John Muir Birthplace


(John Muir House)

John Muir Birthplace, Dunbar
©2022 Gazetteer for Scotland

John Muir Birthplace, Dunbar

Located in Dunbar's High Street, this 18th Century building was the birth place of the naturalist John Muir (1838 - 1914). Muir was born and spent his first four years in the top flat, before his father acquired a neighbouring building for his growing family.

While externally the building remains much as it was when Muir lived there, it has been much altered internally. Construction work in the 1970s was removed by Richard Murphy Architects as part of a controversial plan which brought a modern interior, with the yard at the rear roofed over to provide a conference and meeting area. Reopening in 2003, the new museum illustrates the life of John Muir in Dunbar on the ground floor, his travels on the first floor and the importance of John Muir today on the top floor.

The entire building (comprising three flats on a common stair) was purchased by the John Muir Birthplace Trust in 1999 as an educational and tourist centre in public ownership. The Birthplace trust is a charity established jointly by Dunbar Community Council, Dunbar's John Muir Association, East Lothian Council and the John Muir Trust.


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