From a town house to a bustling hotel and now Waterstones bookshop, The County holds special memories for generations of Doonhamers.
Donald MacLachlan last week shared some of his childhood memories of the building when it was owned by his family and now he offers some fascinating insights into some of the legends and unusual stories that have grown around it.
Articles in publications on the supernatural claim credence to persistent stories that The County was haunted.
One of the favourites is of phantom footsteps in bedrooms and a reported ghostly figure in Highland dress.
Donald has a simple explanation to end the myths.
He said: “My father explained the footsteps by saying that the first floor accommodation was built on the original ballroom – which grandfather had built over with rooms to give more bedrooms – and built the dining room and ballroom on an extension.
“The original ballroom had a sprung dance floor and, as the floorboards were all interlinked and the rooms on each side separated by a corridor down the middle, if you walked heavily in one room the floorboards could creak in the opposite room giving the impression of phantom footsteps.
“The ghostly Highlander seen by an awakened night porter was put down to ‘too much giggle juice’.”
Donald also tells of an incident in 1951 when a loud bang, around 3am, awakened his mother.
He said: “She thought it was a car back-firing. It was in fact a shooting. A man had been reported carrying a shotgun in the Bank Street area of town. A squad car with three policemen went looking for him and stopped to apprehend him in Bank Street.
“But, the man levelled a shotgun and fired through the car’s windscreen killing the driver outright and wounding the policeman in the passenger seat.
“A constable in the back escaped serious injury and jumped out managing to disarm the shooter. The wounded PC limped up Bank Street onto the High Street and came to The County Hotel where, dripping blood in the foyer, he summoned the night porter to use the phone to get help – no police radios in those days.
“The murderer was found guilty and hanged in Edinburgh that same year.”
The building also had its share of famous people through the doors.
Donald said: “My father was at the reception desk one evening in the 1950s when a man, who was unmistakably the famous film star Cary Grant, arrived with a glamorous young lady looking for a room for the night.
“The hotel was fully booked, however, and my father, to his chagrin, was forced to send him across the road to The King’s Arms – where Boots is now.
“My mother was furious and fumed ‘You should have given him our suite, we could have slept in the office for one night’.”
Another visitor of yesteryear who couldn’t be turned away was Bonnie Prince Charlie.
With his Jacobite army, he stayed in Dumfries as they returned north from their unsuccessful foray to Derby.
Prince Charlie made the then house his HQ for the three days for his war councils.
He demanded 1,000 pairs of boots for his barefoot Highlanders within 24 hours and £2,000 cash to help with the return journey.
Records show that only 255 pairs could be found from the cobblers and it is said the Highlanders were actually stopping people in the streets and taking their shoes from them.
However, the council only collected £1,195 and, in response, the prince carried off two prominent citizens – Andrew Crosbie of Holm and Walter Riddell of Glenriddell – as hostage for the balance.
It appears that Dumfries eventually became better off for the Prince’s visit as the town applied to King George II for compensation and received £3,000 back – although it took a number of years. It is understood the money came from the forfeited estates of Lord Elcho.
Museum’s curator Judith said: “In the 1745 Rebellion, Bonnie Prince Charles Edward Stuart, the ‘young pretender’, led a Highland army to invade England, remove the king and instate himself as the new Roman Catholic monarch.
“The rebellion fizzled out and the army retreated northward, stopping in Dumfries to regroup and resupply.
“The bulk of the troops camped at what is now the area round Brooke Street – then an orchard – and the officers in various inns and houses in the town.
“Charles was billeted in the Blue Bell Inn and ordered a council of war to be held in Richard Lothian’s town house – as it was then.
“Richard was a Catholic but did not want to be seen siding with the rebels so he spent the time blind drunk and out the way so he could not be held responsible.
“After demanding money and boots to replace the troops worn out footwear, the army moved on northward to meet eventual defeat at Culloden, the last battle fought on British soil.”
She added: “Another historical connection of The County was with John Paul Jones of Kirkbean who became the founder of the American Navy during the War of Independence.
“It was his niece who first opened the building as a hotel.
“She was married to the tailor who sold Robert Burns – another historical connection – his Dumfries Militia uniform. During Burns’ last illness he wrote to his brother, Gilbert, asking for £5 to pay off the “rascally” haberdasher who, fearing that Burns was dying, was pressing for payment.”
