Records relating to Crichton Royal Farm

Material comprises one volume detailing fields and crop management on the Farm, with loose items enclosed, 1956-1981; one volume recording the movement of animals on the Farm, 1972-1986; and one document showing Farm statistics for 1974 and a brief history of the Farm.

1956-1986

1 box

Crichton Royal Institution first took up farming in 1867 when the Board of Trustees and Directors purchased the neighbouring Brownhall Farm. The farm land was increased by the purchase of Maryfield in 1875 and a dairy herd was purchased in 1883. By 1884 the farm land extended to 136 acres and there was a herd of 24 cows. In 1885 a poultry farm was established at Maryfield and further lands were purchased. In 1890 building began on the main farmstead complex with accommodation for 80 male patients who could work on the farm. Both pauper and private patients undertook farm work as part of their treatment, with further patient accommodation, the Farm Annexe, being built between 1898 and 1899. In 1897 and in subsequent years the annual ploughing match of Dumfries and Kircudbright Ploughing Society was held at Crichton Farm and livestock from the farm regularly featured in the prize list at Dumfries Agricultural Society Show. Other expansions to farm work included the production of butter in 1898, the purchase of a milking machine in 1907 and the building of a new piggery at Lochbank for breeding stock in 1916. As well as providing for the hospital, the Crichton Farm was also involved in several farming experiments that continued for a number of years, including tests on milk production, cattle feeding, cattle breeding and potato culture. The residential part of the farm complex was renamed Solway House in 1953 and in 1962 the building was used to house the Solway Industrial Unit where patients worked. In 1975 the West of Scotland College of Agriculture took over the farm after it was transferred from the Department of Health to the Department of Education. In 2013 there remains an operating farm at the Crichton Royal site run by Scotland's Rural College, where they conduct dairy research.

Information about earlier activity at Crichton Royal Farm can be found in Minutes, DGH1/2/1 and in C. R. I. Scrapbook, DGH1/6/17/1

Enquiries for reproduction for commercial purposes should be directed to the Archivist, Dumfries and Galloway Archives and Local Studies

The papers are available at Dumfries and Galloway Archives subject to conditions of UK Data Protection Act 1998, Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 and NHS Records Management Code of Practice 2012. Subject to these restrictions, this material is being digitised by the University of Glasgow as part of a Wellcome Trust funded project. Material that is digitised will be accessed freely online through the Wellcome Library catalogue.