For a town so rich in history, culture and unspoiled beauty, it’s surprising how often Moffat is passed by whilst travelling along the M74, just 3 miles to the west. During its heyday, the former burgh was a bustling spa town, offering curative treatments for conditions like gout, rheumatism, skin and stomach complaints, using the local sulphurous and saline waters. Later it became an important trading centre for wool, with the surrounding hills providing fantastic grazing, which produced healthy sheep and good quality fleece for wool.
This long-standing association was marked by an ‘anatomically deficient’ Ram sculpture in the late 1800s. Designed by William Brodie, the sculptor responsible for Edinburgh’s Greyfriars Bobbie, the piece has no ears, something that caused Brodie such embarrassment that he supposedly hanged himself in a local hotel and still haunts the streets of Moffat to this day.
These days, Moffat is better known as Scotland’s first ‘Walkers are Welcome’ town, something that visitors should definitely take advantage of when not out looking for ghosts. The Moffat Hills offer such quality walking that the town centre has been incorporated into many of the local routes, allowing walkers to start and finish from their accommodation.
(extract from Discover Scotland)
We still have a bustling High Street with a variety of independent shops and businesses, the most famous of which is The Moffat Toffee Shop. Be sure never to visit without taking away rations for future use.
