Friars Vennel Curling Cup

"The property of the Friars Vennel Curling Club, Dumfries, Decr 1869".  This was one of five curling clubs in the town of Dumfries.   During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries curling was Scotland’s national game.  It was organised on a parish basis because road travel was difficult at the best of times and particularly so during good curling weather. Matches were generally played with neighbouring parishes, although even this could involve the participants walking long distances in hazardous conditions.   By the early 1800s many of the parishes of Dumfries and Galloway had curling clubs.  The earliest prizes for curling matches were that the losers paid for the dinner after the match or brught meal or coal to the poor of the winning parish.  Medals became popular as prizes in the early 1800s, but cups and trophies were not common until the later years of the century.