Joseph Thomson Local Heritage Centre

23/02/2026

Could you help support our local Joseph Thomson Heritage Centre? An appeal is out for new volunteers to come forward, to help with maintenance, administration and development of the Centre.
If this is something you would like to get involved in, please contact JoAnne.
See full details and contact information below.

16/11/2023

Tynron Village in the 1900s.

14/11/2023

The Joseph Thomson Group look forward to celebrating 25 years since the first meeting to set up a committee to convert the Explorer's birthplace into a Heritage Centre for Penpont, Keir and Tynron.

09/09/2023

From next week, the Post Office outreach service located in the Joseph Thomson Local Heritage Centre in Penpont will only be available on Wednesdays between 2pm and 3pm.

29/07/2023

A picture of the Bridge over the Scaur to Keir in the early Twentieth Century. You can see the rock pool in the foreground where Joseph Thomson might have swum with his friends.

28/07/2023

Come along and discover more about the history of our local area.

08/05/2023

Come along to our AGM. All welcome

06/04/2023

This Easter Saturday come along and find out more about the famous African explorer and the history of Penpont, Keir and Tynron. For more information about the Centre, please go to http://www.penpontheritage.co.uk

22/09/2015

A Massai elder has flown from his home in Africa to the small village of Penpont in Dumfriesshire to celebrate the life of the village's most famous son. Joseph Thomson was an explorer who followed in the footsteps of the missionary Dr Livingstone, opening up new routes in Africa during six visi…

17/09/2015

14/09/2015

The Joseph Thomson Group invites you to:

An Evening with Ezekiel Katato, Maasai Elder, founder and director of Across Maasai Land Initiative (AMLI) Kenya
and
John Hastings-Thomson, great-grand-nephew of Joseph Thomson

in Wallace Hall Academy
on Wednesday 23 September 2015, 7.00pm

Programme:
7.00pm Scottish Dancing; African Drumming and Others; Buffet and Raffle
8.00pm Presentation by Ezekiel and John: The challenges of preserving the Maasai Culture in the 21st Century

Free tickets are available from Penpont Tearoom, Penpont Shop, Thomas Tosh (Thornhill), Memories (Thornhill).

14/09/2015

The Joseph Thomson Group has been nominated, and what's more, short-listed for the Scottish Heritage Angel Awards. This is a new award, backed by the Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation in partnership with the Scottish Government, the Scottish Civic Trust, Historic Scotland, the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland and Archaeology Scotland, to acknowledge and encourage local heritage preservation and community participation.
Representatives of the The Group have been invited to the Awards Ceremony at the Royal Lyceum in Edinburgh on 28 September, hosted by Sally Magnusson, where 2-minute films of all 12 short-listed organisations will be shown, after which the winner will be announced.