John Muir's Birthplace

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Content updated Sun, 31 Jan 1999 23:15:50 GMT

John Muir's Dunbar... [home]

Around the High Street

John Muir House

130 - 134 High Street

John Muir House

Sergeant Daniel Muir, a young recruiting officer, was posted to Dunbar in 1829. He found the town to his liking and he remained and prospered in business. His second wife was Ann Gilrye, the daughter of an established businessman in Dunbar. John, their third child, was born on 21 April 1838.

The building where John was born is typical of the smaller late 18th century dwellings in Dunbar and has often been altered. However, externally it now looks much as it did in John's day. Access to the top flat is by an external (and once open to the elements) stairwell. The stair is down the close, or alley, at the side of the house. In John's day, there were cellars, coal-holes, a midden and such external toilet arrangements as might be imagined in the yard behind the house. Water had to be collected from the town supply at well-heads on the High Street. It was from here that Daniel traded and

'...good scripture measure, heaped up, shaken together and running over, he meted out to all...'

He dealt in grain, flour and meal, basic foodstuffs in high demand. The business was developed through the hard work and skill of John's father. The growing family could soon afford domestic servants and, in 1842, Daniel bought the substantial building that is now numbered 130 - 134 High Street [2].