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As a Food Town, Castle Douglas can draw on ancient traditions. In
a field beside the Urr Valley Country House Hotel there are two
prehistoric standing stones. These were erected by farmers over
4000 years ago. Ever since then the wealth of the land has been
recognised by everyone; from the Celts and the Romans, through the
Anglo-Saxons and Vikings to Archibald the Grim who built his castle
at Threave in 1369.
As a town, Castle Douglas is just over 200 years old. Back in 1789,
Sir William Douglas planned and then built a ‘cotton town’
and named it after himself. The Georgian street pattern of Castle
Douglas is all that remains of Sir William’s ambitious plan.
It was an agricultural rather than an industrial revolution, which
helped the town prosper as a market and commercial centre throughout
the 1 9th and 20th centuries.
Every year thousands of cattle from the farms around Castle Douglas
and across Galloway were exported to England. At first along the
old drove roads, later by steam ship to Liverpool.
With the railway, which reached Castle Douglas in 1859, came a
new market for fresh milk in Glasgow and central Scotland. A local
tradition of farm cheese making survived until 1974. This has now
been revived, with award winning results in the case of Loch Arthur.
Although Castle Douglas Food Town is a new idea, it is one which
has its roots in history. Our aim is to build on this history, developing
links between Castle Douglas and the food produced across Dumfries
and Galloway. These links are diverse as the environment of Dumfries
and Galloway.
From Michelin starred restaurants to home baking, from the largest
of farms to the smallest of market gardens. Fish from the sea, beef
from the hills.
The wealth of a land flowing with milk and honey still carries
is ‘Forward’ as the town's motto boldly proclaims. Castle
Douglas — the natural place for food and drink.
www.cd-foodtown.org
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