From WRI’s booklet ‘Our History” (dated 1967):
In 1746 Dumfries recovered from the Jacobite invasion and the town tried to improve the harbour.
The Solway (estuary) and the Nith (river) had always been ‘difficult’ to navigate because of shifting sandbanks and rocky parts. The Laird of Caerlaverock William Maxwell made a present of land for the dock and use of local stone, and the dock at Glencaple was finished in 1747, ‘then houses were erected in a row along the rising ground above the river’ and Glencaple was born.
The villagers called it the ‘quay’ or ‘auld quay’. Ships then used it and in the meantime more houses (all the same) were built along the river front.
Across the Solway rises the volcanic mass of Criffel.
‘When Criffel wears his hat
Ye may be sure it will be wat
But if instead he wears his tie
Ye may expect it to be dry.’
Climate: ‘…sheltered part of the country and the weather is on the whole mild. Snow seldom lies longer than a few days.’
1791 – ‘the vessels bring lime and coal from Cumberland and from Liverpool, groceries etc., and export potatoes and grain, also rum, fruit and port wine imported, and timber.’ There were ‘close connections between Glencaple and Liverpool’ via sailing ships such as ‘Ocean Gem’, also steamers.
1800 – ish there existed in Glencaple a ship-building industry (site of the Nith Hotel) with two vessels of approx. 60 tons annually launched. A second street of houses were built behind the front row (Thompson Street) named after the owner of the yard – this name was changed to Wellington Street to honour the victory at Waterloo. Ship-building faded out towards the end of the 19th century due to the lack of need for shipping after the railway reached the area.
‘The furnace roared in Thompson’s yard,
the anvil ringing clear,
The bolts were driven in the sides of
sailing ships to steer
A steamless path across the deep,
which was as it should be,
The town came down to see the launch
at brave Glencaple quay.’
Smuggling abounded during the ‘sailing’ years, the highest numbers in the late 1750’s. The men involved in smuggling were considered to be heroes by the locals, who would take the side of the smugglers against the Police.
From time immemorial, fishing has played a big part in Local lives. Salmon was (and probably still is, I see people in the estuary bearing large rectangular ‘nets’) caught by ‘poke net’ held while standing; this was used on the shores of the Solway and nowhere else and is thought to date back from Norse invaders ten centuries ago i.e. ‘Haafers’. The ‘Haaf-net’ season is from February to September. Locals ate salmon three times a day…
Agriculture, though, was the main source of employment.
Glencaple, therefore, was the youngest of the original six Caerlaverock villages and only Bankend remains, very ‘altered’. Fragments of Shearington, Blackshaw, Greenmill and Kelton survive.
‘Birds are at the heart of Solway’s magic’, and proliferate here. The Wildfowl Trust nearby has all the details.
‘Land, lang skein o’ beatin’ wings, wi’ their heids towards
the sea…’
The church at Glencaple was built in 1843 and in 1930 the Glencaple and Caerlaverock churches joined. They administered the Hutton Funds which were eventually taken over by the Welfare State.
The population of Glencaple in 1851 was 1400 and in
1961 was 682.
Church Street used to be called ‘Shooters Lane’.
‘Glencaple’ – Gaelic ‘gleanncapuill’ – ‘The Mares Glen’.
Books : First Stat. Account of Scotland 1791
2nd 1841
3rd 1956
‘History of Dumfries’ – Wm. McDowall
‘The Solway Firth’ – Brian Blake
‘Dumfries
and Galloway’ – Sir Herbert Maxwell
Thanks to Sue Greig for this information