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Moffat

Boasting one of the broadest High Streets in Scotland, Moffat is also one of the most pleasing small towns in the country. It stands beside the River Annan, surrounded by Lowland hills, at the heart of a thriving sheep-farming district. The town’s dependence on sheep is symbolised by the striking Colvin Fountain at the top of the High Street. It is surmounted by a bronze sculpture of a sturdy ram although unfortunately it was accidentally cast without any ears.

Moffat has been attracting visitors ever since Rachel Whiteford, the minister’s daughter, discovered Moffat Well in 1633 and its history as a spa town began. A steady stream of distinguished visitors sampled the ‘magic waters’, amongst them Robert Burns and James Boswell who came in 1766 “to wash off a few scurvy spots which the warmer clime of Europe had brought out on my skin”.

In 1878 the grandiose Moffat Hydropathic was built. At its peak, the 300-bedroomed hotel was welcoming some 25,000 guests each year. Sadly, the Hydro was totally destroyed by fire in 1921 and Moffat’s status as a spa town never recovered.

Moffat was the birthplace, in 1882, of Air Chief Marshal Lord Dowding, architect of the Battle of Britain. A statue of him can be found in Station Park. Though he wasn’t born in the town, John Loudon McAdam, the great road builder, is buried in the old kirkyard at the south end of the High Street. He lived at Dumcrieff House, outside the town, and died in 1836. Dorothy Emily Stevenson, better known as the novelist DE Stevenson, was born in Edinburgh but lived in Moffat and died there in 1973. She is buried in the local cemetery.

The small Moffat Museum at The Neuk, Church Gate, charts the history of the town and the people associated with it, including Dowding, McAdam and Stevenson.

The Black Bull Inn is one of the oldest in Dumfriesshire, and dates from 1568. Burns was a regular visitor, and Graham of Claverhouse used it as his headquarters while hunting Covenanters in the district. Another hostelry in Moffat that has a claim to fame, albeit a more unusual one, is the Star Hotel in the High Street. It is only 20 feet wide, making it the narrowest hotel in Britain. On the other side of the road is the former Moffat House, designed by John Adam for the Earl of Hopetoun and dating from 1750s. It, too, is now a hotel.

Two miles east of the town, on the A708, are Craiglochan Gardens, which are open during the summer months. They extend to four acres, and there is a small nursery.