On the 13th of February, Primary 7 and Primary 4/5 went to meet at the White Sands at the Visit Scotland Centre for a Solway Tour. They were met by Mark and Lesley the tour instructors. The classes were also accompanied by parent helpers and Bruce the Beltie their toy cow. Mark and Lesley were there to take the classes on a tour of Dumfries to show them it’s History and help them learn more about The Scottish Wars of Independence, Robert the Bruce, William Wallace and others along the way.

    

The River Nith-

The first place the classes went was The River Nith. At the River Nith Mark told us about how no one knew what William Wallace looked like and how Robert the Bruce crossed the Devorgilla bridge many times and how he was born in a town in Dumfries and Galloway. He also told us how Robert the Bruce was trained by the English to be a knight. Wallace unlike Bruce was not trained ,instead Wallace learned how to fight and taught himself.

The Suspension Bridge-

Soon afterwards we went across the Suspension Bridge. Mark and Lesley was telling us about Bonnie Prince Charlie and how he got drunk and had got kicked out a couple of times at Waterstones in the Centre of Dumfries and how he had to go to one of the oldest  brick buildings in Dumfries! The Dumfries Suspension Bridge was made for only woman back in the 1700s because there were too many woman working at the mill (over 2800) and only 700+ men. Also they separated Men from women, so they couldn’t collaborate with each other.

The Devorgilla Bridge-

The bridge was made twice. It was longer because there were no cars. When it was longer the Bridge had 9 arches now it only has 6. Arches looked gigantic and there is only one original arch left. The river is actually four miles smaller than it was originally as it used to got to the Greyfriars church.

The Vennel

We then crossed the Devorgilla bridge and went to the vennel and we were told how they didn’t have sewage systems back then and people dumped their waste into a big open drain which runs down the streets and some lazy people dumped their waste out of their window. We were also told how brewery street was named after the many breweries in that street and how in the late 19th century Dumfries made lots of money from beer.

 

The Burns Statue-

Afterwards exhaustedly  we walked up  to the Burns Statue which is right in the middle of the town centre, Mark was talking to us about all the different events which occurred a very long time ago and the different castles which Robert The Bruce owned and he had one right here in Dumfries at Castle Dykes park! He also talked about the poet Robert Burns who made amazing poems which everybody loved! Next we went to Lesley who talked about the stabbing between Robert and Comyn and how no one  knows what happened as John Comyn was found dead.

The Market-

Then we went to the market area and we stopped at the Santander bank. Mark told us how this bank in the late 19th century was a farmers market building and the windows used to be like big open archways into the building so horse drawn wagons could get inside. He also told us how you also got cattle and farming supplies from that building.

St Marys Church-

Back in the late 13th century and early 14th century the area now known as St Marys church used to be called hangman’s hill because if you committed a crime in Dumfries you were hanged but if you were a child and you had committed a crime you were nailed to a cross by the ear. Robert the Bruce’s sister later built the church because her husband was killed.

Then we walked back to school and everyone was tired because of the walk and overall it was great day. We really enjoyed the experience of it all and hope to take part in something like it again soon ! We learned lots!