Curling was initially an outdoor game, played on natural lochs or stretches of standing water. The game grew in the Scottish countryside, the sport of farmers – outdoor work being impossible during the time when, as curlers put it, ‘the ice is bearing’.
Upper Clydesdale was ideal country for the game, where there were a large number of ponds in use for curling in the 19th century.
In the early 20th century the sport started to move indoors, to ice rinks such as that at Haymarket in Edinburgh which opened in 1912.
The famous story of the 1924 Olympics is the one of Eric Liddell. It is less known that four Scots had already won Olympic gold medals that year – the curling team, in the first Winter Olympics at Chamonix. Scotland’s Willie Jackson, the finest curler of the period, and two men he played with regularly (his son Laurence and Tom Murray), were selected, plus another well-known curler, Robin Welsh.
Britain beat both France and Sweden, and so became Olympic champions and the four Scots were awarded gold medals. However, curling was dropped from the Olympics after 1924 and did not return as an official Olympic event until 1998.
This exhibition at Biggar Museum commemorates 100 years since the event and celebrates their success, displaying some of the Jacksons’ medals, and the albums in which Tom Murray recorded his travels and victories.
WK Jackson, Thomas B Murray and Laurence Jackson were from Biggar and R Welsh was from Edinburgh.
Biggar Museum is open 10am - 5pm Tuesday to Saturday and 1pm - 5pm on Sunday
until 17th December 2023. From 6th January to 24th March 2024 it will be open on Saturday 10am - 5pm and Sunday 1pm - 5pm.
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