Dumfries Museum — Attraction in Scotland

This is a delightful, intriguing and thoroughly informative and interesting museum right in the heart of Dumfries. This museum details a great telling of the social history of the town of Dumfries over the centuries and how it grew into the wonderful town it is today. The museum also tells the story of the surrounding area of Dumfries and Galloway and does it in great informative detail. The museum is housed in an old Windmill which became an Observatory during the Victorian era and the museum has exhibition over three floors with the ground floor having an exhibition on the Sacred Stones in Dumfries and the Surrounding area right through from The Romans settling in the local area to when they left and the Celts settling in the area. The Sacred stones is told in a very interesting and informative manner and there are some wonderful stones to see with some intriguing inscriptions which have some religious and historical meaning. The first floor goes into the Wildlife of the Local Area, Local Rocks that were found from being mined, the tools used by the first settlers in the area, Roman Pottery, a Section on Robert the Bruce and Fossils gathered from the local area. There are number of interesting artefacts and items to see on the first floor such as the Galena Rock, Ammonite Fossils and Roman Pottery which are probably the stand out items due to the fact have been constructed and formed from the human and natural environment of the local area. The second floor goes into the key Woman Role models who are from the Dumfries Area and how they played their part in getting the right to vote and their struggles for equality which is interesting showing the ardous plight amd struggles they had a century but also there are heroism in showing what great role models they were to help the Woman of today and empowering. The Second Floor also houses some interesting clothing items such as Clogs, Straw Hats and Shoes and how they were made giving you an idea how they were beautifully constructed. The second floor covers an interesting and enlightening social history of Dumfries detailing how it obtained a Royal Burgh from The Royalty heads of state nearly a millennium ago and also covers a number topics such as Crime and Punishment, Medicine, Weights and Measures and Trade where there is again a number of great artefacts on view to see such as Police baton, police notebook, Death Masks, Medicine Equipment, Cutlery and Bibles. The other topics covered on the history of Dumfries is Religion and The Homefrony during World War One and Two and Rationing giving you an idea how the town coped during these periods of war and how people survived. The third floor details about men and women getting the vote and also how people lived off the land through farming where there is some interesting farming equipment to see and also mention about Blacksmith where again you can see the apparatus they used. The fourth floor details a riveting exhibition about the place went from a Windmill to being an Observatory in the Victorian era. The top floor houses another renowned feature of the property which is the Camera Obscura and is one of the oldest and original around. The Camera Obscura can be viewed for a small reasonable cost of £5 but it must be noted that the Camera Obscura cannot be viewed on windy or rainy days to protect the equipment due to its age. The museum though is free entry without visiting the Camera Obscura and around the school holiday time can be a great place for families and children alike with some great interactive quizzes to do and other activities keeping them entertained and making it fun. The staff on site are also really friendly and interactive. There are some picturesque gardens to view in the gardens and makes for a great relaxing walk around. There is a small gift shop selling some great souvenirs at reasonable prices. Overall this is a magnificent museum to visit to learn about the great history of Dumfries and to see lovely arefacts. Definitely worth a visit whilst...

An excellent museum using the buildings of the old Dumfries windmill. It's on the west side of the river, on the hill just opposite from the Whitesands bus terminus, over the ancient Devorgillas Bridge, about 5 minutes walk away. Free to enter and friendly and welcoming to visitors. Lots to see about Dumfries's history, industry, culture and environment. Well displayed and with helpful and interested staff. Especially good for younger people with activities during the school holidays.

On top of the windmill building is a very rare and unusual 19th century camera obscura that you can visit for a small charge - a kind of lens device that displays a projected live image of the town and river using natural light - best seen on a bright sunny day, so it is not always open when the weather is grey. A curator gives an interesting talk about the device before showing you it working.

Exploring the museum is a nice way of passing the time. There are clean toilets and a little souvenir shop that sells books, cards and guides as well as educational toys for children. There is a good cafe a few minutes away just down the hill at the old river mill, now the Robert Burns Centre which has another museum display with other historical items to see relating to the great Scots poet.

I'd recommend the museum to anyone. It's well...

I first visited this museum about 50 years ago and some of the exhibits haven't changed since then. That is not intended as a criticism, it is an interesting local museum and Dumfries deserves huge credit for managing to keep it open and free of charge (other than the camera obscura). On a quiet day you can even park for free at the front entrance. The staff who were on duty when I visited could not have been more helpful and were keen to engage in conversation about the museum and its history. Note that the camera obscura is not operational every day but depends on the weather to an extent. I did think that some of the natural history exhibits were very tired and should probably be retired - the stuffed swallow looks as though it last took to the wing half a century before I first visited! But overall it's a great place to take kids on a wet day (which is how I was first introduced) and an interesting diversion for anyone interested in the history of the SW...