Scotland’s thousand-year old shopping street is home to country’s BEST sausages

Friars Vennel in Dumfries is one of the oldest streets in the country, with historic links to figures such as Robert the Bruce and Robert Burns. The narrow medieval thoroughfare is thought to date back at least 1,000 years.

St Ninian is believed to have founded a religious community at the top of the what is now Friars Vennel in the fourth century. For hundreds of years, it was the walkway for the friars to collect water from the River Nith or go to work in the fields.

Devorgilla, Lady of Galloway – one of the most powerful women of the era – had a bridge built at the foot of Friars Vennel in 1270, and the bridge – rebuilt in the 15th century – still spans the Nith today.

In 1306, Robert the Bruce and Red Comyn entered Greyfriars Church from Friars Vennel before the Bruce stabbed his rival to death at the altar in one of the most pivotal moments in Scottish history.

READ MORE: Bear Grylls discovers he is related to Robert the Bruce on BBC’s Who Do You Think You Are?

In later years, Burns drank in the inns of Friars Vennel during his time in Dumfries and throughout the 20th century it became a bustling high street always busy with shoppers and pedestrians.

Now, however, Friars Vennel has a new claim to fame – as the home of the best bangers in Scotland. Local butchers shop Mogerleys won the coveted Scottish Craft Butchers (SCB) ultimate Diamond Award in the biennial Scottish Pork Sausage Championship.

Daniel West only took over the shop from his uncle Gordon Little earlier this year and introduced his grandfather’s 30-year-old recipe, which immediately proved a hit with his customers.

After picking up the trophy at the SCB Trade Fair in Perth he said: “To produce the best pork sausage in Scotland is unbelievable. We turn over hundreds every week and it’s a top seller with our customers. Word is already out that it’s a Scottish Champion, however, with new orders coming in from all over.”

SCB Executive Manager Gordon King said Mogerleys’ winning sausage came up against stiff competition in a field of around 70 entries from all over Scotland.

“It’s one of the most coveted and most fiercely contested championships in the business,” he said. “And we’re thrilled to see it go to Daniel and his team at Dumfries just weeks after him taking on the business.

“The standard of entry was extremely high and Mogerleys excelled in a fiercely competitive field,” added Gordon. “The standard reflects well on our local independent butchers who supply this household staple food as one of their key products on a daily basis.”

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