Brownsbank is close to the small settlement of Candymill to the north of Biggar

Biggar, South Lanarkshire

Biggar is a town and former burgh in South Lanarkshire, Scotland. It is situated in the Southern Uplands, near the River Clyde, around 30 miles from Edinburgh along the A702. The closest towns are Lanark and Peebles, and as such Biggar serves a wide rural area...

 in Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

.

It is best known as the former home of the poet Hugh MacDiarmid

Hugh MacDiarmid

Hugh MacDiarmid is the pen name of Christopher Murray Grieve , a significant Scottish poet of the 20th century. He was instrumental in creating a Scottish version of modernism and was a leading light in the Scottish Renaissance of the 20th century...

. His old house is maintained by Biggar Museum Trust

Biggar Museum Trust

Biggar Museum Trust consists of several museums based in and around the town of Biggar in South Lanarkshire, Scotland. It was largely started on the initiative of several individuals, notably Brian Lambie, some years ago, and is both non-profit and independent of local government; indeed,...

, and is occupied by a writer in residence. Recent holders of the Brownsbank Creative Writing Fellowship have been James Robertson, Matthew Fitt

Matthew Fitt

Matthew Fitt is a Lowland Scots/Lallans poet and novelist. He was born in 1968 in Dundee, Scotland. Previously writer-in-residence at Greater Pollok in Glasgow, he is currently National Scots Language Development Officer....

, Gerry Cambridge, Aonghas MacNeacail

Aonghas MacNeacail

Aonghas MacNeacail , nickname Aonghas dubh or black Aonghas) is a contemporary writer in the Scottish Gaelic language. Born and brought up in the Isle of Skye, he was registered at birth as Angus Nicolson, but has changed his official name to his native Gaelic...

 and Linda Cracknell. The current (2006) resident is Tom Bryan. The main criterion is that the writer be a Lowland Scots

Lowland Scots

Lowland Scots can refer to:* people of Lowland Scotland* Scots language...

language poet, like MacDiarmid.