John Muir's Birthplace

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Content updated Tue, 30 Jun 1998 00:36:27 GMT

John Muir's Dunbar... [home]

Hole in the Wall

68 - 70 High Street

Black Bull Inn and West Port

We can follow the west side of the High Street to Number 68-70 [H], which was once the home of more Muir relatives [16]. In 1893, John remarked

'...I stayed about ten days in Dunbar and found an extra old cousin - Jane Mather, that I had not heard of before...'

This was hardly surprising - she was only two when John left for America! Jane and John's grandmothers were sisters - Margaret and Joan Hay. At present a fishmongers, 70 High Street was a butchers shop until the 1980s; many other Dunbar businesses can boast similar long pedigrees. John and Joan Mather had three children and six grandchildren - John's second cousins. The last, Jane Mather, died in 1915.

The Black Bull Inn (next door at 72 High Street) was once located adjacent to David Gilrye's house; the name was retained when the old Inn was demolished to make way for the present building, erected as a Bank.