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#HouseWarming – An Old Stovie Looks at a Building

Clem from Open Jar cooking Bannock on Dumfries High Street

By Mark Zygadlo

I offer my reflections on a couple of aspects of the mustering to mark the reopening of 100 High Street, Dumfries on the 29th May 2015.

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First, the building is just a building; open or closed. The Stove, on the other hand, has never been away. However, the resumption of 100 High Street is a cause for celebration because, occupied by the Stove, the building becomes a symbol, a statement of intent, a declaration in the heart of the town redolent with possibility.

These are carefully chosen words. When you get to be an old Stovie like me you can laugh in the face of cool and bravely speak of sentiment, and for this I take my lead from Moxie who put her wares gently on the table at the re-opening and slid under the radar to remind me, at any rate, that to be anything meaningful, an artist not least, you have to be a human being first. This was cleverly done. Addressed obliquely and full of ambiguity, her condimental list invoked the mysterious nine tenths. Elementary my dear Moxie, fundamental.

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I love that browny orange

Onward, the mugs. Whisked back to my first days at art school longer ago than even my new bravery wants to consider; messing about with a process I couldn’t quite handle, yet desperate for my mug somehow to transcend its mugginess and become art, then not caring if it did or… hang on – I love that browny orange, let’s get some more of that… The noise level, the concentration, the babies… what’s going on? Is this a family or something?

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The sledgehammer of the Young Stove finally cracked it

Thanks to a shock resistant bottle and the shock absorbing qualities built into the fabric and spirit of the old Stove, useful qualities against the vicissitudes of the future, the sledgehammer of the young Stove finally cracked it. “Jules, fetchez la vache,” comes to mind for some reason. A phrase so poignant for an old Nithraider that I include it despite its irrelevance. So what? So what? So what? John Dowson, the only other resident of the High Street, told us what. The making of history, he said, quite rightly. Now, here’s a thing and it’s one of my favourite things: life is lived forward but looked at backwards. History is the backward view, a mash-up of memories, archives, documents, photographs and of course the way we have shaped the environment, it’s all history. But the making of history is the process of living, of doing, making things happen and changing the place we live in.

Good definition of the Stove.

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The noise level, the concentration, the babies… what’s going on? Is this a family or something? Mark Zygadlo – standing centre…Moxie DePaulitte – far left (pink hair)
mugginess
mugginess
John Dowson, the only other resident of the High Street, told us what. The making of history, he said.
John Dowson, the only other resident of the High Street, told us what. The making of history, he said.
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Thanks to a shock resistant bottle and the shock absorbing qualities built into the fabric and spirit of the old Stove. Heid Wetting attempt by the Young Stove…..see very funny video – https://www.facebook.com/thestoveherald/videos/250690988434614/?pnref=story
Bannock Making led by Open Jar Collective
Bannock Making led by Open Jar Collective
Clem from Open Jar cooking Bannock on Dumfries High Street
Clem from Open Jar cooking Bannock on Dumfries High Street
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Musings Project Updates

A hunt for the history of 100 High Street

Following on from our call out last month for a documentary filmmaker, John Wallace has been commissioned to make a short film documenting The Stove and 100 High Street, as we continue to gather pace towards the grand opening this year.

John’s proposal to explore the relationship of the building to the town as it is transformed into an arts space for Dumfries has led him in search of old images of what has previously been 92 – 102 High Street, Dumfries and needs your help!

The property at 96-102 High Street has been home to a game dealer, a fireman, several milliners, David Coltart drapers, Reid’s Shoes, millworkers and an umbrella maker. More recently it housed First and Seconds Ladieswear before becoming Happit.

But hours of trawling old photo collections and online research have revealed only a few scant glimpses, the best in a 1956 film of Guid Nychburris day.

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A still from and old Lyceum picturehouse feature on Guid Nychburris 1956. Watch it online here

“The front of the building kinks away from the rest of the High Street by about 15 degrees,” explains filmmaker John Wallace. “So, in all your classic postcard views of the Midsteeple from the English Street end it can’t be seen at all, while in views from the Midsteeple it’s hidden by Burtons or the coffee house that was there before”.

Can you help? If you have any photos of the High Street which feature The Stove building, please do get in touch with John (details below.)

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Image thanks to Peter Quinn on the Old Dumfries facebook page

John is also keen to speak to people who have had a past connection to the building, were you a taxi driver when there was a rank outside the Stove? Have you worked or do you know anyone who worked in Reids, Coltarts, Happit or the First and Seconds? Did you live upstairs? If you have any stories or connections, please get in touch with John, either by phone 07720 710 934 or by email at [email protected]

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