Dumfries and Galloway 2023: Bishopcleugh and Lockerbie

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The Barn at Bishopcleuch Farm

Now that I’m up to date with my current travel diary I’m returning to the bits I left out from 2023/4. In September 2023, after a week each in cottages in Cumbria and North Wales, we headed back to Scotland for a final week in Dumfries and Galloway. The Barn at Bishopcleugh, near Lockerbie, was fabulous – I think you could have fitted both the other cottages into it!

Living area
Kitchen

In Lockerbie itself I was taken with a couple of ghost signs and some rather static sheep, a sculpture celebrating the fact that Lockerbie has been home to Scotland’s largest lamb market since the 18th century.

Johnstone?
National Commercial Bank of Scotland

But of course, if people have heard one thing about Lockerbie it is about the terrorist attack of 21st December, 1988, when Pan Am Flight 103 exploded over the town resulting in the deaths of 270 people – all 259 on the plane and 11 on the ground. There is a very touching Garden of Remembrance just outside town at Dryfesdale Cemetery, a mixture of individual memorials and the main monument with the names of all those who died.

Lockerbie Garden of Remembrance

The Lockerbie Bombing is one of those events where you always remember where you were when you heard about it. I was leaving a Christmas party with a friend and the taxi driver told us. It was impossible to take in and I cannot begin to imagine what it was like to live in Lockerbie at that time, but I do know that the local population was heroic. A recent play at Glasgow’s Citizens Theatre chronicled some of their Small Acts of Love. For example, volunteers set up and staffed free canteens which stayed open 24 hours a day for relatives, many from America, soldiers, police officers, and other workers. The people of the town washed, dried, and ironed every piece of clothing that was found once the police had determined they were of no forensic value, so that as many items as possible could be returned to the relatives. Coffins arriving back in America each came out of the plane topped with flowers. It was impossible to watch without weeping.

But – back to the present, or at least 2023. Our week in Cumbria had been gloriously sunny. In Wales the weather started to go downhill, and by the time we got to Lockerbie our luck had more or less run out. However, we still had a good time with some enjoyable walks. More to follow.

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21 Comments »

  1. We LOVE Dumfries and Galloway. Though we haven’t been to Lockerbie. I guess the poor town is still tainted for us by that horrible event in its past. I’d forgotten it was so long ago. It still feels recent.

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      • Yes, quite. But I guess by now, there’s a whole generation who hardly know about it. My youngest wasn’t even born then, and she’s a career woman with children now. I doubt that saying ‘Lockerbie’ to her would produce any kind of frisson, as it still does with me.

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  2. My main memory about visiting Lockerbie is that it has/had a good fish supper shop. Not always an easy thing to find…. though the borders are better than the Scottish Highlands but the Lake District wins. Never had a bad one down there yet. And the concrete sheep running down the street near said chip shop. And warm late evening sunshine eating said mince pie and chips. Bob. BSS.

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  3. Lovely photos. I like the kitchen, it looks so cool! 😀

    I remember the Lockerbie Bombing, it and the Dunblane shootings are the 2 things I remember. Such sad events. 😦

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  6. The Barn looks like a fabulous place to stay, I could kill for those red kitchen units😀 I love the sheep, they almost look real. It’s funny isn’t it, until recently I had no idea about the subject of my latest post even though it was local, but I can clearly remember the Lockerbie disaster. I didn’t know about the Lockerbie people washing and ironing the victim’s clothes though, what a lovely kind thing to do.

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    • I had never thought about a red kitchen but it did look very stylish. They had made a lovely job of the Barn. I think if you have a connection certain disasters stick with you more clearly, The very first one I can remember is Aberfan which made a big impression because I was about the same age as the children and it was on Mum’s birthday. Lockerbie and Dunblane were close to home, the scale of 9/11 was unbelievably horrific – but there are others when it comes to anniversaries I realise I have completely forgotten.

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  8. That barn looks a beautiful place to stay! Did you see the recent drama-documentary about Lockerbie? It focused on the detective work to piece together what happened but also featured some of the local people’s kindness, such as washing and ironing the clothes.

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