Short Break in Kirriemuir

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Short Break in Kirriemuir

During a recent foray into Angus we achieved an ambition by visiting JM Barrie’s birthplace in sandstone-built Kirriemuir, ‘the little red town’. Familiar since childhood with Peter Pan, we had recently read some of Barrie’s work, and wanted to find out more about this enigmatic man whose skill at combining reality and fantasy has captured imaginations for over a century.

Though Barrie spent much of his life in London, we realised his roots were firmly based in Kirriemuir, and that his childhood had a huge influence on his later writings. His birthplace 9, Brechin Road has been the property of the National Trust for Scotland since 1937 when there had been an American plan to take it across the Atlantic.

James Matthew Barrie was born in 1860, the ninth of ten children. His father, David, was a handloom weaver, at a time when flax was a major crop in Angus and linen-weaving an important occupation in Kirriemuir. The Barrie’s two-storeyed house was larger than many, with the loom on the ground floor and the kitchen above. Eventually the loom was moved elsewhere, and the room became a parlour.

Barrie was always close to his mother, Margaret Ogilvy, who soon shared with him her love of books. When he was six his brother, David, died at 13. Their mother was devastated by the loss of her bright son, and young Barrie resolved that one day she would be proud of him too. As an adult Barrie commented that for his mother David would always remain 13; perhaps the seeds of Peter Pan can be found in this realisation.

Barrie had an early love of drama and he and a friend made up plays which they performed for local children in the communal washhouse. This small building still exists and was the inspiration for Wendy’s house built by the Lost Boys.

Thrums - While living with a schoolmaster brother, Barrie attended Glasgow and Dumfries Academies. Study at Edinburgh University followed, and he graduated with an Arts Degree in 1882. After work in journalism in Nottingham, he returned to Kirriemuir and wrote nostalgic stories, many from his mother, about the town, which he called ‘Thrums’, after the wasted threads used by weavers for repairing faults.

Among many mementoes on display is a small trunk which contained all Barrie’s possessions when he left for London in 1885. Fame and fortune came when he began writing plays which were produced in Britain and the United States. Titles such as ‘Quality Street’, ‘The Admirable Crichton’ and ‘Mary Rose’ (a favourite of my Scottish mother-in-law) will be familiar to many. The last has a strong element of fantasy.

An unsuccessful marriage to Mary Ansell, an actress, ended in divorce. He wrote Peter Pan in 1904 and his St Bernard, Porthos, was the inspiration for ‘Nana’, the dog in the story. With fairies, pirates, an unusual alligator, and a strong element of realism, Barrie’s story met with huge success. He was knighted in 1913, and was later honoured with Rectorships at St Andrews and Edinburgh universities. He chose to be buried beside his parents in Kirriemuir.

JM Barrie loved cricket, though had little skill at playing it. In 1930 he gave a pavilion, incorporating a Camera Obscura, to his native town. Also National Trust for Scotland-owned, it is open to the public.

A friend of the Wemyss family of Gosford, Barrie often stayed at Stanway House, their Cotswold home, and gifted a charming, thatched pavilion for the village green. I wonder if there are any more such gifts?