34B Old Dumfries Houses. 



Old Dumfries Houses. 



So little remains of old Dumfries that we are sure our 

 members will appreciate the inclusion in this volume of three 

 reproductions of drawings of old houses in the burgh. We 

 are enabled to do so by the favour of the Editor of the 

 Dumfries and Galloway Standard, in whose columns they 

 appeared twenty years ago. The drawings were executed 

 while the buildings were in existence by John M'Cormick, 

 shoemaker, father-in-law of Robert Gilles, the engraver, prior 

 to the demolition of the properties in the beginning of last 

 century. 



The Old Turnpike House. 



This stood on the Plainstones immediately north of the 

 Commercial Hotel. It belonged to the Sharpes of Hoddom, 

 and was known variously as Hoddom 's Stane House or the 

 Old Turnpike House, the latter from its turnpike stair. Sir 

 Robert Grierson of Lag, the persecutor, rented it during his 

 later years (? from 1720), and in it he died. According to 

 C. K. Sharpe, his body was so large that it could not be got 

 down the stair. The stonework between the two northmost 

 windows was removed, and the coffin lowered by ropes. The 

 other extraordinary incidents of the funeral are well known. 

 It was demolished in 1826, shops being erected in its stead by 

 John Sinclair, the bookseller, whose name appears in the 

 drawing, and Mr Howat, draper. The Turnpike House was 

 roofed with freestone flags. Charles Kirkpatrick Sharpe has 

 a drawing of it, which is inaccurate in several details. Article 

 in the Dumfries and Galloway Standard, January gth, 1889. 

 See illustration opposite page 152. 



The Pillars. 



This noted tavern stood at the north corner of Bank 

 vStreet and High Street. The arcaded portion, from which it 

 derived its name, faced the High Street, and is now occupied 

 by the shop (No. 109 High Street) of Mr J. S. Montgomery, 



