The Dock Delineated: exhibition at Dumfries Museum
Written by admin on September 11, 2012
Dumfries Museum’s latest special exhibition tells the story of Dumfries Dock and asks local people to get involved in recording the recent history of the Dock Park.
‘The Dock Delineated’ exhibition traces different aspects of the Dock through paintings, drawings, photographs, maps and plans. This small, but highly significant, piece of land has a longer and more varied past than any other part of the town – and it is probably the most frequently illustrated view of Dumfries.
The Dock was not just the town’s harbour, it served as a common pasture for the townsfolk’s cattle, sheep and horses. It had orchards and nursery gardens. It was used as bleaching fields and drying greens and it became the town’s first industrial area, with large textile factories employing thousands of workers.
At the same time, it was a bathing place, a parade ground for the local militia, a romantic riverside promenade and, more recently, a popular public park.
The exhibition has drawn on personal memories, photographs and souvenirs of the Dock Park. Everyone who has lived in or visited Dumfries has their own memories of going down the Dock and the museum is interested in gathering information about the recent history of the Dock Park. If you have any photographs, postcards, programmes or newspaper reports of events in the Dock Park in its heyday, museum staff would be delighted to see them. If all you have are memories, then these can be preserved as reminiscence reports.
The exhibition is also about looking to the future. The Heritage Lottery Fund has recently made an award which will make possible a £2.1 million overhaul of the park. There will be a chance to preview the plans and drawings of the regeneration project which will return the Dock Park to its former glory.
‘The Dock Delineated’ is part of a year-long programme of research, exhibitions and events about the Dock Park taking place at Dumfries Museum. There is a foyer exhibition which runs until the end of 2012, and an e-learning pack on Dumfries’ Titanic connections is also available. There will be a talk about the on-going research into the history of the Dock on Friday 28 September and a guided walk through the park, with a chance to hear about the plans for its regeneration, on Saturday 29 September.
The exhibition is a great way for people to learn about the heritage of Dock Park, to get involved in recording its recent history and to find out more about the plans to regenerate it.
The exhibition runs from Saturday 15 September until Saturday 3 November 2012. Admission is free and the museum is open 10am to 5pm Monday to Saturday, 2pm to 5pm Sunday. (After 1 October the museum is closed Sunday, Monday and 1pm to 2pm Tuesday to Saturday.
