Moat Brae is a Georgian townhouse designed by Walter Newall in

Dumfries Dumfries ( ; ; from ) is a market town and former royal burgh in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, near the mouth of the River Nith on the Solway Firth, from the Anglo-Scottish border. Dumfries is the county town of the Counties of Scotland, ...

, Scotland. It was built in 1823 in the

Greek revival Greek Revival architecture is a architectural style, style that began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe, the United States, and Canada, ...

style.

J. M. Barrie Sir James Matthew Barrie, 1st Baronet, (; 9 May 1860 19 June 1937) was a Scottish novelist and playwright, best remembered as the creator of Peter Pan. He was born and educated in Scotland and then moved to London, where he wrote several succe ...

, creator of

Peter Pan Peter Pan is a fictional character created by Scottish novelist and playwright J. M. Barrie. A free-spirited and mischievous young boy who can fly and never grows up, Peter Pan spends his never-ending childhood having adventures on the mythical ...

, played in the house and garden as a child from the ages of 13-18 whilst at school at

Dumfries Academy Dumfries Academy is one of four secondary schools in Dumfries in south west Scotland. It is a state funded secondary school for both girls and boys. The schools moto is "doctrina promovet" which translates from Latin to "learning promotes" which ...

. Barrie was later presented with the Freedom of the Burgh of Dumfries in 1924 and in his speech said "When Shades of night began to fall certain young mathematicians shed their triangles and crept up trees and down walls in an odyssey which was long after to become the play of Peter Pan. For our escapades in a certain Dumfries garden, which is enchanted land to me, were certainly the genesis of that nefarious work." In 1961 the building was granted Category B

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

status, as a classic example of Newall's work. In 2019 Moat Brae opened as Peter Pan's Enchanted Land and a National Centre for Children's Literature and Storytelling; the centre closed for financial reasons in 2024.

Design

Moat Brae is a medium-scale Greek revival villa, rising to two storeys with a raised basement and extending to five

bays A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a ''gulf'', ''sea'', ''sound'', or ''bight''. A ''cove'' is a small, ci ...

. It was one of the first houses to be built in what became George Street, Dumfries, and it occupied a large plot of ground that sloped down to the

River Nith The River Nith (; Common Brittonic: ''Nowios'') is a river in south-west Scotland. The Nith rises in the Carsphairn hills of East Ayrshire, between Prickeny Hill and Enoch Hill, east of Dalmellington. For the majority of its course it flows ...

. The house is built of polished red

ashlar Ashlar () is a cut and dressed rock (geology), stone, worked using a chisel to achieve a specific form, typically rectangular in shape. The term can also refer to a structure built from such stones. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, a ...

. The roof is slate with corniced end stacks. The front elevation features a central pedimented Doric porch, approached via flyover steps and with spearheaded cast-iron railings adjoining. The house has 12-pane sash windows trimmed in apron-style moulding throughout; those on the ground floor are topped with consoled cornices. The plasterwork features Greek revival ornament, and there is a Doric frieze in the entrance lobby. The interior features—a square central hall with a circular first floor gallery and a domed glass roof—make this one of Newall's greatest works.

Ownership

Between 1823 and 1914, the house was sold a number of times as a traditional residence. In 1914 it was purchased by The Royal Scottish Nursing Home Institution and, until 1997, financed through various trusts, remained in constant use as a nursing home complete with private facilities for surgery and medicine. In 2001 it was again bought privately with the plan to turn it into a hotel. However this never transpired and, in 2008, the building was purchased by Loreburn Housing Association. In 2009 there were plans to demolish the house, but days before it was due to be razed the house and garden were purchased for £75,000 by the Peter Pan Moat Brae Trust.

Peter Pan Moat Brae Trust

The Trust was established to save and restore the house and garden and to develop them as Scotland's first Centre for Children's Literature. To do this the Trust raised over £6m from various funding bodies, foundations and private individuals. Its fundraising campaign was launched in August 2011 by the Trust's patron,

Joanna Lumley Dame Joanna Lamond Lumley (born 1 May 1946) is an Indian-born British actress, presenter, author, television producer, activist and former model. She has won two BAFTA TV Awards for her role as Patsy Stone in the BBC sitcom ''Absolutely Fabulo ...

. That month, Scottish Culture Secretary

Fiona Hyslop Fiona Jane Hyslop (born 1 August 1964) is a Scotland, Scottish politician who has served as Cabinet Secretary for Transport, Net Zero and Just Transition, Cabinet Secretary for Transport since 2024. Hyslop has served in various offices under fir ...

announced a grant of £250,000 from

Historic Scotland Historic Scotland () was an executive agency of the Scottish Government, executive agency of the Scottish Office and later the Scottish Government from 1991 to 2015, responsible for safeguarding Scotland's built heritage and promoting its und ...

to help in the restoration of the building. Historic Scotland provided further restoration funds in subsequent years, and the National Heritage Lottery Fund and

Creative Scotland Creative Scotland ( ; ) is the development body for the arts and creative industries in Scotland. Based in Edinburgh, it is an executive non-departmental public body of the Scottish Government The Scottish Government (, ) is the execut ...

also contributed funding. A land deal was concluded between

Dumfries and Galloway Council Dumfries and Galloway (; ) is one of the 32 unitary council areas of Scotland, located in the western part of the Southern Uplands. It is bordered by East Ayrshire, South Ayrshire, and South Lanarkshire to the north; Scottish Borders to the ...

and the Moat Brae Trust, whereby council-owned land that runs alongside the River Nith behind Dumfries Academy was sold to the Trust for £1. The council has said it has no use for the land but recognises its importance for the work of the Trust to develop a Centre for Children's Literature. Moat Brae opened to the public as the National Centre for Children's Literature and Storytelling on 1 June 2019. Moat Brae is also home to the library of the Arthur Ransome Society. In August 2024, Moat Brae was closed due to financial difficulties; the following month, the property was put up for bid. Dumfries and Galloway Council and other grantors seek to recover funds they provided for the Centre for Children's Literature.

References

External links

The Peter Pan Moat Brae Trust
{{coord, 55.0716, -3.6131, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title Category B listed buildings in Dumfries and Galloway Listed houses in Scotland Houses completed in 1823 1823 establishments in Scotland Greek Revival houses in the United Kingdom Georgian architecture in Scotland Buildings and structures in Dumfries Houses in Dumfries and Galloway