One of the Whitesands Wells was at Dockhead opposite Suspension Bridge. It was owned by a Mineral Water Co called Burns, who had drilled several 100ft to reach the artesian well. It was a very prosperous co, for many years, supplying ginger beer over a wide area of Dumfries & Galloway. Until along came another local co, called Armstrong & Dickie. They sunk a shaft near to the existing one, and tapped into it. Resulting in a bitter dispute, ending up in court. strangely the court came down in favour of Armstrong & Dickie, why ! it was never known,  resulting in Burns going out of business.

This story was told to my Dad at a Dumfries Bottle Fair, by a Grand Daughter of the late P Burns.

Dumps

Lochside
 

Lochside  was the best dump in Dumfries unfortunately it has gone for ever it is now under the A75 bypass, I first found the dump in 1975/6 after some research. The area where the dump was located was on the site of the 'Babbington Loch' which was filled from 1885 to 1900. I found some old maps showing the Loch before it was filled in so I went to the field behind St Theresa's School and dug up the turf looking for evidence of a Victorian dump.
Sure enough there it was 'Broken Glass, Ash, Etc' I had found it, I was soon pulling out Ginger Beers from Dumfries. I filled in the hole and replaced the turf, then rushed home with my goodies and showed my dad. From that day on all of my spare time was spent at the Dump always being careful to leave the site as I had found it. I discovered an unheard of Bottle from Dumfries it was a Brown Top 'Botanic Beer' made from Joseph Ross. I also found another Rare Ginger Beer from Joseph Ross this along with the Botanic Beer was cork a stopper dating from about 1880's
 

The Racks
 

The Racks is on the outskirts of a small town called Collin about 4 miles South of Dumfries, this dump dates from around 1910 to around 1918. It is beside the main Carlisle to Dumfries railway line my dad and I have had many great finds here, sadly the dump has been ruined by greedy so called diggers who have used heavy excavators on it to plunder it. (Names supplied on Request)

There are still areas of the dump which have not yet been dug but be prepared to put in a good days hard digging, the ground is soft ash which is an added bonus and easily dug. To get to the dump you have to park your car and walk along the Railway line which is a illegal, you also have to pass a meat processing plant which in the height of summer can be testing on the smell front.

My dad nearly threw up on a few occasions with the stench, nothing rare in the way of Dumfries bottles has ever come off the dump but the condition they are in is amazing due to the ash. WG Johnstone Ginger Beers are in abundance along with Stranraer Cream pots, the odd James Hill Brown top Ginger Beer has been found. This Ginger Beer dates to the early 20’s.
Cobalt blue inks were plentiful in the early days and are highly sought after in the Bottle world. On our last visit to the dump my dad and I dug a massive hole only to find a lovely Sepia print Stranraer Cream pot, it was a really cold day on 2^nd Jan 2001 we dug a hole about 10ft deep