How Annan is restoring its harbour after decades of decline

Looking at it now, it is quite hard to imagine just how busy a place Annan harbour once was.

At its peak, around the middle of the 19th Century, large clipper ships were being built and sent across the globe with cotton, grain and timber importers flourishing.

However, the former hub of shipbuilding, commerce and fishing has been in decline for decades.

Now though, there are hopes that it can have a brighter future as a multi-million pound project to redevelop the area has officially begun.

It will see a new maritime heritage centre, event space, leisure lagoon and café created on the currently run-down site over the next two years.

The £15.6m venture has been backed by the Scottish government, the UK government's Levelling Up Fund, Dumfries and Galloway Council and South of Scotland Enterprise.

Alan Thomson is a trustee with the group behind the project - the Annan Harbour Action Group (AHAG) which was set up way back in 2011.

The group marked the beginning of the project on Wednesday with a ceremonial cutting of a stone that will be used in the development.

Thomson was also harbour development officer in the town for a decade and described it as a "momentous day" for a site which was central to the area's development.

"Annan - as it exists today - is simply because of the harbour," he said.

"It brought in massive wealth in the 18th and early 19th Centuries and built the high street in the sandstone opulence that you see.

"It brought wealth to Annan on a considerable scale, it brought jobs, it did a great deal."

However, that was some time ago.

"Annan harbour peaked in the 1830s and has been going downhill ever since," he said.

"It was just a change and ships got bigger and couldn't make it up the river.

"The railways came, there was a move to road transport, so it became less and less and less important."

Large shipbuilding ceased in 1867 but it has remained a special place.

Thomson said: "For the people that live in this particular part of Annan, the Hallmeadow and the Welldale, it's the place that they grew up, they remembered as children and people were saddened to see it decline.

"And of course with the decline of the harbour, the warehouses then didn't have a function and they began to fall down.

"So I think we arrived just in time to save the warehouse that we're going to redevelop and we're going to turn the harbour into a public amenity."

That includes, among other things, an event space and a lagoon that will provide a safe space for children to learn watersports and swim.

"We're going to once again make it an economic driver for the town," said Thomson.

"It's a huge investment for Annan."

In a town which has sometimes hit the headlines for job losses, it will also represent a small step in a more positive direction.

"We're never going to be a massive employer," he admitted.

"We may employ 10 or a dozen people - but we will be a bit of a tourist attraction and perhaps we can grow that side of Annan's economic effort."

It will, without doubt, make the area a lot more appealing to locals and visitors alike.

"It will look a lot better when we're finished," said Thomson.

"The rewilding of the merse will be particularly important because it was just a handful of weed species, most of them invasive.

"We'll get that replanted with native species and we'll massively increase the biodiversity and it'll be a really attractive place for people to come."

It will also open up a section of the river which has been inaccessible since the 1960s so people can enjoy a view which has "actually been on their doorstep all the time".

AHAG volunteer Mike Evans moved to the area from Newtonmore in the Highlands after he retired and has enjoyed being part of the project.

"I've actually found a home, here at the harbour," he said.

"Everyone was so welcoming, it's just what I needed."

He said it would have plenty to offer once it was complete.

"The walkway along, it takes you a good half hour if you're going just at a steady pace round," he said.

"There'll be places for the kids to fish, there's a place to be alone, there's a place for other people with the cafe.

"There's so much history untold here - and it's just waiting to be discovered."