportional representation, with 43 councillors being elected, a reduction of 4 members and 1 ward since 2012.
Kirkmabreck is a civil parish in the historic county of Kirkcudbrightshire in the Dumfries and Galloway council area, Scotland.
Lena M. Alexander, later Lena Duncan, was a Scottish artist known for her portrait and flower paintings.
Frederick Coles FSA Scot (1854–1929) was an archaeologist, artist, naturalist and musician. For many years he worked as Assistant Keeper at the National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland in Edinburgh from where he was funded to make a series of annual field archaeology expeditions to survey and draw stone circles in Scotland.
Kirkcudbright Town Hall is a municipal building in St Mary's Street, Kirkcudbright, Scotland. The building, which was the headquarters of Kirkcudbright Burgh Council, is a Category B listed building.