Auction stations for historic hill farm

A HISTORICALLY significant Annandale hill farm is set to change hands for the first time in 60 years.

Archbank at Moffat which comprises 1500 acres of diverse farmland, is going to auction next month, along with the associated Alton Hill, which extends to 412 acres.

The farms have been owned by the well-known Thomson family, of Dumfriesshire, since John Thomson Sr purchased the land in 1964, ending the famed Johnstone family’s association with the area after 350 years.

It has been run recently as a large-scale livestock operation with a holding of 900 ewes and 40 hill cows.

Evidence suggests farming activity has taken place on land at Archbank for at least 4000 years and its past was the subject of a book written by Mr Thomson himself in 2016.

The land is the site of Archbank Well which brought visitors from far and wide in the early 18th century as they sought healing water at a time when Moffat became important as a spa town, while its fields used to surround the Gallows Hill where local justice was administered until 1747.

And Archbank continues to be a significant farm today, with the 1522 acres comprising around 250 acres of enclosed fields and pasture alongside more than 1250 acres of hill ground. The in-bye land includes productive silage ground and permanent pasture, supporting a traditional livestock operation.

At the heart of the farm is the two-bedroom Gill Cottage. Both Archbank and Alton Hill will be sold at auction by C&D Rural at Dumfries Auction Mart on Wednesday, July 8.