Stories

By popular demand we will publish some of Tommy's stories both about the museum and the town.

Unusual Wallpaper found in Dalbeattie House!

During the alterations to a large house in the town it was discovered in the hall way of this house was a very unusual wallpaper.

 As can be seen in the pictures of what was left of the paper,A collection of vignettes depicting soldier in green uniforms on manoeuvres and on parade, an officer on horseback also drawings of military equipment and the monogram RV all done in colour. The House was Alma House in

Mill Street once the residence1 of Dr John Patterson Lewis From 1868 to 1879.

 As the house was named Alma after a Crimean battle1854 it was thought to have some

connection .

The initial of RV was found to be short for Rifle Volunteers and the idea it might be from the Crimea war was scuppered, The Rifle Volunteers a movement started in 1859 to counter fears of a French invasion. The specific regiment depicted was not clear more information was required. Searching the house records it was found that in 1886 as Dr John Patterson Lewis lived here and he was in the Army List.

 Of the six independent corps of Rifle Volunteers in Kirkcudbrightshire, the Dalbeattie Corps was raised in 1868 and the doctor was appointed its first honorary Acting Surgeon on 24 July 1868 a post he held until February 1879.. 

This information has been recorded by The Wallpaper History Society.

The Allusive Watch!

This watch has a striking depiction of the Paschal Lamb in the centre of the dial. This watch could only belong to a cleric, and that, of its self, greatly limits its currency but the fascinating fact about this timepiece was that it was given to the Rt Rev Dr Andrews Curruthers (1770-1852) by the parishioners at St Peters Church on Craignair Street Dalbeattie, upon the occasion of his consecration on 13th January 1833, in the Catholic Chapel Edinburgh, as Ceramis and Vicar Apostolic of the Eastern District of Scotland.

This watch is signed Chas Spears, Liverpool and numbered 1844. The 18-carat gold case is hallmarked for Chester and the case maker was John Helsby. The cuvette is inscribed: " To the Rt.Rev. Dr Carruthers from the Catholic Congregation of St Peter's Dalbeattie.

A wonderful gift and a remarkable testimony too from the relatively small number of people who had respect, affection and gratitude towards him, since the church has only seats for only 252 people, and in 1833 these would have been almost exclusively poor Irish workers in the local granite industry.

Dr Curruthers was born at Glenmillan near New Abbey Dumfrieshire in 1770. He came to Dalbeattie in 1814 due to the rising Catholic numbers in the village of Dalbeattie. Dalbeattie was a thriving place at this time due to several factories for the production and processing of paper, wool and grain. There were also two saw mills in the area. The granite quarry opened and there became a good demand for Dalbeattie granite, which was used for such projects as the Thames Embankment, Chatham docks, and the Mancherster City Hall and Assize Courts. All this activity drew many workers into the area and Dr Carruthers was granted 3 or 4 acres on which to build a chapel.

Captain Bie's Animal Story

This is Captain Bie's monkey and dog.  His animals were always interesting, especially to Rockcliffe visitors. His animals were a horse, a donkey, a dog, and this monkey.  The dog and monkey were great companions and the monkey generally travelled on the back of the dog. The faithfulness of these two to their kind hearted master may be illustrated by the following incident. Captain Bie had been away for a cargo and the dog must have seen the vessel enter the river, for it ran from Rockcliffe to Kippford with the monkey on its back and swam across the river to where the vessel was moored. Expecting to be welcomed by it's master unfortunately the vessel was a stranger and the animals had their journey in vain.
An artist painted the monkey but he monkey licked the paint off the canvas and thus brought about its death. This brought great sadness for the dog that mourned its friend for a long time afterwards.

Captain Bie and other Colvend families had several representatives in the seafaring line. Hailing from the Boreland Farm, Captain Charles Bie owned the fine schooner “William Thompson” and sailed her for many years. His son, Captain John Bie succeeded him as skipper on this vessel and afterwards owned and commanded different vessels including the “Annie Heron, Annie B Smith and the “Bee”. The “Annie Heron “ was later sold into Wales

The Demise of an Airship that Crashed Off Castle Point, Rockcliffe.

A few years ago a very interesting letter was handed in to Dalbeattie Museum by Mrs Leyland, who is a resident of Dalbeattie. She had a hand written letter sent by a young girl to her Daddy, and in this letter she tells her Daddy about an Airship that has crashed off Castle Point near Rockcliffe.
In the letter was attached a small piece of silk taken from the actual Airship.
Tommy Henderson chairman of Dalbeattie Museum did a bit of research into this story and it was discovered that during the Great War a British Airship from Stranraer  Aerodrome caught on some trees near Auchencairn and crashed into the water near Almorness point. Help was quickly at hand from Kippford,but the boats sent were powerless to tow her because of the stronge wind. The great Airship drifted into the Bay at Castle Point, where it was possible to remove all the important material and parts from the Airship. This was done by the men from the Aerodrome at Stranraer. The local people were left to dispose of the other bits that were left, much to their delight.

A few weeks later the pilot of the Airship returned to Colvend in an up to-date aeroplane. It was his intentions to pay the fishermen and all those that had helped in salvaging his Aircraft, but unfortunately in landing in afield at Rockcliffe he missed judged his distance and his plane was completely wrecked through running into a wall.

The Letter is now in the archives of Dalbeattie Museum. 

The Yellow camera

A little boy was telling Mrs Phemie Henderson “You don't have a yellow camera!” Mrs Henderson was giving him a guided tour of the camera section “No, we don't” she said “but I wish we did have a yellow camera!, “so do I” said the little boy

Just then downstairs a local woman came in with a bag of odds and ends for the charity shop, the Museum was holding a few days later and when Mrs Henderson was putting the bag through the back she noticed on the top of the items was a Yellow Camera just like the one the little boy had described to her. She went rushing up stairs to find the little boy and his dad and they could not believe that it was the one he had wished for, so he got to put it in pride of place in the cabinet next to all the other camera's. It really made his visit!.

More stories coming very soon ...