Tweedsmuir - The Crook Inn Prior to 1938. And George Orwell.

            The Postcard

A postcard that was published by R. Dinwiddie of Dumfries. The image is a glossy real photograph.

The card was posted using a 1d. stamp in Biggar, Lanarkshire on Monday the 25th. April 1938 to:

A. R. MacWilliam Esq.,
4, Whitehall Court,
London S.W.1.

A. R. MacWilliam was an art collector. The book 'Degas - The Artist's Mind' by Theodore Reff includes a copy of the oil painting 'Luncheon on the Grass' by Tissot, painted circa 1865. The caption states that the painting is from the collection of A. R. MacWilliam of London.

The message on the divided back of the card was as follows:

"25/4/38.
Just spent a most
enjoyable week-end
here with some Paisley
buddies and some
reasonably good fishing.
This hotel is well worth
a visit.
Harry."

The Crook Inn

The Crook Inn is in the Scottish Borders, near the village of Tweedsmuir on the A701 road between Broughton and Moffat. 

It is one of many claimants to be the oldest inn in Scotland. It was licensed in 1604. Robert Burns wrote "Willie Wastle's Wife" there. 

It has served as a coaching inn, a Post Office and source of employment. In the early 20th. century a halt was built on the Talla Railway to serve it. The inn attracted much passing trade from the labourers who were building the Talla Reservoir, which the railway was built to serve.

The hotel was refurbished in 1936 in the then-current Art Deco style, and retains many of the features installed at that time. 

It has also become a place of pilgrimage for members of the Porteous family, visiting the site of nearby Hawkshaw, their former ancestral home on the hills above Tweeddale. A reunion of Porteous family members was traditionally held at the inn every five years, attracting visitors from all over the world.

Proposals in 2008 to convert the historic inn into apartments met with much local opposition, and the plans were rejected by the councillors of Tweeddale West. 

In 2009 an appeal against the decision was dismissed, and planning permission was not granted for the change of use of the historic Crook Inn to residential accommodation, giving scope for the inn to re-open once again if it could be purchased.

In January 2013, after a lengthy campaign by the Tweedsmuir community to secure ownership of the Crook Inn in order to reinvigorate it, the Tweedsmuir Community Company raised the asking price of £160,000 and bought the property. 

The company obtained a Development Grant from Big Lottery in 2014 to redesign and renovate the inn, with designs undertaken by WT Architecture of Edinburgh. The plans obtained planning permission in 2015. 

The rest of the land at the site was purchased in 2015 with grants from the Scottish Land Fund, and other organisations. 

Grants are currently (2022) being sought to create a multi-faceted Crook Inn Community Hub to serve the Upper Tweed community and tourism.

However despite all this preparatory activity, nothing substantive has happened, and the building continues to deteriorate. It is listed on the Buildings at Risk Register for Scotland. If anyone out there can provide an update on the inn, please leave a note.

George Orwell

So what else happened on the day that the card was posted?

Well, on the 25th. April 1938, the George Orwell book 'Homage to Catalonia' was published.

Hermann Göring

Also on that day, a decree from Hermann Göring was published stating that effective immediately, Austrian banknotes would no longer be valid currency. 

A deadline of the 31st. December 1938 was given to exchange them at the Reichsbank for Reichsmarks. Austrian coinage remained valid for the time being.

Taken on: August 26, 2022

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1938

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