Biggar Museum Trust consists of several museums based in and around the town of Biggar in South Lanarkshire

South Lanarkshire

South Lanarkshire is one of 32 unitary council areas of Scotland, covering the southern part of the former county of Lanarkshire. It borders the south-east of the city of Glasgow and contains many of Glasgow's suburbs, commuter towns and smaller villages....

, Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

. It was largely started on the initiative of several individuals, notably Brian Lambie, some years ago, and is both non-profit and independent of local government; indeed, sometimes BMT has struggled to get state funding. Its funding in the past has largely depended on its unpaid staff, entrance fees and public good will.

Amongst their museums are:

• Two properties celebrating the work of well known authors:
  • Brownsbank
    Brownsbank
    Brownsbank is close to the small settlement of Candymill to the north of Biggar in Scotland.It is best known as the former home of the poet Hugh MacDiarmid. His old house is maintained by Biggar Museum Trust, and is occupied by a writer in residence...
    
     Cottage, former home of Hugh MacDiarmid
    Hugh MacDiarmid
    Hugh MacDiarmid is the pen name of Christopher Murray Grieve , a significant Scottish poet of the 20th century. He was instrumental in creating a Scottish version of modernism and was a leading light in the Scottish Renaissance of the 20th century...
    
    , with a live-in writer in residence, who must produce works in Lowland Scots
    Scots language
    Scots is the Germanic language variety spoken in Lowland Scotland and parts of Ulster . It is sometimes called Lowland Scots to distinguish it from Scottish Gaelic, the Celtic language variety spoken in most of the western Highlands and in the Hebrides.Since there are no universally accepted...
    
    . This is only open by appointment.
  • A museum of John Buchan
    John Buchan, 1st Baron Tweedsmuir
    John Buchan, 1st Baron Tweedsmuir was a Scottish novelist, historian and Unionist politician who served as Governor General of Canada, the 15th since Canadian Confederation....
    
    , the writer of The Thirty Nine Steps
    The Thirty-nine Steps
    The Thirty-Nine Steps is an adventure novel by the Scottish author John Buchan. It first appeared as a serial in Blackwood's Magazine in August and September 1915 before being published in book form in October that year by William Blackwood and Sons, Edinburgh...
    
    and Governor General of Canada
    Governor General of Canada
    The Governor General of Canada is the federal viceregal representative of the Canadian monarch, Queen Elizabeth II...
    
    , who lived near Broughton
• A general interest museum set in a former church just off the main road. The building is situated on a mound that is the remains of an old Motte-and-bailey
  Motte-and-bailey
  A motte-and-bailey is a form of castle, with a wooden or stone keep situated on a raised earthwork called a motte, accompanied by an enclosed courtyard, or bailey, surrounded by a protective ditch and palisade...
  
   castle. The offices are also here.
• A Covenanter
  Covenanter
  The Covenanters were a Scottish Presbyterian movement that played an important part in the history of Scotland, and to a lesser extent in that of England and Ireland, during the 17th century...
  
   House restored to the condition of the period
• A 'street museum' featuring a street of several decades ago, complete with shops, inside a former warehouse.
• The Biggar Gasworks Museum is housed in the last existing gasworks in Scotland where coal was used to make town gas before the introduction of natural gas
  Natural gas
  Natural gas is a naturally occurring gas mixture consisting primarily of methane, typically with 0–20% higher hydrocarbons . It is found associated with other hydrocarbon fuel, in coal beds, as methane clathrates, and is an important fuel source and a major feedstock for fertilizers.Most natural...
  
  

Biggar also contains a museum, not run by BMT, namely the Little Theatre. Biggar also has strong connections with William Wallace

William Wallace

Sir William Wallace was a Scottish knight and landowner who became one of the main leaders during the Wars of Scottish Independence....

, with a small bridge in the town being associated with him, although his connection to Lanark

Lanark

Lanark is a small town in the central belt of Scotland. Its population of 8,253 makes it the 100th largest settlement in Scotland. The name is believed to come from the Cumbric Lanerc meaning "clear space, glade"....

is better known.

External links

• Biggars Museum Trust - official site