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The Birtwhistles of Craven and Galloway
Earl of Selkirk for permission to build a cotton mill in Kirkcudbright, but James Murray was much more amenable to the suggestion of a cotton mill in Gatehouse. Roy’s map of Gatehouse, produced sometime between 1747 and 1755, shows that Gatehouse hardly existed as a town in the middle of the 18^th century, but James Murray had ambitious plans to build a new industrial town, his advert in the Dumfries Weekly Journal in August 1777 advising readers that “ Mr Murray, in terms of his rights, intends very soon to establish a weekly market; and as he is very desirous to have the two streets built out, so he hereby gives notice, that, in order to encourage industrious manufacturers, shop-keepers, and tradesmen, to settle in the village he will be ready to grant feus to such as apply for ground for a house and garden, till the two streets are built out, and for which, in place of feu-duties that would be reasonable, he will only ask an acknowledgement of one shilling yearly for ever. For further particulars, enquire at Mr Murray the proprietor, at the Cally, or Mr Bushby, the Sheriff clerk of Dumfries” (Coombey 2007 p11). An agreement was reached between Murray and Birtwhistle to build a cotton mill in Gatehouse in 1785. Driven by water brought four miles from Loch Whinyeon, Murray was to bear the cost of bringing the water from the loch to Gatehouse, and John Birtwhistle the cost of building the mill. The engineering was ingenious, a tunnel bored through the hillside taking the water westwards from Loch Whinyeon, and the spoil extracted from the tunnel placed at the east end of the loch to raise its water level. The main features of the water extraction at Loch Whinyeon and the tunnel through the hillside may be seen today, together with the decayed and overgrown water conduit which follows the contour across the hillside from Loch Whinyeon to Gatehouse. Kelly’s picture of Gatehouse on the cover shows the mill pond at the top of the town. In addition to the power available from Loch Whinyeon, John Birtwhistle may have been attracted to Gatehouse by its proprietor having a 40,000 acre cattle estate in Ireland and, in turn, James Murray may have seen the benefit of a collaboration with the owner of an efficient cattle distribution network in England.
Figure 7 The Birtwhistles’ cotton mill at Gatehouse of Fleet c 1800
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