caption death_date death_place image_size title consort spouse issue image article_title
barbara gilmour 's gravestone 1732 dunlop , east ayrshire 240px barbra gilmor yes john dunlop mary dunlop gilmoursgrave3.jpg barbara gilmour

barbara gilmour

barbara gilmour -lrb- married name barbara dunlop ; died 1732 -rrb- was a significant figure in 17th century ayrshire having introduced a method of cheese making which became common throughout ayrshire and beyond , providing employment and extra income for farmers and others .
she lived near dunlop , a village in east ayrshire , scotland , lying between the village of lugton and the town of stewarton on the old turnpike road to glasgow .
cheese made by her method became known as `` dunlop cheese '' .
barbara gilmour was a woman whose wits had been sharpened by her exile as a presbyterian in ireland around 1660 , during scotland 's troubles between the restoration of charles ii and the `` dirk & drublie dayis '' after the revolution .
in ireland she is thought to have learned the art of making whole milk cheese .
she may have been in the bantry bay area , county cork , where james hamilton , 1st viscount claneboye was at one time based .
hamilton was a strong presbyterian adherent and son of hans hamilton the first protestant minister of dunlop kirk .
mcmichael states that she was in county down , northern ireland .
it is not known precisely where she came from , however ` gilmore ' or ` gilmour ' is a common local name , with for example a family of that name living in the ` lands of chapeltoun ' at around the start of the 18th century .
eventually , according to the rev. brisbane -lrb- 1793 -rrb- , she returned to dunlop , east ayrshire , after the revolution of 1688 , bringing the recipe for the cheese with her ; mcmichael has it that she combined the best of scottish and irish cheese making methods to produce dunlop cheese .
paterson records that she was the wife of john dunlop , the farmer of overhill farm , now known as ` the hill ' .
introducing a new style of cheese was not straightforward and , `` knowing '' that cheese could not be made from whole milk , some of the locals came close to accusing her of witchcraft which could have resulted in her being burned to death at the cross of irvine .
another source states that she was a pious young woman -- a devout covenanter -- and , hearing of the martyrdom of margaret wilson -lrb- in 1684 or 1685 -rrb- on wigtown sands , and being determined not to renounce the covenant , she fled , like many others , from her home in ayrshire to ireland , and found employment in the county down , where she acquired a knowledge of the irish process of cheese making .
the persecution of females having abated after the horrible event of wigtown sands , miss gilmour returned to her home in dunlop , and became a farmer 's wife .
some others accused her of copying their recipes and indeed a farmer , mr w. aiton of strathaven , pointed out that practical cheese makers were already aware of the benefit of adding cream to cheese before barbara 's time , and in his opinion dunlop cheese was so named from a trader who took these cheeses from the parish up to glasgow ; others have cast doubt on the irish origin of the ` recipe ' without disputing barbara gilmour 's introduction of dunlop cheese .
