Sanquhar, Dumfries & Galloway - Tolbooth - postcard

• Postcard

   

• Picture / Image:  The Tolbooth, Sanquhar, Dumfries and Galloway
• Publisher:  Galloway Graffix / Cauldron Press
• Postally used:  no
• Stamp:  n/a
• Postmark(s): n/a
• Sent to:  n/a
• Notes / condition: 

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Image may be low res for illustrative purposes - if you need a higher definition image then please contact me and I may be able to send one. No cards have been trimmed (unless stated).

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NOTE: All postcards are sent in brand new stiffened envelopes which I have bought for the task. These are specially made to protect postcards and you may be able to re-use them. In addition there are other costs to sending so the above charge is not just for the stamp!

I will give a full refund if you are not fully satisfied with the postcard.

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Text from the free encyclopedia WIKIPEDIA may appear below to give a little background information (internal links may not  work) :

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Sanquhar /ˈsæŋkər/ (Scots: Sanchar,^[2] Scottish Gaelic: Seanchair)^[3] is a town on the River Nith in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. It lies north of Thornhill and west of Moffat. It is a former Royal Burgh.

Sanquhar is notable for its tiny post office (established in 1712), claimed to be the oldest working post office in the world.^[4][5] It was also the place where the Covenanters, who opposed episcopalisation of the church, signed the Sanquhar Declaration renouncing their allegiance to the King, an event commemorated by a monument in the main street. The church of St. Brides contains a memorial to James Crichton, a 16th-century polymath. The ruins of Sanquhar Castle stand nearby. Nithsdale Wanderers, the local team, were formed in 1897. In 1924–25, Wanderers won the Scottish Division Three.

The name "Sanquhar" comes from the Scottish Gaelic language Seann Cathair, meaning "old fort". There is a 15th Century castle ruin that overlooks the town, but the name predates even this ancient fort. The antiquary, William Forbes Skene even considered it the probable location of the settlement named Corda in Ptolemy's Geographia. With its location along the River Nith, Sanquhar has been a major crossroads for centuries. Artifacts have been found here from Neolithic times. The remains of several prehistoric British forts can be found in the area as well as traces of a Roman outpost.

The ancient hill fort at Tynron Doon is located about 28 kilometres away from the town. This fort is described in Archaeology of late Celtic Britain and Ireland by L R Laing (1975) as "a well-preserved multivallate hillfort" which probably began its existence in the Iron Age and continued to be used throughout the Dark Ages and into the early Medieval period. During Roman times the fort would have been in Selgovae territory; after the Romans departed it lay on the borders of the Strathclyde Britons and the Galwyddel. This place is associated with a local legend of a "heidless horseman" who is supposed to have ridden down from it as an omen of death, a story which possibly has some origin in a Celtic head cult. The Poetical Works of Sir Walter Scott(1822) attest that Robert the Bruce hid in the forests about this hill after he had killed one of his rivals, John "the Red" Comyn.

In the 9th and 10th centuries, waves of Gaelic settlers came to the area from Ireland. These Scoto-Irish people replaced the native Britons and became the dominant inhabitants for hundreds of years. In the 12th century, Norman colonization of the British Islands brought a feudal system of government and squabbling barons and sheriffs ruled the land for several centuries. Sanquhar is in the county of Dumfriesshire, which rests along the English border. These border counties were constantly in a state of turmoil as groups raided each other across the dividing lines.

During the war of Scottish Independence the English army took over the old castle at Sanquhar. The Lord of the Castle, Sir William the Hardy, Lord of Douglas, learned of this and came up with a clever plot where one man sneaked into the castle and threw open the gates, allowing Lord Douglas to seize it. The English began a counter-attack, but William Wallace learned of the battle and came to the rescue. As the English army retreated, Wallace chased them down and killed 500 of them. Wallace visited the castle on several occasions.