Stage 2

 

Please note - this is a trial of the Moderate route being planned by Annan the History Town Group which will use information hubs being installed soon and we are looking for feedback from this trial.

The trail loops so it can be started at any of the information points.

This Moderate route is 1.5 mile (3300 steps) taking 33 minutes if you don’t stop to take in the history and the views.

Please note some pavements are uneven, narrow or non-existent so please take care especially when crossing busy roads. 

Once established, there will be much more historic information, quizzes and questions on the proposed web link and the boards themselves.

Battery Street - Harbour

Also known as Battery Brae, this was where guns were placed to demolish the town castle when built on the site of the present town hall. There is a lovely view of the river here and as you climb the hill towards the High Street.

This is where the North Burn which supplied fresh water for the townspeople from a number of wells along its course flowed into the River Annan. This would also have been the location for a ferry before the original road bridge was built around 1700. The first stone bridge had 5 arches but when it became unsafe and a new bridge was planned a temporary bridge was built at this lower level during demolition and rebuilding.

From here to the Solway Firth it would be easy to smuggle contraband into local houses and so this could easily be a location for the exciseman Robert Burns to sit and ponder on his poems.

Once a bridge was built, coaches would need places to get fresh horses and travellers to rest. Many coaching inns were built on the route. The Blue Bell being one and you can easily imagine visitors arriving in the back cobbled courtyard with stables in the outer buildings.

Directions: ascend Battery Street. At the top, you will see a narrow road towards the right and a modern wider road to the left built in the 1990s. These are both Port Street. Take care crossing this busy road  (nearer the bridge might be safer) and head for the narrow road. Follow this route until you reach the harbour.

Imagine what it would have been like before the new road was built for two horse and carts to pass here never mind the modern lorries.

As we take the long walk to the harbour notice how many old sandstone industrial buildings, pubs and houses are to be found as Annan prospered. You will pass by the sites of a brewery, warehouses, cotton mill, shipbuilding yard and smithies associated with the many trades taking place on the harbourside.

With much renovation due to take place at the harbour the permanent hub is not being installed yet but you should still find a temporary QR code somewhere.