7 August - 26 September 2021

James Brown was an extraordinary man with interests in business, politics, farming and growing roses. He made his fortune in the drapery business and bought the Knockbrex estate, overlooking Wigtown Bay. Here he created agricultural and other buildings in Gothic Revival style, carried out an archaeological investigation, built up a herd of prize cattle and developed the gardens and leisure opportunities of Knockbrex House. This exhibition gives a flavour of the man, his work, and his family.

A four-part creative non-fiction writing workshop series for all experience levels inspired by The Mill on the Fleet and surrounding activities and environment. We will learn techniques to approach creating compelling pieces of place writing, nature writing, memoir and personal essay. 

The mill was historically a site of transformation: of water into power into spun cotton, bobbins, stripped bark for tanning.  We will generate words together to be woven into the fabric of the building as we emerge from our own historic moment of transformation. The themed workshops will be run as a series but can be attended individually.

A social and friendly environment to explore writing creatively together and to explore The Mill in a new way. Covid safety measures will be in place.

All season

The town of Gatehouse of Fleet was built from scratch in the mid eighteenth century as a planned industrial town. It grew out of great changes in society at the time - a product of the industrial revolution. This exhibition tells its story.