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Welcome to Dalbeattie Museum.

Dalbeattie is a small town in Dumfries and Galloway, situated in a wooded valley at the confluence of the River Urr  and Barr burn, 4 miles (6 km) east of Castle Douglas and 12 miles (19 km) south west of Dumfries. Over the years the town has been famous for its granite industry and for being the home town of William McMaster Murdoch, the First Officer of the RMS Titanic and William Heughan, born in Water Street and became a world renowned opera singer.

View from Spycraig-01The origins of Dalbeattie go back to 1781 when George Maxwell of Munches and Alexander Copeland of Colliston decided to encourage the development of the town by feuing their property. The Maxwells owned the land on the north side of the burn and the Copelands owned the land on the south side.

A bridge was built over River Urr at Craignair in 1797. The rapid expansion of the granite and other industries in the town attracted many people to settle in Dalbeattie.

The waters of the Barr burn has been used to power many industries over the years, such as agricultural mills, bobbin and paper mills. Where the Barr burn met the River Urr was the port of Dalbeattie, the "Dub o'Haas".

 

Upstairs-001Dalbeattie Museum opened in 1993 to provide;

  • The advancement of education of the public in the history of Dalbeattie
  • The advancement of the arts, heritage,culture or science
  • To extend, enhance and maintain a collection of social historic materials; preserve and restore other materials for the purpose of public display

Over more than thirty years a small team of dedicated and enthusiastic volunteers have run and manned the museum. We receive no local or central government funding and rely on the kind donations of our visitors to pay the daily running costs and maintenance of the building.

 

The museum is jam packed with many exhibits:Upstairs-002

  • Period Shop
  • Victorian Kitchen
  • RMS Titanic
  • Dalbeattie Granite Industry
  • Cameras
  • World War I & II
  • Automotive
  • Costumes and Dolls
  • Tools and Scientific Instruments
  • Medical
  • Curios from a bygone era
  • and much, much more.

 Come and see "what your granny (or grandpa) would have used".

 

 

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