Launch of the Galloway Glens ‘Hidden Culture’ Events Programme

This week sees the launch of a programme of events that allow us to consider Galloway’s fascinating heritage and culture, from a variety of angles! With events planned both online and in person, you are invited to join us for an adventure to uncover the secrets of this remarkable landscape and the stories that spark our imagination.

Culture and landscape collide in our eclectic thought-provoking programme which combines the work of the Galloway Glens Community Archaeology project, Can You Dig It (CYDI), and Dumfries Archival Mapping Project (DAMP). The programme is compiled by the Galloway Glens Scheme, a cultural landscape within the Galloway & Southern Ayrshire UNESCO Biosphere.

Featuring local and internationally renowned geographers, artists, archaeologists, historians, landscape designer archivists, mapping experts and storytellers, we will uncover secrets hidden in this beautiful part of Dumfries and Galloway. From smugglers caves on the coast at Kirkcudbright up through the Ken Valley and onto Carsphairn to the Green Well of Scotland.

The events are online initially, with plans that – subject to Covid-19 guidelines – these will revert to ‘hybrid’, with people able to attend either online or in person.

The first event investigates Galloway’s Wells, with Professor Munro and Dr Hewitt sharing the history and stories associated with these well sites. The second event is a playful pondering of maps that uncover the story of amorous couples at Gretna and Gretna Green and place names high up in the Galloway Hills with an introduction to 3D and LIDAR mapping techniques.

Next up, we will then find out more about merchant, smuggler and slave trader, David Currie of Newlaw from author and historian, Frances Wilkins. Then with a further pondering of maps with Roland Spencer Jones (archaeologist from NOSAS) on commonties, and Robert Athol (archivist for Jesus College, Cambridge) on the Geography, we will find out what The Scottish Commonty, The Midsteeple and the Queen of Sardinia have in common! The fifth event will see storytellers Mostly Ghostly guiding us on a spooky online story tour of the Galloway Glens’ darker past including witch trials and haunted mansion houses. We then head back down the landscape to Loch Ken where AOC & Rathmell Archaeology talk about the excavation of two metal working sites, exploring why iron was worked here, when and what was it used for? The seventh event includes more map treasures being uncovered by reincarnated archivist Graham Roberts who was without doubt an eighteenth century surveyor in a past life!!

The programme comes to an end at the Green Well of Scotland – a walk with experts and artists to learn some ancient well traditions and contemplate our relationship with the environment in the future.

This is the first events programme since the arrival of the new Galloway Glens Education & Community Engagement Officer, Jan Hogarth. Looking ahead at the events, Jan said:

“I love this programme as it weaves together experts from Dumfries and Galloway and further afield from different disciplines, playfully taking us on an adventure through the geography, archaeology, history and art of the Galloway Glens cultural landscape.  As people share their enthusiasm and expertise then new discoveries are really possible, it’s very exciting!”

Rathmell Archaeology’s Claire Williamson, leading the Can You Dig It Community Archaeology project, said:

“Come and join us over the next few months for a tour of some of the lesser-known aspects of Galloway’s heritage. With some amazing speakers, we’ll reveal the secrets hidden beneath the very ground you walk on, the tales written into our historic maps and the lore lurking in the watery depths of those pretty tourist spots. Their stories will amaze and inspire you, and you will definitely come away knowing something that you didn’t know before!”

Nick Chisholm, Galloway Glens project Officer, is supporting a number of the events and added:

“The well kent history of Galloway is interesting enough but often the obscure history is even better, its our privilege to bring people together who delve in the corners of long forgotten archives and bring to life the origins of our myths, fact fables and tales.”

The Galloway Glens Scheme is an initiative of Dumfries & Galloway Council’s Environment Team, primarily funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fun, with support from a range of partners including the Galloway & Southern Ayrshire UNESCO Biosphere.

Full event listing:

• Sacred Wells in our landscape, what have we learned? – 09 Feb, 7.30pm – Online Event – https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/sacred-wells-in-our-landscape-what-have-we-learned-tickets-254653674997.
• Amorous Couples, Place Names and Steampunk: conversations about old estate maps and how to make them dance! – 22 Feb, 7.30pm – Online Event – https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/amorous-couples-place-names-and-steampunk-tickets-255186869797.
• David Currie of Newlaw: merchant, smuggler & slave trader – 9th Mar, 7.30pm – Online Event – https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/david-currie-of-newlaw-merchant-smuggler-slave-trader-tickets-254753132477.
• The Scottish Commonty, the Midsteeple and the Queen of Sardinia: pondering the past and georeferencing old maps – 22nd Mar, 7.30pm – A ‘hybrid’ event, book via Eventbrite to attend online or in person, at the Balmaclellan Smiddy – https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-scottish-commonty-the-midsteeple-and-the-queen-of-sardinia-tickets-255188354237.
• Haunting Tales with Mostly Ghostly – 30^th Mar, 7.30pm – Online Event – https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/haunting-tales-about-the-galloway-glens-with-mostly-ghostly-tickets-254816602317.
• When the Sparks Fly: Two Iron Working Sites Around Loch Ken – 13^th Apr, 7.30pm – Online Event – https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/when-the-sparks-fly-two-iron-working-sites-around-loch-ken-tickets-254843863857.
• A Historical Treasure Trail in Maps (aka The Three Estates: Buying Up and Selling Out in the Age of Improvement) – 26^th Apr, 7.30pm – A ‘hybrid’ event, book via Eventbrite to attend online or in person, at the Balmaclellan Smiddy – https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-three-estates-buying-up-and-selling-out-in-the-age-of-improvement-tickets-255189708287.
• Visiting the Green Well of Scotland – 30^th Apr, 1.30pm – A visit to the well, near Carsphairn, booking essential – https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/visiting-the-green-well-of-scotland-outdoor-group-discussion-tickets-254857464537.