Moat Brae is a Georgian townhouse designed by

Walter Newall Walter Newall (3 April 1780 – 25 December 1863) was a Scottish architect and civil engineer, born at Doubledyke in the parish of New Abbey in the historic county of Kirkcudbrightshire, Scotland. He was the leading architect in the Dumfries a ...

Dumfries Dumfries ( ; sco, Dumfries; from gd, Dùn Phris ) is a market town and former royal burgh within the Dumfries and Galloway council area of Scotland. It is located near the mouth of the River Nith into the Solway Firth about by road from the ...

, Scotland. It was built in 1823 in the

Greek revival The Greek Revival was an architectural movement which began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe and the United States and Canada, but ...

style.

J. M. Barrie Sir James Matthew Barrie, 1st Baronet, (; 9 May 1860 19 June 1937) was a Scottish novelist and playwright, best remembered as the creator of Peter Pan. He was born and educated in Scotland and then moved to London, where he wrote several succe ...

, creator of

Peter Pan Peter Pan is a fictional character created by List of Scottish novelists, Scottish novelist and playwright J. M. Barrie. A free-spirited and mischievous young boy who can fly and Puer aeternus, never grows up, Peter Pan spends his never-ending ...

, played in the house and garden as a child from the ages of 13-18 whilst at school at

Dumfries Academy Dumfries ( ; sco, Dumfries; from gd, Dùn Phris ) is a market town and former royal burgh within the Dumfries and Galloway council area of Scotland. It is located near the mouth of the River Nith into the Solway Firth about by road from the ...

. Barrie was later presented with the Freedom of the Burgh of Dumfries in 1924 and in his speech said "When Shades of night began to fall certain young mathematicians shed their triangles and crept up trees and down walls in an odyssey which was long after to become the play of Peter Pan. For our escapades in a certain Dumfries garden, which is enchanted land to me, were certainly the genesis of that nefarious work" 20181001 154613977 iOS

In 1961 the building was granted Category B

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

status, as a classic example of Newall's work. In June 2019 Moat Brae opened as Peter Pan's Enchanted Land and a National Centre for Children's Literature and Storytelling.

Design

Moat Brae is a medium-scale Greek revival villa, rising to two storeys with a raised basement and extending to five

bays A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a gulf, sea, sound, or bight. A cove is a small, circular bay with a narr ...

. It was one of the first houses to be built in what became George Street, Dumfries, and it occupied a large plot of ground that sloped down to the

River Nith The River Nith ( gd, Abhainn Nid; Common Brittonic: ''Nowios'') is a river in south-west Scotland. The Nith rises in the Carsphairn hills of East Ayrshire, more precisely between Prickeny Hill and Enoch Hill, east of Dalmellington. For the ma ...

. The house is built of polished red

ashlar Ashlar () is finely dressed (cut, worked) stone, either an individual stone that has been worked until squared, or a structure built from such stones. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, generally rectangular cuboid, mentioned by Vitruv ...

. The roof is slate with corniced end stacks. The front elevation features a central pedimented

Doric Doric may refer to: * Doric, of or relating to the Dorians of ancient Greece ** Doric Greek, the dialects of the Dorians * Doric order, a style of ancient Greek architecture * Doric mode, a synonym of Dorian mode * Doric dialect (Scotland) * Doric ...

porch, approached via flyover steps and with spearheaded cast-iron railings adjoining. The house has 12-pane sash windows trimmed in apron-style moulding throughout; those on the ground floor are topped with consoled cornices. The plasterwork features Greek revival ornament, and there is a Doric frieze in the entrance lobby. The interior features—a square central hall with a circular first floor gallery and a domed glass roof—make this one of Newall's greatest works.

Ownership

Between 1823 and 1914, the house was sold a number of times as a traditional residence. In 1914 it was purchased by The Royal Scottish Nursing Home Institution and, until 1997, remained in constant use as a nursing home (financed through various trusts), complete with private facilities for surgery and medicine. In 2001 it was again bought privately with the plan to turn it into a hotel. However this never transpired and, in 2008, the building was purchased by Loreburn Housing Association (LHA). In 2009 there were plans to demolish the house but days before it was due to be razed it was purchased by the Peter Pan Moat Brae Trust.

Peter Pan Moat Brae Trust

The Trust was established to save and restore the house and garden and to develop them as Scotland's first Centre for Children's Literature. To do this the Trust has raised over £6m from various funding bodies, foundations and private individuals. Its fundraising campaign was launched in August 2011 by the Trust's patron,

Joanna Lumley Dame Joanna Lamond Lumley (born 1 May 1946) is an English actress, presenter, former model, author, television producer, and activist. She has won two BAFTA TV Awards for her role as Patsy Stone in the BBC sitcom ''Absolutely Fabulous'' (1992 ...

. With the help of public and private grant awards, plus donations from the public and community initiatives, the Trust has so far been able to purchase the house and garden from the Loreburn Housing Association for £75,000. In August 2011, Scottish Culture Secretary

Fiona Hyslop Fiona Jane Hyslop (born 1 August 1964) is a Scottish politician who served as Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Fair Work and Culture from 2020 to 2021. A member of the Scottish National Party (SNP), she has been a Member of the Scottish Parliamen ...

announced a grant of £250,000 from

Historic Scotland Historic Scotland ( gd, Alba Aosmhor) was an executive agency of the Scottish Office and later the Scottish Government from 1991 to 2015, responsible for safeguarding Scotland's built heritage, and promoting its understanding and enjoyment. ...

to help in the restoration of the building. A land deal was concluded between Dumfries and Galloway Council and the Moat Brae Trust, whereby council-owned land that runs alongside the River Nith behind Dumfries Academy was sold to the Trust for £1. The council has said it has no use for the land but recognises its importance for the work of the Trust to develop a Centre for Children's Literature. Moat Brae opened to the public by Patron Joanna Lumley and Secretary of State for Culture Fiona Hyslop as the National Centre for Children's Literature and Storytelling on 1 June 2019. Moat Brae is also home to the library of the Arthur Ransome Society.

References

External links

The Peter Pan Moat Brae Trust website
{{coord, 55.0716, -3.6131, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title Category B listed buildings in Dumfries and Galloway Listed houses in Scotland Houses completed in 1823 1823 establishments in Scotland Greek Revival houses in the United Kingdom Georgian architecture in Scotland Buildings and structures in Dumfries Houses in Dumfries and Galloway