fiddlers and violin makers

[longshanks]

My grandmother recounted that some of her relatives regularly performed at market fairs and other community events on the fiddle, or engaged in competitions at these events. Also one of these relatives made his own fiddles. Unfortunately she did not leave names for these fiddlers. They would have been hobby fiddlers, engaged normally in farming or a trade, and playing the instrument for recreation. The two most likely surnames for her kinsfolk are Murray and Hope. I do know that her maternal grandfather James Hope, a farm manager at Beattock, was skilled on the violin, but he doesn't appear to be the maker of such instruments. There was a James Murray who made fiddles on Hardie's pattern born 1857 in Lockerbie but settled in Dumfries, but I cannot make a link. Has anyone come across references to recreational fiddlers or fiddle makers in Dumfriesshire?

[Hannahville]

aalthough it may be of no help there is an article on an amateur fiddle maker in Whithorn in the Galloway Gazette of 26th July