Alexander Murray was born to a shepherding family here at Dunkitterick Cottage on 22 October, 1775. It sits quietly in the countryside of Dumfries and Galloway, in South West Scotland.
Although he started out with a simple education, it became apparent that he would benefit from a formal education. His uncle paid for him to be educated at New Galloway and then Minnigaff, both nearby villages to his family home.
He had a talent for language, and studied French, Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. In time, he also went on to learn German, Anglo-Saxon, Welsh, and Abyssinian. He obtained a scholarship to study at Edinburgh University, from where he graduated in Divinity.
He wrote and published many books, and in 1812 was appointed Chair of Oriental Languages of the University of Edinburgh.
Sadly, his health was poor and just a year later he died at the age of 37. He is buried in Greyfriars Kirkyard in Edinburgh. In 1835 a monument to this talented son of Galloway was erected on a hill, close by the cottage where he was born.
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This is actually where I spent Christmas. Not in the cottage, too draughty, but parked up nearby in Norma. This is one of my favourite places, nearby the Galloway Forest and close to where I used to live in the village of New Galloway. I admit I am biased, but this truly is a wonderful part of the world. Comparatively few visitors, it's possible to walk for miles without seeing another human. What more could you want?
My grandfather lived nearby for almost 30 years, and he used to take me out for drives to all these little historical treasures when I visited him as a child. It was his enthusiasm for rural history that made me want to spend all my time plotting every historical site I came across and, ultimately, how I ended up with Norma Explores.
What you can't really tell from this slightly dull image is that Boxing Day was stunning. Warm sunshine enabled me to to actually get out and walk up to the monument, take some instagram-worthy photos and move on to a derelict wartime factory, a cemetery, and a sphagnum moss based nature reserve. I know. You're jealous. I'll upload the photos of all in due course.
📍Situated on the Queens Way, between New Galloway and Newton Stewart. Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland.
Murrays Birthplace:
W3W: paler.dignity.rafters
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