Barbara Gilmour

Barbra Gilmor
Barbara Gilmour's Gravestone
Died	1732 Dunlop, East Ayrshire
Burial	Dunlop
Spouse	John Dunlop
Issue More	Mary Dunlop
Full name Barbara Gilmour

Barbara Gilmour (married name Barbara Dunlop; died 1732) 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 (1793), 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.