Although Thomas Campbell McKean's family were from Gatehouse (his grandfather, Alexander, built the Ship Inn) Thomas was born in Manchester, where he worked for a while as a clerk to a wool merchant. He moved to Gatehouse in the 1860s, and bought the Gatehouse Brewery from David Hunter in 1869 for £2,000.
However, Thomas got into a bit of bother with the Kirk Session (he fathered a child out of wedlock with a Margaret Dalziell) and he decided to sell the brewery. It was bought by wealthy local land-owner Horatio Granville Murray-Stewart in 1874 for £2,200 and then tenanted by Horatio's butler, William Tomlinson, and Thomas Tomlinson, whose is presumed to be a relative.
Thomas Campbell McKean then emigrated to the United States, while Margaret Dalziell went to New Zealand to join her brother.
Location: Gatehouse of Fleet
Active: 1869 - 1874
Status: Closed
The Gatehouse Brewery was completed in 1771, and was described as "a large 3-storey brick and rubble building on an L-plan, with a 2-storey dwelling-house at one end". The buildings survive and are now used for a mix of residential and commercial purposes.
Web resources
Gatehouse folk - then and now. Last accessed 17th January 2016.
Books and periodicals
Donnachie, I. Industrial archaeology of Galloway (South-west Scotland, including Wigtown, Kirkcudbright and adjoining parts of Dumfries). Newton Abbot: David & Charles, 1971.
Hume, J. R. The industrial archaeology of Scotland, 1: The Lowlands and Borders. London: B. T. Batsford, 1976.
