Kilmarnock & District History Group extends Season's Greetings to all our members and web-site visitors.
Have a Merry Christmas and a prosperous 2013 !
Monday, 24 December 2012
Monday, 10 December 2012
Guide to Kilmarnock 1893
Guide to Kilmarnock and the Burnsiana of the Town and District, 1893
It serves as a tourist guide, rejoicing in the town’s literary heritage while celebrating it’s contemporary achievements in industry and trade. It ends with the bold and confident statement that “Kilmarnock is the most convenient centre for pilgrims to the Land of Burns who wish to get over the ground in an expeditious and systematic manner.”
This and further digitised pamphlets etc will be added to the Collections pages of this site.
You can access the Guide by clicking on here.
Thursday, 6 December 2012
Kilmarnock Periodicals
Kilmarnock Periodicals (1815 – 1900) is one of the Burns Monument
Centre’s Special Collections.
This is an almost complete collection of the periodicals printed in Kilmarnock from 1816 to 1900 (it also includes The Ayrshire Magazine and West Country Monthly Repository, which was printed in Irvine in 1815).
http://bmc.burnsmonumentcentre.co.uk/discoveries-in-our-kilmarnock-periodicals/
The early periodicals in particular provide an interesting view of the town’s literary scene at the time. Most of them contain original poems, stories, essays and reviews by writers with some connection to the area. For example, the Kilmarnock Annual and Western Literary Annual (1835) contains two songs by John Galt.
Some of the main printers of the town ventured into periodical printing at some stage. For example, H. Crawford (who was the town’s next printer after John Wilson left for Ayr), printed The Ayrshire Miscellany from 1817. A little later, James McKie printed a few titles including The Ayrshire Inspirer (1839). D. Brown and Company, who printed lots of Burns books from the 1880s until the 1900s, produced the Burns-inspired Auld Killie (1893 – 1898).
This is an almost complete collection of the periodicals printed in Kilmarnock from 1816 to 1900 (it also includes The Ayrshire Magazine and West Country Monthly Repository, which was printed in Irvine in 1815).
http://bmc.burnsmonumentcentre.co.uk/discoveries-in-our-kilmarnock-periodicals/
The early periodicals in particular provide an interesting view of the town’s literary scene at the time. Most of them contain original poems, stories, essays and reviews by writers with some connection to the area. For example, the Kilmarnock Annual and Western Literary Annual (1835) contains two songs by John Galt.
Some of the main printers of the town ventured into periodical printing at some stage. For example, H. Crawford (who was the town’s next printer after John Wilson left for Ayr), printed The Ayrshire Miscellany from 1817. A little later, James McKie printed a few titles including The Ayrshire Inspirer (1839). D. Brown and Company, who printed lots of Burns books from the 1880s until the 1900s, produced the Burns-inspired Auld Killie (1893 – 1898).
Monday, 3 December 2012
Battle of Largs
BBC2 Scotland devotes a special programme to the Battle of
Largs in an hour long documentary to be broadcast on Friday 14 December
from 9pm.
This documentary 'The Last Battle of the Vikings' presented by underwater archaeologist Dr Jon Henderson, who grew up near the battle ground in Largs, examines how a few Viking war bands from the Norwegian fjords managed to establish the longest lasting Norse power base in the British isles - and how that Viking influence reverberated through the centuries.
Change of Speaker December 11 2012
Please note that there will be a change of programme for our meeting on
Tuesday 11 December 2012. The speaker will no longer be Mr. Richardson
from Beith. Instead it will be Norman Deeley, who will be speaking to
us about the Goatfell Murder.
Consequently, we do not yet have a speaker for our final meeting on Tuesday 19 March 2013, since Mr Deeley was supposed to be our speaker on that night. Watch this space for more information about that evening's speaker.
We are extremely grateful to Norman for agreeing to this change of schedule.
Consequently, we do not yet have a speaker for our final meeting on Tuesday 19 March 2013, since Mr Deeley was supposed to be our speaker on that night. Watch this space for more information about that evening's speaker.
We are extremely grateful to Norman for agreeing to this change of schedule.
The Goatfell Murder
Our speaker on Tuesday 11 Dember is Norman Deeley, Deputy Head Teacher of Grange Academy. His topic is the still contentious murder committed on the mountain of Goatfell, Arran in 1889.
John Laurie, was convicted of killing Edwin Rose on the isle of Arran's Goatfell peak in July 1889. But did Rose fall or was he pushed?
Rose's decomposed body was found hidden in a howff, on the remote mountainside near Brodick, three weeks after he had left London for a week's summer holiday on Scotland's west-coast islands. His skull was shattered, his spine badly broken.
John Laurie, 25 years old, was subsequently arrested after two months on the run, having fled first from Arran then subsequently his Lanarkshire hometown of Coatbridge, where on his apprehension by police he attempted suicide with a cut-throat razor.
"I robbed the man," Laurie stated on his arrest and later in his defence, "but I did not murder him." Laurie would protest his innocence until his death more than 40 years later in 1930, age 69, in the lunatic division – as it was then known - of Perth Prison.
We look forward to listening to Mr Deeley's thoughts on the case.
John Laurie, was convicted of killing Edwin Rose on the isle of Arran's Goatfell peak in July 1889. But did Rose fall or was he pushed?
Rose's decomposed body was found hidden in a howff, on the remote mountainside near Brodick, three weeks after he had left London for a week's summer holiday on Scotland's west-coast islands. His skull was shattered, his spine badly broken.
John Laurie, 25 years old, was subsequently arrested after two months on the run, having fled first from Arran then subsequently his Lanarkshire hometown of Coatbridge, where on his apprehension by police he attempted suicide with a cut-throat razor.
"I robbed the man," Laurie stated on his arrest and later in his defence, "but I did not murder him." Laurie would protest his innocence until his death more than 40 years later in 1930, age 69, in the lunatic division – as it was then known - of Perth Prison.
We look forward to listening to Mr Deeley's thoughts on the case.
Sunday, 25 November 2012
Oldest in the World
Our speaker on Tuesday night (27 November) is Duncan Close from Sanquhar, who will be telling us a bit about the oldest post office in the world.
The Sanquhar post office had long been accepted as the oldest in Britain It has been operating since 1712 and is now reckoned to be the oldest in the world..
At the time the post office started, the Crowns of England and Scotland had not long been united. There was considerable activity in the border areas of both lands and one of the most important and influential families of the day was the Crichton family, who owned Sanquhar Castle.
In 1712 a service known as the "Nithsdale cross-post" was established, with mail-runners on horseback delivering messages among the landed gentry on both sides of the Scottish-English border.
When Robert Burns was alive in the latter part of the 18th century, he was great friends with the owner of Sanquhar post office, and the fireplace in the living room of the building was constructed from elm trees grown by Burns at his farm at Ellisland Farm, near Dumfries.
Come along on Tuesday night and learn more.
The Sanquhar post office had long been accepted as the oldest in Britain It has been operating since 1712 and is now reckoned to be the oldest in the world..
At the time the post office started, the Crowns of England and Scotland had not long been united. There was considerable activity in the border areas of both lands and one of the most important and influential families of the day was the Crichton family, who owned Sanquhar Castle.
In 1712 a service known as the "Nithsdale cross-post" was established, with mail-runners on horseback delivering messages among the landed gentry on both sides of the Scottish-English border.
When Robert Burns was alive in the latter part of the 18th century, he was great friends with the owner of Sanquhar post office, and the fireplace in the living room of the building was constructed from elm trees grown by Burns at his farm at Ellisland Farm, near Dumfries.
Come along on Tuesday night and learn more.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)