Four men dominated the bow-making scene during the 19th-century heyday of archery as a social recreation – Thomas Waring, Thomas Aldred, James Buchanan and Peter Muir. Others, principally makers of umbrellas and fishing tackle, added bowyery to their repertoires with varying degrees of success – but it was to these four that many turned for quality and quantity in their sporting goods.
While Waring, Aldred and Buchanan serviced the English clubs and societies, in Scotland it was Muir who reigned supreme. He was born in Kilwinning, Ayrshire, in February 1809 as the youngest of 10 children of William Muir, carpenter and maker of bows. Kilwinning was then, as now, famed for its papingo shoot – an activity by then over three centuries old, and firmly established as fundamental to the Scottish archery scene.
Archery among the lads was a favourite exercise, and young Peter Muir – for whom it was an everyday
