Annan, Dumfries and Galloway

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Map sources for Annan, Dumfries and Galloway at grid reference NY194669

The royal burgh of Annan stands on the River Annan nearly 2 miles from its mouth, 15 miles from Dumfries, in the region of Dumfries and Galloway on the Solway Firth in the south of Scotland. Eastriggs is about 3 miles to the east and Gretna is about 8 miles to the east.

Annan is a well-built town, red sandstone being the material mainly used. Among its public buildings is Annan Academy of which the writer Thomas Carlyle was a pupil, a Georgian building now known as "Bridge House". The Town Hall, built in Victorian style in 1878, uses the local sandstone. Annan also features a Historic Resources Centre. In Port Street, some of the windows remain blocked up to avoid paying the window tax.

Annan Bridge, a stone bridge of three arches, built between 1824 and 1827, carries road traffic over the River Annan. It was designed by Robert Stevenson and built by John Lowry. There is also a railway bridge over the River Annan and the town is served by Annan railway station.

Annan served as a maritime town whose ship-building yards built many clippers and other boats. A cairn on the jetty commemorates Robert Burns, who worked as an exciseman here in the 1790s.

Annan is a burgh of considerable antiquity. Roman remains exist in the neighbourhood, and Annan Castle formed the original home of the 'de Brus' family, later known as the "Bruces", lords of Annandale, which most famously produced Robert the Bruce. The Baliols and the Douglases were also more or less closely associated with Annan. During the period of the Border lawlessness the inhabitants suffered repeatedly at the hands of moss-troopers and through the feuds of rival families, in addition to the losses caused by the English and Scots wars.

Edward Irving was a native of the town; there is a statue of him in the grounds of Annan Old Parish Church. The statue was relocated from outside the town hall in the 1960s. Another famous Scottish preacher, Robert Murray M'Cheyne, was ordained by the Annan Presbytery. Annan is also the birthplace of politician Jim Wallace, MSP for Orkney.

Just outside the town, the Chapelcross nuclear power station has now shut down and is decommissioning.

Nearby, John Maxwell, 4th Lord Herries, built Hoddom Castle (circa 1552 - 1565).

High Street

Chapelcross power station

Annan Academy

War memorial, High Street

[edit] References

This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
Ordnance Survey Explorer Map (number 323) - 1:25,000 scale (2.5 inches to 1 mile)