Lockerbie

For other uses, see Lockerbie (disambiguation).

Lockerbie
Scottish Gaelic: Logarbaidh
Scots: Lockerbie
East Lockerbie in December 2009
Lockerbie  Lockerbie shown within Dumfries and Galloway
Population	4,009 (Census 2001)
OS grid reference	NY135815
Council area	Dumfries and Galloway
Lieutenancy area	Dumfries
Country	Scotland
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	LOCKERBIE
Postcode district	DG11
Dialling code	01576
Police	Dumfries and Galloway
Fire	Dumfries and Galloway
Ambulance	Scottish
EU Parliament	Scotland
UK Parliament	Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale & Tweeddale
Scottish Parliament	Dumfriesshire
	South of Scotland
List of places: UK • Scotland •

Lockerbie (Scottish Gaelic: Logarbaidh or Locarbaidh) is a town in the Dumfries and Galloway region of south-western Scotland. It lies approximately 75 miles (121 km) from Glasgow, and 20 miles (32 km) from the English border. It had a population of 4,009 at the 2001 census. The town came to international attention in December 1988 when the wreckage of Pan Am Flight 103 crashed there following a terrorist bomb attack aboard the flight.

History

Lockerbie apparently has existed since at least the days of Viking influence in this part of Scotland in the period around AD 900. The name means Lockard's Farm in Old Norse. The presence of the remains of a Roman camp a mile to the west of the town suggests its origins may be even earlier. Lockerbie first entered recorded history, as Lokardebi, in 1306.

Lockerbie's main period of growth started in 1730 when the landowners, the Johnstone family, made plots of land available along the line of the High Street, producing in effect a semi-planned settlement. By 1750 Lockerbie had become a significant town, and from the 1780s it was a staging post on the carriage route from Glasgow to London.

Perhaps the most important period of growth was during the 19th century. The century started well, with the construction of Thomas Telford's Carlisle-to-Glasgow road through Lockerbie from 1816. And it got better when the Caledonian Railway opened the line from Carlisle to Beattock through Lockerbie in 1847 and later all the way to Glasgow. From 1863 until 1966 Lockerbie was also a railway junction, serving a branch line to Dumfries. Known as the Dumfries, Lochmaben and Lockerbie Railway, it was closed to passengers in 1952 and to freight in 1966.

Lockerbie had been home to Scotland's largest lamb market since the 18th century but the arrival of the Caledonian Railway increased further its role in the cross-border trade in sheep. The railway also produced a lowering in the price of coal, allowing a gas works to be built in the town in 1855.

Architecture

Much of Lockerbie is built from a red stone that can seem gloomy on a dull day or remarkably bright in the sun. As a result the weather can dramatically change the appearance and feel of the town. There are a number of particularly imposing buildings near the centre, none more so than the Town Hall, finished in 1880, complete with its impressive clock tower.

A little to the north of the centre is the Dryfesdale Parish Church, whose red stone exterior is outdone by its brightly decorated interior. The name Dryfesdale comes from the local river, the Dryfe Water, which joins the River Annan a little to the west of the town. Less well known and a mile and a half south of Lockerbie is the fascinating Ukrainian Chapel at the old Hallmuir Prisoner of War Camp.

Lockerbie bombing

Main article: Pan Am Flight 103

Lockerbie is known internationally as the place where, on 21 December 1988, the wreckage of Pan Am Flight 103 crashed after a bomb exploded during the flight. In the United Kingdom the event is often referred to as the Lockerbie disaster, the Lockerbie bombing, or simply Lockerbie. Eleven residents of the town were killed in Sherwood Crescent, where the plane's wings and fuel tanks plummeted in a fiery explosion, destroying several houses and leaving a huge crater, with debris causing damage to a number of other buildings nearby. The 270 victims (259 on the plane and eleven in Lockerbie) were citizens of twenty-one different nations.

Lockerbie Academy

Lockerbie Academy, the town's public high school, became the headquarters for the response and recovery effort after the Pan Am Flight 103 disaster. Subsequently, the academy, in cooperation with Syracuse University of Syracuse, New York, USA, which lost 35 students in the bombing, established a scholarship at the university for two of its most outstanding graduating students. Each year, two graduating students spend one academic year at Syracuse University as Lockerbie Scholars before they begin their university study. The scholarships have led to a lasting relationship between the university and the town. The rector of Lockerbie Academy, Graham Herbert, was recognised in November 2003 at Syracuse University with the Chancellor's Medal for outstanding service.

A former student of the Academy, Helen Jones, was killed in the 7 July 2005 London bombings. In her memory, a new scholarship has been set up, awarding £1000 towards further education to aspiring accounting students from the Academy.

Recently Lockerbie academy has moved to a new school right beside the old school. The new school has better facilities than the old one but is smaller.^{[citation needed]}

Dryfesdale Lodge Visitors' Centre

Dryfesdale Lodge Visitors' Centre, formerly a cemetery worker's cottage, was opened on 25 October 2003 after extensive renovation work funded by the Lockerbie Trust and is maintained with grant assistance from Dumfries & Galloway Council. The Lodge's vision is that it should be a living, growing, flexible facility that can respond to the needs of visitors and the community.

There are two exhibition rooms in the Lodge and also the Dryfesdale Room that is used as a quiet room for visitors to reflect. A permanent exhibition room displays ten history panels depicting Lockerbie's unique past stretching from its pre-historic origins to 1988's terrorist attack and beyond. Located within the cemetery grounds, just a short walk away, is the Lockerbie Memorial Garden of Remembrance.

Dryfesdale Lodge Visitors' Centre is not just a memorial to the disaster but is also a tribute to the community of Lockerbie and in its short life has already had over 30,000 visitors from home and abroad.

Hallmuir Prisoner of War Camp

About 1.5 miles (2.4 km) south of Lockerbie along the C92 road to Dalton are the remains of Hallmuir prisoner-of-war camp. After the Second World War this camp housed up to 450 Ukrainian volunteers from the Galician Division of the Waffen SS. They built a chapel which remains in use, currently holding Ukrainian services on the first Sunday of every alternate month.

Lockerbie Drama Club

Lockerbie war memorial, "Tower" chip shop, and town hall, 2006.

Lockerbie Drama Club was formed before the Second World War by members of local churches. Originally known as Lockerbie Churches Drama Club, plays were performed in the town hall. In 1964 the club acquired land at the corner of Well Street and Well Road, along with a prefab corrugated iron building that had been a workshop in the Technical department at Lockerbie Academy. This building became Lockerbie Little Theatre. Lockerbie Drama Club puts on two plays per year and holds play readings during the summer.

Lockerbie Ice Rink

Located across the road from Lockerbie Academy, it is one of the oldest indoor ice rinks in the country. Built in 1966 it has a long successful history. In curling it has given rise to World and European Champions and Olympians in the adult, senior and junior disciplines. It also provides skating during most weekends. The ice rink is closed between April and September. It has also recently received funding for a new roof.

Lockerbie House

Lockerbie House was built in 1814 for Sir William Douglas, 4th Baronet of Kelhead and Dame Grace Johnstone and their children; Mary, Henry Alexander, William Robert Keith Douglas, Charles Douglas, 6th Marquess of Queensberry and John Douglas, 7th Marquess of Queensberry. It was inhabited at one time by several different members of the Douglas family through the generations. Such family members include both Archibald Douglas, 8th Marquis of Queensberry PC (son of John Douglas) and his wife Caroline Margaret Clayton (daughter of General Sir William Robert Clayton MP) and their children British mountaineer Lord Francis William Bouverie Douglas, Lady Gertrude Georgiana Douglas, John Sholto Douglas, Viscount Drumlanrig and later the 9th Marquess of Queensberry, Clergyman Lord Archibald Edward Douglas and the twins Lord James Douglas and Lady Florence Dixie (who married Sir Alexander Beaumont Churchill Dixie, 11th Baronet.) John Sholto Douglas was a patron of sport and a noted boxing enthusiast. In 1866 he was one of the founders of the Amateur Athletic Club, now the Amateur Athletic Association of England. The following year the Club published a set of twelve rules for conducting boxing matches. The rules had been drawn up by John Graham Chambers but appeared under Queensberry's sponsorship and are universally known as the "Marquess of Queensberry rules". It is thought that such rules were created within the compounds of Lockerbie House, possibly within the room now known as "The Queensbury Dining Room". It is also thought that at one point Oscar Wilde may have also stayed here for a short amount of time due to his affair with John Sholto Douglas's son the author and poet Lord Alfred Bruce Douglas.

Lockerbie House is an important establishment within Lockerbie, in the past having owned most of the land and housing within the town mainly through the Johnstone Baronets and Douglas family. Like much of Lockerbie this Georgian house is built of old red sandstone and contains approx. 40 bedrooms, situated within 78 acres (320,000 m²) of secluded woodland and gardens, several outbuildings including a gatehouse, a 2-acre (8,100 m²) walled garden, croquet lawn, orchards, helipad and a hunting dog pen. The property up until recently also possessed a large stable block but that has since been partly converted into a house with the remaining stables used by a local riding school. Due to the vast size of the property it has frequently been used as a county house hotel in order to help pay for its maintenance and/or provide a prosperous business. The house is now owned by outdoor pursuits company Manor Adventure, and serves as a centre for school activity courses and family adventure holidays.

Battle of Dryfe Sands

About 3 kilometres to the west of Lockerbie on 7 December 1593, Clan Johnstone fought Clan Maxwell at the Battle of Dryfe Sands. The Johnstones nearly exterminated the Maxwells involved in the battle, leading to the proverbial expression "Lockerbie Lick."^{[citation needed]}

See also

• Garden of Remembrance at the Lockerbie cemetery
• All Saints Church, Lockerbie

External links

• Lockerbie Trial Web Site of the UN-appointed observer Dr. Hans Köchler
• The Dryfesdale Lodge Visitors' Centre Website
• A List of the Lockerbie Scholars at Syracuse University
• VisitScotand entry for the Ukrainian POW Chapel
• Lockerbie Academy Website