Heritage Centre

Crossmichael Heritage Centre

Crossmichael Heritage Centre is located in the Church Hall and the Old Hearse Hoose, both situated close to the village church. The main collections of material are held in the Church Hall and there is a smaller ‘taster’ exhibition in the Hearse Hoose, including a Crossmichael ‘time-line’.


 The Centre re-opens after the Winter closure on 13 April 2022. The Hearse Hoose is open all day, from Monday to Saturday. The Church Hall exhibition is open on Wednesdays and Fridays, from 1.30 to 4.30.


The Church Hall archive is both analogue – in the form of wall- and floor-mounted displays, for example – and digital. The Hearse Hoose is open most of the time. Opening hours at the Church Hall are variable; they will be advertised here wherever possible and certainly at the building itself. From time to time, we put on one-off events and special exhibitions in the Church and in the Memorial Hall. An additional feature of the Centre’s work is the ‘Living History’ strand – an on-going oral and video history of the local community, patched together from interviews with residents and stitched into a ‘digital quilt’.


We have produced several publications, and these are available to buy:


When I Walked Here: Reflections on Crossmichael. An anthology of new writing inspired by Crossmichael history. Published by Crossmichael Heritage Centre, price £5. Available from Smart's Bookshop in Castle Douglas.

Crossmichael's Fallen Warriors: We Will Remember Them. Booklet researched and assembled by Ken Morrison. Published by Crossmichael Heritage Centre, price £5. Available from Smart's Bookshop and from Crossmichael Shop.

Crossmichael Graveyard Tours. Booklet containing details of a selection of gravestones in the church graveyard, chosen for their particular historical interest, together with a map showing their locations. Published by Crossmichael Heritage Centre, price £1. Available from Crossmichael Shop.


All publications are also available from the Heritage Centre during opening hours. In case of difficulty obtaining copies, please contact John Nelson: 01556 670691 or johnnelson007@btinternet.com.


We also have available copies of various old maps of Crossmichael:


  • Parish Map from 1776. Price £20
  • Maps of Crossmichael from 1791, 1828 and 1860. All £18.


To buy any of these, contact John Nelson


The Heritage Centre opened in 2019 and was the outcome of the Crossmichael Community Heritage and Living History Project, funded initially by grants from the Galloway Glens Landscape Partnership and LEADER. These paid for assembly of displays, for other exhibition, research and archival infrastructure, and for comprehensive renovation of the Hearse Hoose.


We are glad to express here our gratitude for their generous support and we also acknowledge with thanks the ongoing support and help of the church authorities and congregation, of Crossmichael School and of the wider Crossmichael community. The project has been a great volunteer effort. We would welcome more volunteers. But whether or not this is for you, there are several ways in which you can help us in the future: See How You Can Help .


Our heritage is lengthy, but in safe hands!
Crossmichael has a long and fascinating history: Stone, Bronze and Iron Ages, Romans, Vikings, even Templar Knights - we have seen them all. Two of Sir Walter Scott’s heroes, ‘Old Mortality’ and ‘Jeannie Deans’, have a Crossmichael connection. 

J M Barrie’s inspiration for Captain Hook is buried in the graveyard. We also have our Covenanter Martyr and a Balaclava soldier.

To celebrate and preserve our heritage, we have held many events in recent years. The first was an Old Crossmichael Exhibition; money raised at that event was used to re-build our Victorian Village Fountain. We have had Victorian Teas and Graveyard Tours at our historic Church. All these events created great interest.

We have erected granite markers to indicate the levels of three great floods which inundated the River Dee and the lower village in 1815, 1872 and 2015. In November 2019, for the ‘Battle’s O’er’ event to remember the end of World War 1, we used funding from a Stewartry Area Committee Discretionary Grant, plus a large sum donated by the community, to erect a commemorative bench for our heroes at the Crossmichael War Memorial.

The Heritage Centre builds on all these previous efforts by making a permanent display in the village and, we hope, an ever-expanding archive of information and material. 
Some historical snippets
To whet your appetite, here are a few of the more entertaining or dramatic snippets from Crossmichael’s long history.

Evidence shows that an Iron-age chariot had an accident near the ford at the Spearford Burn. Speeding in the parish is perhaps not a new phenomenon! When King James laid siege to Threave castle in 1455, his huge cannon, Mons Meg, with its large wheels, trundled through Crossmichael Parish. Local legend states that Mons Meg was made in the parish near the ‘Three Thorns’ at Carlingwark by a local blacksmith called McKim. True or not? Mons Meg did pass through here.

The Whippet tank named ‘Crossmichael’ had a short and disastrous career during World War 1.  It overturned in a shell-hole and burst into flames. The officer in command rescued ‘Crossmichael’s’ crew, but minutes later, was fatally wounded. He was awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross for the rescue. The crew sheltered in the shell-hole and returned to their lines after dusk. 

On a lighter note: Around 1925, an enterprising Crossmichael farmer was pictured turning his hay using an open-topped tourer car. You can see the photo in our exhibition.
Comments on the new Heritage Centre
In late 2019, four people who are interested in Crossmichael’s heritage gave us their thoughts on our plans for a heritage centre. 

Anne Phillpotts from London is the granddaughter of a railwayman who worked at our station; she comments: “A permanent exhibition at the Crossmichael Heritage Centre will be of tremendous benefit to visitors and locals alike. Tourists can glean information and ideas for exploring their chosen holiday destination. Local folks will be brought together whilst learning about the lives of their predecessors and by sharing memories such as my grandfather kept bees at No 12 and worked as a signalman at the station.”

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Carole Greaves from Ferngrove Cottage has recently arrived in Crossmichael: “I think that when the Crossmichael Heritage Centre is completed, it will be an important asset to the community. Being in the tourist industry, we regularly have visitors from America and Canada who are interested in the history of the village and often come to research their family history. The graveyard has many notable gravestones including a Commonwealth War Grave and that of a Covenanter martyr. I look forward to the opening of the centre and to being involved in the exhibition. Crossmichael is a village worthy of note: well done to you all for your efforts so far in collecting and collating those fascinating facts and photographs." 

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Eleanor Hex is a student who was so fascinated by our history when helping as a guide at previous exhibitions that she chose to study history at Glasgow University: “A few years ago, I had the absolute privilege of serving at the Historical Tours and Victorian Tearoom in Crossmichael Church. As a young budding historian, this enhanced my desire to study the subject: being able to immerse myself in history which directly impacted the village I call home was fascinating. Covenanters, war heroes, pirates, all lying at rest in the graveyard outside my bedroom window. What a treat. It is for this reason that I am so excited about the curation of the Crossmichael Heritage Centre! Having a place for people to come and learn about our village, to contribute, share and learn, will hopefully inspire even more young people to pursue history, to understand the land and the people we come from. To add their knowledge and opinions to the mix. To root themselves within the village story: a story that will engage the minds of future generations.”

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Janice Henderson, a retired history and English teacher, has lived in the parish for many years: “Roots! Being a relative newcomer to Crossmichael (44 years) and having my origins elsewhere, it is a pleasure and an education to examine the history of the area in which we chose to live and put down roots. To have a window on past times and a glimpse of the varied lives of the parishioners then gives us a sense of our present day community. Explaining to grandchildren what a hearse-house was, why there are Commonwealth graves and why this road is called Station Road makes history REAL. The informative displays and personal stories that Crossmichael Heritage Centre have produced will help up-and-coming generations to feel rooted in their unique community. Congratulations to all involved.”
Historical Resources
Naturally we think first of documents: manuscripts, printed sources, photos. We have lots of material in this category, but are always looking for more.  Spoken records are valuable too, hence the Living History part of what we’re doing. And all the better if we can film the speech while it happens. And what about music? If you have any songs or tunes that you associate with the area, or that you learned while you lived here or from other people who lived here, let us know.

We don’t think quite so often of the physical environment as a historical source. But look around you. The layout of the landscape in much of the Crossmichael area – the field patterns, the drystane dykes, the forestry plantations - is, to a large extent, as it was established through the 18th and 19th centuries. 

Many of the larger farmhouses on the wealthier farms built during the same period – Auchendolly, Blackpark, Burnbrae, Gerranton, Hillowton – are still there (although, in some cases, altered since their origins in the early 19th century). The oldest cottages in Crossmichael’s Main Street were also built in the late 18th century; others were added over the next hundred years or so.
Old postcard view of Main Street, Crossmichael
If you look a bit harder – and perhaps with expert guidance – you can find evidence in the landscape of older constructions. There are 16 prehistoric forts, mottes, stone circles and cairns within three miles of Crossmichael. If you go in search of any of these, please - out of courtesy - let the landowner know.
Owners of the largest estates built mansions, but these have not fared so well. Ernespie (now a hotel) survives. Greenlaw, destroyed by fire in the 1980s, has been rebuilt. Mollance, also destroyed by fire (c.1928), is lost – but we have photographic records. Danevale has been replaced by a different house.
For photos of Greenlaw, after the fire but before re-building, click here.
As in many parts of Scotland, wealthy members of the late Victorian bourgeoisie often built themselves a country house. A good example is Culgruff House, designed in 1889 by the architect who was later responsible for Harrods Department Store in London. Another example from the same period is Walbutt.
Walbutt House, Crossmichael, from a historical postcard
A very different kind of building, but again of great historical interest, is Crossmichael Mill, not so long ago in ruins and now rebuilt as a private house. Other local examples of ‘industrial’ historical records are remnants of the railway line, now closed, but evident at various places in the parish and the barrage at Glenlochar Bridge, part of the Galloway hydro scheme.
For more photos of the Mill, before renovation, click here.  
And, of course, coming to our most important built historical record of all, there is Crossmichael Church. Built in 1751 (but on the site of an earlier building and incorporating its tower, probably erected in 1611), this has a remarkable early-19th century interior, still virtually unchanged. It’s surrounded by a graveyard packed full of historical interest. The Heritage Centre has a good deal of information about this and we regularly arrange graveyard tours.
Finally, it’s worth bearing in mind historical resources that lie further afield. We have links to other heritage centres in the area – at Carsphairn, Dalry and Balmaclellan, for example – and to the Stewartry Museum in Kirkcudbright and the Ewart Library and Archives in Dumfries. All of these may well hold material relevant to Crossmichael. A good deal of material in national collections – archives, libraries and museums – is available online and we can probably help you access these. Similarly, if your interest lies in family history, we may be able to point you in the right direction in the genealogical records.
How you can help
Firstly, by visiting the Heritage Centre! Give us your comments and opinions. We have an extensive archive of photographs and documents, but are always on the lookout for more. If you have a picture of anything connected to the village or parish, or maybe a letter, diary or newspaper story, please let us know and we will have it copied and return the original to you. We would particularly like to see photos of the hearse or hearse-house. Material can be left at the village shop, or contact John Nelson, Spearford, Crossmichael DG7 3BG. Call 01556 670595 or you can email us here.

If you have memories of Crossmichael – either your own or handed down from older relatives – we would love to hear them. There could be a place reserved for you in our Living History digital quilt!

Similarly, if you have a family connection with Crossmichael and want to find out more about it, we may be able to help – either from information in our own archives or by pointing you in the right direction. Let us know!

The Heritage Centre has been created and is run by volunteers. If you think you might like to join us, let us know. You can do as much or as little as you want and we can find tasks suitable for any and all talents!
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