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KIRKCUDBRIGHTSHIRE
AND
WIGTOWNSHIRE
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Ailsa CraieV,
Tlf: Ca/TLbrvittfc University Press
PHYSICAL MAP OF
KIRKCUDBRIGHT
AND
WIGTOWN
English Mies
Parishes iu Wigtown
1 Eirkcolm. 1 0 Eirkcowan
.'- ■
2 LeswalL
3 Stranraer.
4 ^or« Patrick
5 Stoneykirk.
6 Eirkmaiden.
7 Inch.
8 -Veif iwce.
9 Oid Luce.
1 1 Penninghame.
1 2 Mochrum.
1 3 Uptown.
1 4 Eirkinner.
1 5 Sorbie.
1 6 Glasserton.
17 WAieAwn.
Parislies in Kirkcudbright.
1 Carsphairn. -[4 New Abbey.
2 Minnigaff. 1 5 Eirkbean.
3 £"e/Z*. 1 6 Colvend.
4- -Dafrj/. 1 7 Buittle.
5 Balmaclellan. 1 8 Crossmichael
6 Parton. 1 9 Balmaghie.
7 Eirkpatrick 20 Girthon.
Durham. 21 Eirkmabreck
8 Eirkpatrick
Irongray.
9 Terregles.
I 0 Traqueer
I I Lochrutton.
12 0>r.
1 3 Eirkgunzeon.
22 Anwoth.
23 Twynholm.
24 Borgve.
25 Eirkcudbright.
26 Tongueland.
27 Kelton.
28 Merrick.
Copyright Seofiffe Fhillp £ S.tn 1*
KIRKCUDBRIGHTSHIRE
AND
WIGTOWNSHIRE
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS
fonbon: FETTER LANE, E.C.4
C. F. CLAY, Manager
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Sombsj?, Calcutta, anD ^Habras : MACM1LLAN AND CO., Ltd.
Toronto: J. M. DENT & SONS, Ltd.
^okvo: MARUZEN-KABUSHIKI-KAISHA
KIRKCUDBRIGHTSHIRE
AND
WIGTOWNSHIRE
by
WILLIAM LEARMONTH, F.R.P.S., F.B.S.E.
Girthon Public School, Gatehouse-of-Fleet
With Maps, Diagrams, and Illustrations
CAMBRIDGE
AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS
1920
Printed in Great Britain
hy Turnbull &> Spears, Edinburgh
CONTENTS
PAGE
I.
County and Shire. The Origin of Galloway
Kirkcudbright, Wigtown .
I
2.
General Characteristics .
2
3-
Size. Shape. Boundaries .
6
4-
Surface and General Features
8
5-
Rivers and Lakes ....
15
6.
Geology ......
28
7-
Natural History .....
36
8.
Along the Coast .....
42
9-
Raised Beaches.- Coastal Gains and Losses
Lighthouses .....
57
IO.
Climate ......
61
ii.
People — Race, Dialect, Population .
66
12.
Agriculture .......
70
13-
Manufactures, Mines and Minerals .
77
14.
Fisheries, Shipping and Trade . . ,
81
15-
History .......
87
16.
Antiquities .......
92
VI
CONTENTS
17. Architecture — (a) Ecclesiastical
18. Architecture — (b) Military
iq. Architecture — (c) Domestic and Municipal
20. Communications .....
21. Administration and Divisions .
22. Roll of Honour .....
23. The Chief Towns and Villages
FACE
IOI
107
117
123
127
131
136
ILLUSTRATIONS
Glenluce Abbey .
Portpatrick, looking South
Rocks near Loch Enoch
Loch Enoch and Merrick
Head of Loch Trool
The Cree at Machermore
Carlingwark Loch, Castle Douglas
The Murder Hole, Loch Neldricken
One of the Buchan Falls, Glen Trool
Loch Valley
Medallion of Paul Jones
Facsimile of Letter of Paul Jones
The Needle's Eye, Douglas Hall
Cave, Rascarrel .
Rutherford's Church, Anwoth
The Gateway, Baldoon Castle
Remains of Cruggleton Castle
St Medan's Chapel
Dunskey Castle .
Mull of Galloway
Yews, Lochryan .
Diagram showing Rise and Fall of Population
Belted Galloway Cattle
PAGE
5
6
10
ii
J7
22
25
26
27
35
43
44
45
47
50
5i
52
54
56
60
64
69
74
VII
VU1
ILLUSTRATIONS
Newton Stewart .
The Harbour, Stranraer
Martyrs' Graves, Wigtown
Mote of Urr
Sculptured Stones, Kirkmadritu-
Canoe and Paddle
Horned Mask of Bronze
Bronze Bracelet .
St Ninian's Chapel
Norman Arch, Whithorn Priory
Dundrennan Abbey
Tomb of the Duchess of Touraine
Glasserton Church
Threave Castle
Cardoness Castle .
Rusco Castle
Hills Tower, Lochanhead
Round Tower of Orchardton
Castle Kennedy .
Lochnaw Castle .
Lochinch Castle .
Old Place of Mochrum
The Tolbooth, Kirkcudbright
< )ld and New Market Crosses, Wigtown
Sir John Ross
Balsarroch ....
Rev. Alexander Murray, D.D.
Dairy ....
ILLUSTRATIONS
IX
Lincluden College
PAGE
I4O
Sweetheart Abbey
I4I
Gold Penannular Ornament .
142
Creamery, Drummore .
143
Creamery, Sandhead
145
Ancient Sculptured Stones, Whithorn . . . 146
Diagrams ....
147
MAPS
Geographical Map of Kirkcudbrightshire and
Wigtownshire ..... Front Cover
Geological Map of Kirkcudbrightshire and Wigtown-
shire ....... Back Cover
Rainfall Map of Scotland
Map of Dowalton Loch
62
97
The illustrations on pp. 10, 11, 17, 22, 25, 26, 27, 35, 45, 47, 50, 51, 52,
54, 60, 64, 78, 95, 102, 104, 106, 107, 109, in, 112, 113, 114, 118, 119,
120, 121, 122, 132, 133, 138, 140, 141, 146 are reproduced from photo-
graphs by the Rev. C. H. Dick ; those on pp. 6, 56, 84, 91, 103, 116 from
photographs supplied by Messrs Valentine & Son, Ltd. ; that on p. 5 is
reproduced by kind permission of The Courier and Herald, Dumfries ;
that on p. 134 from a print kindly supplied by T. Fraser, Esq. ; those on
pp. 143 and 145 from photographs supplied by The Wigtownshire
Creamery Company.
i. County and Shire. The Origin of
Galloway, Kirkcudbright, Wigtown
The word shire is of Old English origin and meant
office, charge, administration. The Norman Conquest
introduced the word county — through French from the
Latin comitatus, which in mediaeval documents desig-
nates the shire. County is the district ruled by a count,
the king's comes, the equivalent of the older English
term earl. This system of local administration entered
Scotland as part of the Anglo-Norman influence that
strongly affected our country after the year 1100.
Galloway to-day, the Grey Galloway of literature,
comprises the counties of Wigtown and Kirkcudbright.
From east to west it extends from the " Brig en' o'
Dumfries to the Braes o' Glenapp," or almost to the
Braes, the western boundary of Wigtownshire at this
part being, in point of fact, the Galloway Burn. In
ancient times the Province of Galloway is said to have
extended also over parts of the adjacent counties.
But for hundreds of years the name has been identified
solely with the " Stewartry " of Kirkcudbright and the
" Shire " of Wigtown.
The origin of these terms dates back to 1369, when
Archibald the Grim, third Earl of Douglas, received the
lordship of Galloway, and the whole of the Crown lands
A 1
2 KIRKCUDBRIGHT AND WIGTOWN
between the Nith and the Cree. Archibald appointed,
a steward to collect his revenues and administer justice,
whence the name Stewartry. In the following year he
obtained Wigtownshire by purchase from the Earl of
Wigtown. This district continued to be administered
by the King's Sheriff, and has been known ever since
as the Shire. According to Skene in his Celtic Scotland
the word Galloway is formed by the combination of the
two words Gall, a stranger, and Gaidhel, the Gaels.
Gallgaidhel was the name given to the mixed Norse and
Gaels in the Hebrides, Man, Kintyre and Galloway.
To the last district the designation came latterly to be
restricted. The word Gallgaidhel appears in Welsh as
Galhvyddel (where dd is pronounced as th), whence arose
the forms Gallwitheia, Gallwitha, Gallovidia, and Galloway.
The name Kirkcudbright means Cuthbert's Kirk. The
same meaning belongs to the Gaelic term Kilcudbrit.
Bede records a visit of St Cuthbert to the Niduari, the
men of the region of the Nith.
Wigtown means bay-town, the first syllable being
from the Scandinavian vik, a bay, a creek.
Wigtownshire and Kirkcudbrightshire were two of the
three counties on whose boundaries, county and parish,
no change was made by the Commissioners under the
Act of 1889.
2. General Characteristics
Geographically, Galloway may be viewed as falling
into three divisions— Upper Galloway, the hilly northern
GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS 3
portions of both counties ; Lower Galloway, the lower
and more open southern sections of both divisions east
of Luce Bay ; and the Rhinns, the double peninsula to
the south-west of Luce Bay and Loch Ryan. There is
a quaint Latin description of Galloway written by John
MacLellan in 1665 for Blaeu's atlas, which may be thus
translated : " The whole region is very healthy in
climate and soil ; it rarely ascends into mountains, but
rises in many hills. Galloway as a whole recalls the
figure of an elephant ; the Rhinns form the head, the
Mull the proboscis ; the headlands jutting into the sea
the feet ; the mountains above-named the shoulders ;
rocks and moors the spine ; the remainder of the district
the rest of the body."
With a coastline of over 170 miles, its fishing is of
comparatively little importance ; its harbours are few,
and the bulk of its commerce is railway-borne ; while
the absence of coal and iron has reduced its manufactur-
ing industries to a minimum. Its wealth lies in its
agriculture. In the uplands sheep-rearing, in the low-
lands dairying and mixed farming give Kirkcudbright-
shire and Wigtownshire a high place among the counties
of Scotland. Certain districts — Twynholm, Kirkcud-
bright, Borgue, Glenluce — pay much attention to bee-
keeping, and there the honey is not excelled by any
produced elsewhere in the British Isles.
Galloway offers many a bid for the outside world.
Its manifold beauty of storm-scarped mountain and
quiet loch ; its rivers, here brawling torrents, there
smooth-flowing streams ; its long seaboard of frowning
4 KIRKCUDBRIGHT AND WIGTOWN .
cliff relieved by sandy beach, woo the lover of nature
with charms that will not be gainsaid. In many a fort
and cairn, in many a mote and sculptured stone, the
antiquary finds exposed the unwritten record of the
storied past. Its once stately abbeys, whose ruins to-day
invite the ecclesiologist, were centres of missionary
effort which kept alive the torch of religion in the dark
ages. Monuments on its whaup-haunted moors and
tombstones in its " Auld Kirkyards " tell of the dour
westland whigs and their part in Scotland's fight for
religious freedom. Broken castle walls speak of long
generations of " Neighbour Weir," as the feuds of the
petty chiefs were oddly called. The charm of letters is not
wanting. In Gatehouse-of-Fleet Burns is said to have
committed to paper the flaming battle-ode which had sung
itself into his soul to the accompaniment of a thunder-
storm on the moor. Crockett's novels derive from the
soil which gave him birth, and will long hold their place
as typical of Galloway — its scenery, its people; and their
homely hospitable ways. But a greater than Crockett
has been here ; Scott found subjects in Galloway for
Guy Mannering, Old Mortality, and The Bride of Lammer-
moor, while Jeanie Deans, the heroine of The Heart of
Midlothian, had her prototype in Helen Walker, the
daughter of a small farmer in the parish of Irongray.
Galloway affords ample scope for the labours of the
geologist and the botanist, and presents varied and un-
numbered subjects for the canvas of the artist. Add
to this the possession of a climate so mild and equable
that " the tulip tree flourishes and flowers at St Mary's
>>
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0)
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3
6 KIRKCUDBRIGHT AND WIGTOWN
Isle, and the arbutus bears fruit at Kirkdale " ; and it
will be readily conceded that " there is no district in
Scotland better worth knowing."
Dairy, New Galloway and Carsphairn among the hills,
Portpatrick, looking South
and Stranraer, Portpatrick and Rockcliffe by the sea
are but a few of the holiday haunts for which the district
is noted.
3. Size. Shape. Boundaries
The longest straight line which can be measured
across Kirkcudbrightshire is from Arbigland to a point
on the Cree where the river separates the county from
SIZE— SHAPE— BOUNDARIES 7
Ayrshire. This runs, roughly speaking, from south-
east to north-west, and is 44^ miles long. From a point
a mile and a half north of Maxwelltown due west to the
same river the length is 40J miles, while a line due north
from the Ross promontory to the Dumfriesshire boundary
is 37 miles. The area of the county is 575,832 acres.
Among the counties in Scotland it is ninth in size. It
is iith times the size of Wigtownshire, while it is only
xo-ths that of Ayrshire and T8oths the size of Dumfries-
shire. The shape of Kirkcudbrightshire is very irregular,
but is approximately trapezoidal.
On the south Kirkcudbrightshire is bounded by the
Solway Firth and Wigtown Bay. On the west the Cree
separates it first from Wigtownshire, and then from
Ayrshire as far as Loch Moan. The dividing line runs
east by the Merrick, to be continued by Eglin Lane,
Loch Enoch, and Gala Lane to Loch Doon. For about
half its length this loch is the county boundary. North-
wards and then eastwards as far as Blacklarg, where the
Stewartry meets Dumfriesshire, and southwards to the
parish of Irongray, the boundary is mostly artificial.
The Cairn Water, sweeping round Irongray and Terregles
to its confluence with the Nith, about a mile and a quarter
north of Dumfries, forms once more a natural boundary,
which is continued by the Nith to the sea.
From Grange of Cree westwards through Stranraer
to the North Channel, the extreme length of Wigtown-
shire is 30 miles ; its breadth from Burrow Head to the
Ayrshire boundary is 31 miles. Thus were it not for
Luce Bay and Loch Ryan the outline of the county
8 KIRKCUDBRIGHT AND WIGTOWN
would be approximately a rhombus. Exclusive of
water, its area is 311,984 acres, and this is seventeenth
in size among the counties of Scotland. It is barely half
the size of Ayrshire, while it is rather more than half
that of the Stewartry. From Carrick Mill Burn, where
the three counties of Ayr, Kirkcudbright and Wigtown
meet, the River Cree, with its estuary broadening into
Wigtown Bay, forms the eastern boundary of Wigtown-
shire. On the north the boundary runs eastward from
Galloway Burn to the Main Water of Luce. Then bend-
ing for a short distance to the north, it cuts the
Cross Water of Luce and, sweeping round Benbrake
Hill, passes along Pulganny Burn, Loch Maberry and
Loch Dornal to Carrick Mill Burn, where it meets the
Cree.
Elsewhere, Wigtownshire is washed by the sea.
4. Surface and General Features
If a straight line be drawn from the middle of the
parish of Irongray to the middle of Anwoth, it will be
found that the land to the south-east is, on the whole,
lowland in character ; that to the north-west is high-
land. Yet the former is lowland only by contrast. An
elevated tract of ground stretches from Criffel (1867)
north-west by the Cuil Hill (1377) and the Long Fell
to the Lotus Hill (1050). West of this the land gradually
decreases in height towards the plain of the Urr. Again
it rises in a ridge of rugged hills strewn with boulders to
culminate in the Screel (1120) and Bengairn (1250).
SURFACE AND GENERAL FEATURES 9
Twynholm may be looked on as an elevated plain, so
high in general does the surface of the parish lie. In
the northern part of the parish is Fuffock Hill (iooo),
and Ben Gray (1200), which slopes down to Loch Whin-
yeon. The rest of this southern division, from the valley
of the Dee eastwards to Terregles, while here and there
hilly, is marked as a rule by an unbroken surface.
Girthon parish is mostly bleak, heathery upland, con-
sisting of broad irregular masses of hills intersected by
water courses. These reach their greatest altitude in
Craigronald (1684).
The highland district of Kirkcudbrightshire forms
part of the wide table-land extending from St Abbs
Head to Portpatrick, and known as the southern up-
lands of Scotland. It rises into a cluster of moun-
tains with smooth tops, and sides scarped with precipices
or deeply cut into with glens, presenting everywhere
scenes of naked and rugged grandeur. Here are few
trees ; here is but little trace of man. Nature is every-
where stern ; no cultivation is possible, and the region
forms one vast sheep-walk, clad with heath and moss,
relieved by stretches of eagerly sought-for grass. The
interior of Kirkmabreck is a congeries of hills, of
which the highest is Cairnsmore of Fleet (2331), partly
in Minnigaff. The surface of this parish is everywhere
mountainous. From south to north are Cairnsmore of
Fleet, Larg Hill (2216), Lamachan (2349), Benyellary
(2360), Merrick (2764) and Kirriereoch (2562). Merrick
is the loftiest summit south of the Grampains. ' Ony
shauchle," was Crockett's inscription in one of his novels
10 KIRKCUDBRIGHT AND WIGTOWN
presented to a shepherd, " Ony shauchle can write a
Rocks near Loch Enoch
book, but it takes a man to herd the Merrick." An
undulating line connects the tops of these hills in one
SURFACE AND GENERAL FEATURES 11
wide sweep of tableland. Sir Archibald Geikie describes
the surface of this parish as " one wild expanse of
mountain and moorland roughened with thousands of
heaps of glacial detritus, and dotted with lakes enclosed
within these rubbish mounds." The heathy summits
of the Rhinns of Kells command a magnificent view.
From Little Millyea (1898) the range runs N.N.W.
Loch Enoch and Merrick
through Meikle Millyea (2446), Millfire (2350), and Cor-
scrine (2668) to Coran of Portmark (2042). In Cars-
phairn, with its lofty hills green almost to the top,
rearing every year no fewer than 30,000 Cheviot and
blackfaced sheep, the highest is Cairnsmore, the third
peak in the well-known lines :
" Cairnsmore of Fleet, and Cairnsmore of Dee,
Cairnsmore of Carsphairn, the highest o' the three."
12 KIRKCUDBRIGHT AND WIGTOWN
The second of these is in Kells, and is 1616 feet
high.
No county in Scotland rises so little in the aggregate
above the level of the sea as Wigtownshire, yet as a
whole it is undulating and hillocky. The higher grounds
in general are arranged in no regular order, the most
important of them occurring as solitary eminences.
The peninsula which stretches from Corsewall Point to
Mull of Galloway is known as the Rhinns (Celtic, rinn,
a point, with English plural) ; the bluntly triangular
peninsula terminating in Burrow Head is called the
Machers (Celtic, mahair, a plain, with English plural) ;
the rest of the county stretching from the Cree to Loch
Ryan and including a large part of the parishes of
Penninghame, Kirkcowan, Mochrum, Inch, Old Luce
and New Luce, bears the name of the Moors. Wild,
and for the most part uncultivated, the moors, to which
the name is due, are the chief feature in its scenery.
They are well stocked with game, but except for sheep-
farming are of no value industrially. It is possible to
travel from Glenhapple Moor, near the Cree, westwards
through Urrall, Dirneark, Airieglasson, Laggangairn,
Glenkitten, Dalnyap, Mark and Laight to Loch Ryan,
in some cases over " flows " (as the peat mosses are
called) from eight to ten miles long, without crossing a
single ploughed field. Where there is cultivation it is
confined almost^ entirely to narrow strips along the
courses of some of the streams. In the north of the
Moors are the highest hills of the county— Midmoile
(844), Craigairie and Benbrake (each 1000).
SURFACE AND GENERAL FEATURES 13
Lying south of the Moors, from which it is separated
by no well-defined boundary, is the peninsula called the
Machers. It comprises the parishes of Wigtown,
Kirkinner, Sorbie, Whithorn, Glasserton, most of
Mochrum, and parts of Old Luce. The surface as a rule
is low and flat, but the general flatness is relieved here
and there by gently sloping ridges running with a fairly
uniform trend from north-east to south-west, and rising
as a whole towards the south-west. The highest
elevations, all near the coast on that side, are Fell of
Carleton (475), Fell of Barhullion (450), East Bar
(450), Bennan Hill (500), Mochrum Fell (646), Doon
of May (457) ; and, on account of its position and
configuration more conspicuous than hills which are
higher, Knock of Luce (513). The district is well
watered. Of the numerous streams it is noteworthy
that the larger, e.g. the Ket and the Drummullin Burn,
run transversely to the general trend of ridges and
hollows, while the smaller flow between the ridges. A
feature of the district is the manner in which the boulder
clay is scattered over the ground. The large, nearly
oblong, smooth ridges of this deposit, known locally as
;' drums," are invariably cultivated, and the contrast
between them and the surrounding lower and unculti-
vated ground is very striking.
Connected with the rest of the county by an
isthmus six miles broad at its narrowest part, the
double peninsula of the Rhinns measures 28^ miles
from Corsewall Point to Mull of Galloway ; its
extreme breadth is about 5 J miles. The isthmus
14 KIRKCUDBRIGHT AND WIGTOWN
consists of a low, flat plain lying between Loch Ryan
and Luce Bay. It has an average height of 70 to
100 feet above sea-level, sloping gradually to either
beach. Piltanton Burn, which cuts this plain near its
centre, forms a broad alluvial flat at Genoch House.
Numerous hollows occur, most of which contain deep
lochs.
As in the Machers, the highest land is on the west
side. Indeed the whole peninsula may be looked on
as exhibiting a long range of precipitous cliffs on the
west, and sloping gradually to the sea on the east.
Several peaks range about 500 feet, the highest being
Craigenlee (592) in Leswalt, and Cairn Pyot (593), in
Portpatrick, the greatest elevation in the Rhinns.
With the exception of these rocky hills and the Moors
of Galdenoch and Larbrax, most of the northern half
of the peninsula is under cultivation. Towards Port-
patrick the surface consists largely of drained land
reclaimed from moor. In the southern half Barn-
corkrie Moor and Grennan Moor are still in a state of
nature ; but with these exceptions most of the district
has been brought under the plough. A prominent
depression extends across the peninsula from Port Logan
Bay to Terally Bay ; another forms a hollow between
Clanyard Bay and Kilstay Bay ; a third connects the
headland of the Mull of Galloway with the rest of the
peninsula.
RIVERS AND LAKES 15
5. Rivers and Lakes
The main river system flows from N.W. to S.E. in
long straight courses, with unimportant deflections.
The chief streams are the Nith, the Urr, the Dee, the
Fleet and the Cree. These are the oldest streams of
the district, and an extraordinary fact is that some flow
right across the elevations of the land. In some cases
the valleys are longer than the streams. For example,
the Dee rises near Loch Doon and flows S.E. past Castle
Douglas, but the Dee valley is continued north towards
Ayrshire, where it is occupied by the Doon, a river
flowing to the N.W. Another remarkable point is that
these streams run across the grain of the rocks. So it
cannot be that the presence of soft belts of rock has
determined their present channels. The vaUeys have a
number of tributaries which converge towards them
from opposite sides. The Black Water of Dee is one
of those tributaries which are oblique to the course of
the main stream ; the Palnure Burn is another ; and the
Bladnoch also comes in as a tributary stream. A second
class of streams has a course at right angles to the first
group. They flow as a rule in accordance with the main
slopes of the country, and follow the strike of the rocks.
The Solway Firth, which is a drowned valley, has the
same inclination, namely, from N.E. to S.W.
The main watershed is from N.E. to S.W., the highest
ground running from Craigarie Fell to Mount Merrick,
the Kells range, and on to the Windy Standard. But
16 KIRKCUDBRIGHT AND WIGTOWN
owing to the peculiar history of the river systems, the
main valleys are cut right across this, and the actual
watersheds more or less closely follow the same direction.
The county margin from Darngarroch Hill runs for a
considerable distance approximately on the watershed
between the Nith (which receives a comparatively small
part of the drainage of the county) and the Dee. From
the Windy Standard the county border crosses to the
Doon Valley, and the eastern part of Kirkcudbrightshire
belongs to the basin of the Urr. The watershed between
the Nith and the Urr starting on the shore near Souther-
ners runs through Criffel, crosses the railway near Hills
Tower, and swings to the west to the Nine Mile Bar,
and thence to Darngarroch Hill, after which it follows
the county line. The watershed between the Urr and
the Dee begins near Barcloy Hill, north of Dundrennan,
and passes to the east of Castle Douglas, where the
streams are only about four miles apart. Then it runs
N.W. towards Black Craig, reaching the county boundary
about Trostan Hill. The Dee valley is separated from
the valley of the Doon at the county margin. The
watershed between the Dee and the Fleet is low and
irregular. In the S.E. it passes Fuffock Hill and Loch
Whinyeon, goes through the White Top of Culreoch,
past Loch Grannoch to Cairnsmore, by Gatehouse-of-
Fleet Station, down Pibble Hill and Cairnharrow. The
watershed bit ween the Black Water of Dee and the
< ree is well defined. Loch Dee drains to the Dee, Loch
Enoch to the Doon, and Loch Trool to the Cree ; so that
the watershed runs in an irregular manner among these
o
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H
o
o
•a
18 KIRKCUDBRIGHT AND WIGTOWN
lochs. It ascends the Merrick and is continued north
through Kirriereoch Hill.
The valley between the west side of the Cree and the
Bladnoch is low and flat. On the west side of the Blad-
noch valley there is a broad range of flatfish ground
occupied by numerous lochs and by large peat mosses.
The watershed here winds out and in between the heads
of the stream, passes through Carsecreugh Fell, and
sweeps round to Quarter Fell. The N.W. side of the
Luce valley is formed by a well characterised group of
hills, of which Mid Moile is the most prominent.
Towards the west this watershed passes through Glen-
whan Moor. The Piltanton Burn, the only important
stream in the Rhinns, rises to the west of Loch Ryan,
flows parallel to its shores as far as Lochan, then swings
to the east to break through the sandhills flanking the
Sands of Luce at their eastern extremity.
The Nith, which rises in Ayrshire some nine miles south
of Cumnock, is joined by the Cluden Water at Lincluden,
a mile and a half from Dumfries. " Lonely Cluden 's
hermit stream " is formed by the union of the Cairn
Water and the Old Water of Cluden. The Cargen issues
from Lochrutton Loch to join the Nith 2^ miles south
of Dumfries, and New Abbey Pow, after an eastward
course of six miles, falls into it where the parishes of
Troqueer and New Abbey march.
Issuing from Loch Urr, the river Urr is at first un-
interesting and flows over an irregular channel. Its
course from the Old Bridge of Urr is among level and
well-cultivated grounds with a rich sward of grass. It
RIVERS AND LAKES 19
enters Rough Firth at Palnackie, almost midway
between Nith and Dee. Of its numerous feeders the
only one of any importance is Kirkgunzeon Lane,
which rises at Lang Fell and after a run of eight miles
through lands largely alluvial, falls into it as Dalbeattie
Burn, about a mile south of Dalbeattie.
The Water of Ken rises between Blacklorg Hill and
Lorg Hill, and 17 miles nearer the sea enters Loch Ken
— no loch at all, but merely an expansion of a sluggish
river dreaming along between widespread lonely banks.
At the southern extremity of the parish of Kells, 21 miles,
from its source, the Ken is joined from the west by the
Dee. From this point to the sea it passes under the
name of its usurping tributary. The streams which
feed the Ken are numerous but, severally, inconsiderable.
On the left bank, midway between Dairy and New
Galloway, it receives the romantic Garpel Burn, with its
picturesque waterfall, the Holy Linn. Its principal
tributary is the Deugh on the right bank, which, rising
in three headwaters in Ayrshire, almost bisects Cars-
phairn, draining in two main divisions the whole of that
extensive parish. Joined by the Polmaddy Burn,
which has flowed eastwards from the slopes of the Carlin's
Cairn, it pours the united waters into the Ken.
Of the ten or twelve rills which form the source of the
Dee, the principal is the March Burn, which rises on the
south-west slopes of Corscrine Hill (2668), changes its
name to Sauch Burn, and then as Cooran Lane receives
the surplus waters of Loch Dee. Thenceforward it is
known as the Dee — the dark stream — or by its duplicate
20 KIRKCUDBRIGHT AND WIGTOWN
name, the Black Water of Dee. The dark colour of its
waters is due to the mosses among which it has its origin
and through which in its upper reaches it flows. It is
worthy of note in passing that its salmon are said to be
of a darker colour than those of other rivers in the south
of Scotland. Its course for 19 miles is in the main
south-eastwards. It traverses Stroan Loch two miles
before its union with the Ken ; and from the con-
fluence for five miles it expands into what is sometimes
called a second Loch Dee, a series of three successive
lakes with an average breadth of a quarter of a mile.
Its couise now is rapid : a turbulent mill-race, it rushes
over a rocky bottom and between steep copse-clad
banks past Threave Castle Isle and Lodge Isle to Tong-
land, where at the Doachs it pours over a declivity of
rocks in an impetuous cataract. Immediately below
Tongland Bridge, according to tradition, is the spot
described by the Scottish poet Alexander Montgomerie
(born about 1545) in the lines :
" 13ot, as I mussit myne alane,
I saw ane river rin
Out ouir ane craggie rock of stane,
Syne lichtit in ane lin,
With tumbling and rumbling
Amang the rockis round,
Dewalling and falling
Into that pit profound."
Three miles farther down it sweeps past Kirkcudbright,
and after five miles loses itself in the Solway. Mussels
containing pearls of considerable value are occasionally
got in this river. Anstool Burn from Balmaghie and
RIVERS AND LAKES 21
Glengap Burn, flowing out of Loch Whinyeon unite to
form Tarff Water, the chief tributary of the Dee ; which,
after a run of eight miles, it joins near Compstone House.
About the middle of its course there is a picturesque
succession of waterfalls, the Linn of Lairdmannoch,
between 50 and 60 feet in height.
The Fleet, throughout a boundary river, is formed
by the junction of two main streams, the Big and the
Little Water of Fleet. The former has its head waters
in three burns which rise on the eastern slopes of Cairns-
more of Fleet. One of these, the Carrouch Burn, divides
Anwoth from Kirkmabreck; the Big Water, and
thereafter the united streams, divide Anwoth parish
from Girthon. Issuing from Loch Fleet, the Little
Water flows south to join the Big Water just above
Castramont. Wild, heath-clad hills overlook the upper
part of its course, while its middle and lower reaches
are flanked by declivities and plains, here richly wooded
and there stretching backwards in well-tilled fields.
A mile below Gatehouse the river suddenly expands
into an estuary 3 J miles long and a mile in average
breadth.
The Cree is a boundary river. It has its source in
Loch Moan, and for several miles flows through a bleak
moorland district separating the Stewartry from Ayr-
shire. Opposite the north end of Loch Ochiltree it
bends sharply to the east for over a mile, and then, for
the remainder of its course, flows south-eastwards
between the Stewartry and the Shire. Near the farm of
Brigton it is joined by its chief tributary, the Minnoch,
22 KIRKCUDBRIGHT AND WIGTOWN
reinforced by the Water of Trool. For three or four
miles below this it flows with an almost imperceptible
current through a broad channel known as the Loch
of Dee. On the left bank, through the beautiful Linn
of Cadorcan, the waters of Cadorcan Burn fling them-
selves in a lovely cascade into the Cree over a cliff
The Cree at Machermore
some fifty feet high in the Wood of Cree, one of the few
remaining fragments of the ancient forests of Galloway.
Right across were the Cruives of Cree, where salmon
used to be caught in traps formed of stakes and wattles
fixed to a chain stretched across the river. The Cruives
of Cree find a place in what is probably the oldest form
of the lines proverbial of the power of the Kennedy
family in the sixteenth century.
RIVERS AND LAKES 23
" 'Twixt Wigtoune and the Toune of Aire,
And laigh down by the Cruives of Cree,
Ye shall not get a lodging there,
Except ye court a Kennedie."
Augmented by the Penkill Burn, which joins it just
above Newton Stewart and by the Palnure Burn, which
falls into it three miles above Creetown, the " crystal
Cree " makes its way by a broadening estuary into Wig-
town Bay. This is one of the very few Scottish rivers
visited by that delicate (ish, the sparling.
The Bladnoch flows out of Loch Maberry and, though
with many windings, maintains on the whole a south-
east direction to its mouth. Its main feeder, Tarff
Water, rises on the slopes of Benbrake Hill, and flows
almost parallel to it between New Luce and Old Luce
on the west and Kirkcowan on the east, till six miles
from the confluence of the two streams it swings to the
north-east across the last-named parish.
Till within seven miles of the sea the Luce consists of
two streams, the Main Water and the Cross Water of Luce.
Both rise in Ayrshire ; in their higher reaches both flow
through bleak moorlands, and both are augmented, by
numerous brawling burns. At the village of New Luce
the Cross Water strikes the Main Water at right angles,
and from this point the Water of Luce makes for Luce
Bay, which it enters through a small estuary, dry at
low water.
Galloway yields to no district in Scotland in the
number and beauty of its inland waters. The glaciers-
which streamed southwards scooped out hollows in the
24 KIRKCUDBRIGHT AND WIGTOWN
Silurian rocks, many of which remain to-day as lochs.
As a rule they are small, and nearly all contain islands.
Of over forty in Wigtownshire and thirty in Kirkcud-
brightshire, the largest is only two miles long. They
occur singly and in groups ; they are met with at almost
the level of the sea and at elevations ranging to 1700 feet.
They are in general well supplied with fish ; Lochs
Grannoch, Doon and Dungeon contain char ; while
tailless trout are the boast of silver-sanded Loch Enoch.
Loch Rutton, 325 feet above sea-level, supplies
Dumfries with water. Near Craigend Hill are the
romantic loch of Lochaber and Loch Arthur, so named
from the tradition of King Arthur's sojourn in the
vicinity. A mile from the Solway, Loch Kinder, blue
in the hollow of Criffel, no longer supplies chairmakers
with bulrushes and weavers with reeds. Loch Urr is a
picturesque sheet of 106 acres lying in the moorland.
Between the parishes of Kirkpatrick-Durham and Urr
is Loch Auchenreoch, and a mile to the east, Loch
Milton. Loch Dee, 253 acres, is an irregularly shaped
lonely mountain lake in a treeless waste near the Dungeon
of Buchan. About a fifth larger, embosomed among
rugged hills and solitary moorlands, is Loch Grannoch,
the best trouting loch in Galloway. Loch Skerrow,
125 acres, has five or six islets wooded with birch and
alder. The lochlet of Lochanbrek, at an altitude of
650 feet, is near a spa formerly much resorted to.
Loch Dungeon, at a height of 1025 feet, is flanked by
steep hills on the south and rugged crags on the west.
Loch Ken, 4! miles long, and from 200 to 800 yards
RIVERS AND LAKES
25
wide, is the largest loch in the Dee basin. Flanked on
the west side by a range of hills, which on the north and
centre press close upon its edge, and at its southern
corner terminate in a huge rock, its shores are here and
there fringed and tufted with plantations. Its surface
is broken by four beautifully wooded islets. Carling-
wark Loch, 105 acres, formerly much larger, was partially
Carlingwark Loch, Castle Douglas
drained in 1765 for the purpose of procuring marl for
manure. Near it stood the Three Thorns of Carlingwark,
for ages a trysting-place of laird and yeoman in Galloway.
Loch Whinyeon, 700 feet above sea-level, had its waters
diverted about a hundred years ago from the basin of
the Dee, to which it belongs, to drive the cotton mills
of Gatehouse-of-Fleet. From the south-east corner of
Loch Fleet, about a mile east of Loch Grannoch, issues
the Little Water of Fleet. Loch Enoch (said to be a
corruption of Loch in Loch, from one of its islands having
2G KIRKCUDBRIGHT AND WIGTOWN
a loch in it), at an elevation of 1650 feet is a veritable
lake in cloud-land. Loch Neldricken has at its edge an
emerald stretch of reeds, in the middle of which is a
circular expanse of deep black water. It never freezes,
say the natives, not even in the bitterest winters ; and
it bears the significant name of the Murder Hole.
Loch Valley is a fine example of a moraine-formed
The Murder Hole, Loch Neldricken
lake ; it is surrounded by numberless boulders and
perched blocks, and rocking stones, many of them so
exquisitely poised that a light breeze disturbs their
equilibrium. Among the highest mountains of Galloway,
its shores steep, rugged, and wooded, lies Loch Trool
with an undulating beach which, by two constrictions,
divides it into three distinct basins. Its extensive
drainage area includes the southern slope of the Merrick
RIVERS AND LOCHS
27
and the northern of Lamachan. At the end of the loch
is the finest waterfall in Galloway. Buchan Linns
One of the Buchan Falls, Glen Trool
have been formed by Buchan Burn cutting a deep gorge
between two hills. Through this it hurls itself by a
28 KIRKCUDBRIGHT AND WIGTOWN
succession of leaps into the lake 120 feet beneath. The
district is rich historically. It witnessed stirring scenes
in the Brucian struggle for Scottish independence, and
its lulls and corries were familiar with the struggles of
the Covenanters.
On the county march are Lochs Maberry, Ochiltree
and Dornal— the last belonging more properly to Ayr-
shire. On one of the eight islets of Maberry are the
remains of an old castle. The lochs of Mochrum are
seven in number ; Castle Loch drains into Mochrum
Loch, the largest in the basin. Lochs Magillie and
Soulseat are within easy access of Stranraer. The latter,
surrounded by trees, is almost bisected by a peninsula
which projects into it. Here stood the now-vanished
Monastery of Soulseat. Other lochs in the basin of
the Luce, all near the eastern shore of the bay, are White-
field, Eldrig, and the White Loch of Myrton. In Loch
Ryan basin are the White and Black Lochs of Inch,
connected by a canal. The space between them — the
" dressed grounds " of Castle Kennedy — is laid out in
formal terraces and alleys. Avenues of coniferous
trees, beds of flowering plants and shrubs, ponds
bedecked with waterlilies, are features of a piece of
landscape-gardening unexcelled in the south of
Scotland.
6. Geology
Geology is the science that deals with the solid crust
of the earth ; in other words, with the rocks. By rocks,
GEOLOGY 20
however, the geologist means loose sand and soft clay
as well as the hardest granite. Rocks are divided into
two great classes — igneous and sedimentary. Igneous
rocks have resulted from the cooling and solidifying of
molten matter, whether rushing forth as lava from a
volcano, or, like granite, forced into and between other
rocks that lie below the surface. Sometimes pre-
existing rocks waste away under the influence of natural
agents as frost and rain. When the waste is carried by
running water and deposited in a lake or a sea in the
form of sediment, one kind of sedimentary rock may
be formed — often termed aqueous. Other sedimentary
rocks are accumulations of blown sand : others are of
chemical origin, like stalactites : others, as coal and
coral, originate in the decay of vegetable and animal
life. Heat, again, or pressure, or both combined, may
so transform rocks that their original character is com-
pletely lost. Such rocks, of which marble is an example,
are called metamorphic.
Examining the order in which rocks occur, the
materials which compose them, and the fossils or petri-
fied remains of plants and animals which they contain,
geologists have arranged groups of rocks according to
their relative age. Lowest of all are the Archaean rocks.
Then in order come (i) rocks of ancient life, or Palaeozoic ;
(2) rocks of middle life or Mesozoic ; and (3) rocks of
recent life, or Cainozoic. The following table shows
the usual classification of Palaeozoic stratified rocks,
the youngest on top.
30 KIRKCUDBRIGHT AND WIGTOWN
Permian System.
Carboniferous
Old Red Sandstone
Silurian
Ordovician
Cambrian
The oldest rocks exposed in Galloway are Lower
Silurian or Ordovician. These form a broad strip of
country from Sanquhar past the Merrick into Loch
Ryan and the Rhinns. The Upper Silurian rests upon
these conformably ; its outcrop lies to the south-east,
forming the whole of the country from the Mull of
Galloway to Dumfries, with the exception of a narrow
coastal belt. The outcrop of the Upper Silurian is
about 21 miles broad from Dairy to Kirkcudbright, and
the outcrop of the Lower is about 16 miles broad from
Dairy to the foot of Loch Doon. One striking feature
of these rocks is that the beds of strata are very steep.
This is due to disturbances which the rocks have under-
gone. Careful observation proves that the same beds
are repeated many times in any good natural section
such as a stream-side or road-side. This is a natural
consequence of folding. The beds were deposited as
flat sheets of mud and sediment. The folding is like
what takes place when the bellows of a camera are shut
up. The individual folds are sometimes vertical,
though very often inclined. When the folding is in-
clined and the two sides of the arches and troughs are
parallel it is said to be isoclinal. This is the great
GEOLOGY 31
characteristic of the whole of the district. The folds
have a common extension or strike, which in the whole
Southern Uplands of Scotland points from S.W. to
N.E. The main streams, which run from N.W.
to S.E., cut across the folding structure of the
country. The present system of the ground depends
upon erosion. In all arches or anticlines the lowest
rocks form the interior or core ; while conversely,
in the troughs the lowest rocks form the exterior. When
an arch has had its top cut away by denudation the
underlying rocks are exposed in the centre of the arch.
In many places the Lower Siluriar? rocks, one of which
is a very characteristic hard radiolarian chert, have been
exposed in this manner in the midst of Upper Silurian
rocks. On the map these show as boat-shaped outcrops.
The Silurian rocks are probably several thousand feet
thick. A traveller crossing the Uplands would obtain
the impression that they were much thicker than they
really are. This is misleading : the rocks are being
repeated every few hundred yards. The Lower Silurian
comprises a series of volcanic rocks or lavas belonging
to the Arenig sub-division. These, which cover no
large area within the counties, appear only here and
there in the cores of folds. Over them lie black mud-
stones and radiolarian cherts. The latter, which are
flinty grey-green or red rocks, very hard and splintery,
when examined under the microscope are seen to con-
sist of the shells of radiolaria. Outcrops of the Chert
series are comparatively frequent, but nowhere large.
The next sub-division of the Lower Silurian is called
32 KIRKCUDBRIGHT AND WIGTOWN
the Llandeilo-Caradoc. It includes greywackes and
shales, some of which are black and contain many
graptolites. Two of the best known of these bands
are the Glenkiln Shale and the Hartfell Shale. The
Upper Silurian lowest division is known as the Llan-
dovery Taranion. It consists also of greywackes, mud-
stones and shales, und it contains one well-known
graptolite-bearing band, the Birkhill black shale. The
highest rocks, the Wenlock and Ludlow, form a narrow
belt to the south of Kirkcudbright (also the south end
of Burrow Head), and on to the mouth of the Nith.
While these rocks were being deposited this district
was occupied by a compact shallow sea, in which grap-
tolites flourished together with molluscs and brachio-
pods ; but no fish remains and no plant remains are
preserved in these strata, and it is doubtful whether
as yet fishes were in existence. The sequence of the
Silurian rocks in Kirkcudbrightshire and Wigtownshire
is not yet complete, the topmost members, the Down-
tonian, being missing. Then followed the folding and
crumpling of the Silurian strata which, up to that time,
had been flat. This folding was the result of great earth
movements which took place over a very large part of
the west of Europe. The compression took place in a
N.W. to S.E. direction, and hence the uniform strike
of the folds. After the folding was completed the sea
bottom was upheaved and formed into dry land, and
the process of erosion began, which has continued
unbroken ever since.
The epoch of folding was followed by intrusions of
GEOLOGY 33
granite. These are generally assigned to the Lower
Old Red Sandstone period. During this time there
were great chains of volcanic mountains over the south
of Scotland, of which the Cheviots and the Carrick Hills
are well-preserved fragments. The granite masses of
Galloway include the Merrick mass, the Cairnsmore of
Fleet mass, and the Dalbeattie mass, each of which is
10 to 12 square miles in area. Smaller masses occur at
Creetown, at Crummag Head and elsewhere. Several
small patches of dark-coloured granite containing horn-
blende (diorite) are to be met with, as at Ardwell, at
Fldrig village and at Culvennan, some 3 miles north of
Kirkcowan. The granite masses rose into position in a
state of fusion, intensely hot, and the rocks in contact
with the granite were profoundly altered and re-crystal-
lized. For example, at New Galloway the Silurian
shales and grits have been changed into mica schists,
which contain sillimanite and other contact minerals
produced by high temperatures. The granite when in
a liquid state had burst through the rocks, sending
veins and dikes into their fissures. The granite never
reached the surface, but consolidated under a great
overlying mass of rock, which has now been swept
away. It is possible, however, that the granite formed
the centre of volcanoes of which no trace now remains.
Even at great distances from the granite numerous
dikes are found cutting through the Silurians. A swarm
of these occurs between Castle Douglas and Kirkcud-
bright. Though not broad, many of them run for a
long distance.
34 KIRKCUDBRIGHT AND WIGTOWN
It is likely that during the Old Red Sandstone period
all Galloway was dry land ; there are no Old Red Sand-
stone deposits now preserved anywhere in it. In the
next succeeding period, the Carboniferous, Galloway was
at first a range of hills, while the centre of Scotland
and the north of England were covered by the sea.
In course of time Galloway became an island, which
gradually sank lower and lower. The sea finally rose
and flooded its valleys, in some of which deposits of
carboniferous rock were formed. A strip of such rock
occurs at Abbeyhead and again at Kirkbean. These
belong to the lowest part of the Carboniferous deposits
and are known as calciferous sandstones. On the west
side of Loch Ryan also there is a belt of Carboniferous
rocks ; these are of considerably later age and belong to
the Coal Measures period. After the Carboniferous
period ended, dry land again supervened, and the red
sandstones of Maxwelltown and the breccias of Loch
Ryan were subsequently deposited, possibly in desert
lakes. These sandstones contain the footprints of
reptiles, but no other trace of life. At Loch Ryan
they rest on Carboniferous, but at Maxwelltown they
rest directly on the Upper Silurian.
For a very long period the geological history of
Galloway is a blank. In early tertiary times many long
dikes of basalt were injected into the Silurian rocks. A
few instances occur in Galloway, e.g. at Kirkcolm.
During the glacial period Galloway was buried under a
deep layer of ice. Great masses of snow accumulated
on the high hills and formed a moving ice-sheet, which
GEOLOGY
35
streamed southwards into the Solway, carrying with it
numerous blocks of rock, which were deposited along
its course. Blocks of Criffel granite are found near
Birmingham and in South Wales. The Firth of Clyde
was filled by a great ice-stream coming down from the
Highlands, and this passed into the Rhinns. After the
Loch Valley
(A moraine-foi-med lake)
main ice-sheet melted, local glaciers existed in the high
hills, where glacial moraines are still conspicuous features
of the landscape. Abundant evidence of the Ice Age in
Galloway is to be met with in scratched rock surfaces,
boulder clays, sands and gravels and the erratic blocks
just mentioned. A very striking feature all over
Galloway is the manner in which the boulder clay has
been deposited. It is found in large, smooth ridges,
oblong or rounded in shape, locally known as " drums."
36 KIRKCUDBRIGHT AND WIGTOWN
A small patch of blown sand occurs beside Port Logan ;
another at the Point of Lag, where it rises into a hill
75 feet above the sea ; and a larger strip at the head of
Luce Bay, stretching from Sandhead to the mouth of
Piltanton Burn.
In the Stewartry parts of Irongray, Terregles and
Troqueer have the soil a sandy loam. A belt stretching
from Maxwelltown along the shores of New Abbey and
Kirkbean has a soil either of carse or rich loam with a
subsoil of gravel or limestone. In the south-east of the
country and in the valleys of the Ken, the Fleet and the
Cree, a dry loam of a hazel colour is met with. In the
upland districts the soil, as a rule, is thin and mossy.
In Wigtownshire along the side of the lower reaches
of the Cree and at the head of Wigtown Bay the soil is
alluvial. In much of the Machers and a large portion
of the Rhinns it is a dry hazelly loam, as also in the
cultivated part of the moors. In the centre and north
of this division great tracts are covered with peat moss
resting sometimes on a bed of marl, though frequently
on a substratum of clay.
7. Natural History
In recent times — recent, that is, geologically — no sea
separated Britain from the Continent. The present bed
of the North Sea was a low plain intersected by streams.
At that period the plants and the animals of our
country were identical with those of Western Europe.
But the Ice Age came and crushed out life in this region.
NATURAL HISTORY 37
In time, as the ice melted, the flora and fauna gradually
returned, for the land-bridge still existed. Had it
continued to exist, our plants and animals would have
been the same as in Northern France and the Nether-
lands. But the sea drowned the land and cut off
Britain from the Continent before all the species found
a home here. Consequently, on the east of the North
Sea all our mammals and reptiles, for example, are
found along with many which are not indigenous to
Britain. In Scotland, however, we are proud to possess
in the red grouse a bird not belonging to the fauna of
the Continent.
While displaying the general flora of Scotland,
Galloway, from its position, shares in the plants char-
acteristic of the west and the south.
Of flowering plants there are over 900 species in
Galloway ; of ferns over 20 species. The moss flora is
exceedingly well represented, especially in Kirkcud-
brightshire ; liverworts, lichens and fungi flourish
wherever the conditions are favourable.
In the farthest-out rock pools at the lowest of low
water one finds the edible Alaria esculenta or honey ware,
and the familiar Laminar ia digitata or tangle. Some-
what nearer the shore in some localities may be met
with Odonthalia dentata and Chondrus crispus, or Irish
moss. These are red algae. Still nearer the shore are
several species of Fucus or bladder wrack and of Poly-
siphonia, and here and there Himanthalia lorea or sea
thongs, all of which are olive algae. In the pools nearest
the shore one gathers the beautiful grass-green Ulva
38 KIRKCUDBRIGHT AND WIGTOWN
latissima or laver, Enteromorpha compressa and various
species of Cladophora, all green algae.
The flora of the coast is determined largely by the
nature of the soil. On rocks one finds, but rarely,
Crithmum maritimum or sea samphire, and sea campion
and michaelmas daisy in abundance. On sandy shores,
but very rare, are purple sea-rocket and sea holly ; and
halberd-leaved orache, prickly sea-weed, sea kale,
thyme-leaved sandwort and sea purslane. Further
inland rest-harrow, bird's-foot trefoil, yellow bedstraw
and others occur ; while still further from the sea
there are marsh arrowgrass, seaside arrowgrass, seaside
plantain, sea milkwort, and scurvygrass. On muddy
shores, and entirely submerged at high water one meets
with broad-leaved grasswrack and glasswort.
Plants usual to river valleys are very numerous, and
the lake-side flora is also rich and varied. In mosses
cross-leaved heath, common ling, bog myrtle, bog
asphodel, cranberry and sundew are abundant. In
sub-alpine districts are to be found large-flowered bitter
cress, giant bell flower, and many others. Higher up
the mountain sides are alpine meadow rue, least willow,
wild thyme, cotton grass and juniper. Parsley fern is
plentiful on the higher hills, Wilson's filmy fern is
common in sub-alpine glens, and moonwort, adder's
tongue, hart's tongue and, very rarely, the royal fern
are also to be got.
In 1905 Kirkcudbrightshire had 19,708 acres in woods
and plantations, or roughly ^th of the area, but at one
time the greater part of the county was covered with
NATURAL HISTORY 39
wood, largely oak. This is shown by place names,
remains of natural timber on the sides of hills and banks
of rivers, and by the numerous peat mosses out of which
trunks of trees are still dug in good preservation. Of
ancient forests may be named the forest of Minnigaff,
the Free Forest of Cree, the Forest of Buchan in Kells,
the Forest of Kenmure, the (small) Forest of Rerwick,
the Forest of Colvend and the Bishop's Forest in Iron-
gray. In those days wood was the common fuel ; and,
in addition, much was consumed by the saltpans along
the coast. Wigtownshire had, in 1905, 8526 acres of
woodland.
The littoral fauna of Galloway comprises those animals
which are to be met with from high water mark to a
depth of, say, 25 fathoms, though denizens of the further
deep now and then visit the coast. Many causes com-
bine to make the shore life of Galloway varied and
abundant. The Nith, the Urr, the Dee, the Cree and
the Luce have estuaries with extensive mud flats. Here
are long stretches of sand, and there the bottom is rocky.
Currents coming south through the North Channel and
sweeping north through St George's Channel and the
Irish Sea, bring with them animals from the Boreal and
the Lusitanian regions. The abundance of fresh- water
organic matter brought down by the rivers and smaller
streams helps to swell the supply of food.
The crumb-of-bread sponge is common on the stems
of oarweed, and in crevices of rocks. Zoophytes and
sea firs are plentiful. Several species of sea anemone
flourish between tide marks where the shore is rocky.
40 KIRKCUDBRIGHT AND WIGTOWN
On sandy stretches one comes upon terebella, or the
sand mason, its long tentacles and containing-tube
plastered with sand and shell and stone. Where the
sand holds much organic matter, the lob-worm is usually
present in numbers. The common starfish and the
common brittle star are abundant ; the sea urchin is
frequent far out among the oarweeds ; and in some
places after a storm the shore is white with the tests of
the heart urchin. The shrimp, the lobster, the edible
crab and the shore crab are found, as is also the hermit
crab with its companion the beautiful Nereis worm
within its protecting whelk or buckie shell. Whelks and
mussels form articles of commerce. The Bay of Luce is
noted for its razor-shells, and the oysters of Loch Ryan
have more than local fame. Of fishes, the saithe, the
lythe and the skate are plentiful at certain seasons. At
times the coast is visited by shoals of mackerel. The
father lasher and the grey gurnard are common, and
in spring the lumpsucker comes to the shore to
spawn.
Cod is plentiful, haddock somewhat less so ; while
halibut, though occasionally got, is not common. The
plaice, the dab and the sole are very numerous, and the
sparling is a valuable fishery in certain tidal rivers in
winter and spring. Anchovies are not unknown ; in
1889 the Bay of Fleet was alive with shoals of them.
The principal fresh-water fish are the salmon, the trout,
the perch and the pike. Of aquatic mammals the
porpoise and the grampus are frequent visitors ; a
dolphin is now and then captured by stranding or
NATURAL HISTORY 41
otherwise, and sometimes a school of whales is driven
ashore.
Of reptiles one may name the adder, the lizard and
the slow-worm ; of amphibians the frog, the toad, the
smooth newt, the crested newt, and up on the hills
among moss hags the palmated newt.
Where there are suitable woods the roe-deer is frequent
in the Stewartry, less so in Wigtownshire ; and fallow-
deer are to be seen in parks in a more or less domesticated
state. On the upper hills the alpine hare is well estab-
lished, and everywhere the rabbit, the brown rat and
the house mouse are more numerous than is to be desired.
The watervole is frequent ; and the ravages of the
short-tailed field vole some twenty-one years ago are
matter of history. The fox issues from thick copses or
descends from the higher hills to pursue the depredations
which render him offensive to shepherd and game-
keeper. In stream and lake the otter carries on his
fishing. Weasel and ermine, mole and hedgehog are
very general.
Galloway is not rich in bats, but bird life is very
abundant. The rook, the raven and the carrion crow
occur in considerable numbers. The magpie is not
common. The starling, the green-finch and chaffinch
are in great profusion. The goldfinch is not nearly so
numerous as it used to be, though of recent years there
is a tendency to increase ; the bullfinch is common
enough in woods and gardens. Several species of
buntings and of wagtails are found. The skylark
showers down floods of silver melody as it soars over
42 KIRKCUDBRIGHT AND WIGTOWN
fell and moor and green mountain. Robins, pipits and
tits are common. The blackbird whistles in many a
garden croft, and on many a bush the wise thrush sings
each song twice over. Owls are plentiful. The barnacle
goose occurs in immense numbers, and the wild duck is
very abundant. The grouse moors of Wigtownshire
are among the best in Scotland ; while black cock and
snipe, partridge and pheasant afford sport to many a
gun. Of the numerous shore birds we must note the
oyster-catcher, the golden plover, the dunlin and the
ubiquitous gull.
8. Along the Coast
From Cargen Pow at the head of the long and gradu-
ally broadening estuary of the Nith to Creetown at the
head of Wigtown Bay, the coast of Kirkcudbrightshire
is about 60 miles in length. It is broken into by four
expansions of considerable size, the Rough Firth,
Auchencairn Bay, Kirkcudbright Bay and Fleet Bay.
At Aird Point, 4 miles south of Cargen, the Nith enters
the Solway Firth, and here the sea-board begins. Rather
more than a mile inland are the picturesque ruins of
Sweetheart Abbey. Clayey and low, the New Abbey
shore is flanked by merseland which forms excellent
pasture. Bending slightly to the west the shore passes
the mouth of Abbey Pow, and for a little over 3 miles
runs almost due south as far as the village of Carsethorn.
Rounding Borron Point and passing the ruins of
M'Culloch's Castle, we reach Arbigland, where in 1747
ALONG THE COAST
43
John Paul, better known as Paul Jones, the famous
sailor, was born. The coast at this point is precipitous,
and there are some very singular rocks, notably a natural
Gothic arch called the "Thirl Stane." But with the
exception of these and a few low rocks at Satterness,
Medallion of Paul Jones
the shore as far as Southwick Burn is low and sandy,
with here and there belts of links gained slowly from the
sea. At Satterness is the oldest lighthouse in Galloway.
At one time there were salt pits here, and from these
comes the name Satterness, the etymology of which is
lost in the present-day Southerness.
A sharp turn westward and 4 miles bring us to the
mouth of Southwick Burn, beyond which begin the
44 KIRKCUDBRIGHT AND WIGTOWN
" wild shores of caverned Col vend." Chief of the
Facsimile of Letter of Paul Jones
caverns is the Piper's Cove, 120 yards in length, with
a well in the middle 22 feet deep. Here too is the
ALONG THE COAST
45
singular arch in the cliff known as the Needle's Eye.
Between Douglas Hall and Urr Waterfoot, at the
The Needle's Eye, Douglas Hall
entrance to Rough Firth, a range of reddish-lichened
copse-clothed cliffs rises to a height of 200 feet at Castle
Hill of Barcloy and 400 feet at White Hill.
4G KIRKCUDBRIGHT AND WIGTOWN
At Rockcliffe the shore is rocky with wide stretches
of hard, smooth sand. Kippford, locally known as the
Scaur, is a fine watering-place. The seaboard of Buittle
consists of a peninsula running o,\ miles down to Almor-
ness Point, washed on the east side by Rough Firth and
on the west by the bays of Orchardton and Auchencairn.
Near the former is Orchardton Round Tower, the only
one of its kind in Galloway. It was generally supposed
to have been built as a stronghold by Uchtred, Lord of
Galloway, in the twelfth century, but Train recognised
in it " a fine specimen of the Danish rath," while modern
experts attribute it to the fifteenth century. Lying
about midway between Almorness Point and the Point
of Balcary is Hestan Island, the Isle Rathan of Crockett's
Raiders. From Balcary to the mouth of Dunrod Burn
the trend of the coast is roughly W.S.W. For the
most part bold and ironbound, it presents a series of
abrupt headlands, ioo to 350 feet high, and is inter-
sected by the baylets of Rascarrel, Barlocco, Orroland,
Port Mary, Burnfoot and Mullock. At various points
occur caves which have been drilled in the cliffs by the
ceaseless action of the sea. At Barlocco the Black Cove,
265 feet long, 90 wide and 40 in height, and the White
Cove, 252 feet by 90 (at its widest) by 60, are particu-
larly noteworthy. In recent years they have gained an
added interest from the use made of them in Crockett's
Raiders. At Port Mary is shown a granite boulder from
which Queen Mary of Scots is said to have stepped into
the boat which was to carry her to the Cumberland
coast.
ALONG THE COAST
47
From Mullock Bay to Torrs Point the coast is on
the whole rocky. In a precipice on the Balmae shore is
a remarkable cavern, Torrs Cove, running some 60 feet
Cave, Rascarrel
into the rock. Narrow at the entrance and then gradu-
ally widening, it rises near the middle to a height of
fully 12 feet, after which it contracts towards the
farthest end. Kirkcudbright Bay, which may be said
48 KIRKCUDBRIGHT AND WIGTOWN
to begin with the precipitous cliffs of Torrs Point, runs
northwards for about 4 miles, with a breadth varying
from 1 mile at the entrance to 2 miles at its widest.
The well-wooded peninsula of St Mary's Isle divides
the upper part of the Bay into two, forming on its
eastern side the Manxman's Lake, the principal anchor-
age in the Bay. On the western side is the estuary
of the Dee,
" King of all the streams
That roll to Scotland's southern sea."
On St Mary's Isle stood a priory founded in the reign
of David I by Fergus, Lord of Galloway. A beautiful
walk down the west side of the Bay leads past the " Auld
Kirkyard of Kirkchrist," the Nunmill, where an old
archway indicates the side of an ancient nunnery, and
the old churchyard of Senwick, the burial place of
MacTaggart, author of the Gallovidian Encyclopaedia.
Past Balmangan Bay the Peninsula of Meikle Ross is
reached, opposite which, and separated by a narrow
strait, is the Little Ross Island. Rounding the Ross,
we come to the wide expanse of Wigtown Bay. Fall-
bogue Bay and Brighouse Bay are passed in turn ;
then Borness Point, with its wave-worn cliffs crowned
by the remains of an ancient fort, known as Borness
Batteries, and its Bone Cave, the exploration of which
has proved of great archaeological interest. For the
rest of its length the trend of the coast is to the north-
west, the only break of any size being Fleet Bay. In
the little churchyard of Kirkandrews is buried William
ALONG THE COAST 49
Nicholson, the greatest Galloway poet, and author of
the Brownie of Blednoch.
The Isles of Fleet, Barlocco Isle, Ardwall Isle and
Murray's Isle, lead up to the mouth of Fleet Bay. The
bay is flat and sandy, and the shores low. Rather more
than a mile from the mouth of the Fleet is Gatehouse,
picturesquely situated on both banks of the river.
From Gatehouse to Creetown has been described as
" perhaps the most beautiful shore-road in Britain."
And indeed for beauty of scenery, hill and valley,
moorland and shore, " Fair Anwoth by the Solway " is
unrivalled in the south of Scotland. Just after passing
Cardoness Castle, on the west shore of the bay, we catch
sight of Rutherford's Monument. Then comes Ardwall
House, and next Skyreburn Bridge. The water in
Skyreburn and similar streams often rises with sur-
prising and unexpected suddenness. Hence the pro-
verb, " A Skyreburn warning," that is, no warning
at all.
The coast near Ravenshall and Kirkdale is rugged
with steep cliffs rising to a considerable height, in some
cases perpendicular to the sea. But with this exception
the Kirkmabreck shore is flat, sandy and shelly. Here
and there the cliffs are pierced with caverns, the most
notable of which is known as Dirk Hatteraick's Cave.
About a mile from Ravenshall is Kirkdale House, near
a romantic glen of the same name, while a short distance
along on the opposite side of the road are the ruins of
Carsluith Castle. A mile before entering Creetown, the
western extremity of the county coast, is the Mansion
D
50 KIRKCUDBRIGHT AND WIGTOWN
House of Cassencary " finely situated in a level holm
studded with trees."
At high water vessels of sixty tons ascend the Cree as
Rutherford's^Church, Anwoth
far as Carty, some 3J miles above Creetown ; but it is
at Balsalloch, opposite the " Ferry Toon " that the
coast of Wigtownshire may be said to begin. Here
the receding tide leaves bare a stretch of sand a mile
broad, which increases to a breadth of a mile and three
quarters at the mouth of the Water of Bladnoch, and
ALONG THE COAST
51
then gradually narrows to its southern limit in Orchard-
ton Bay, 5 miles further down the coast. Just before
we reach the Bladnoch, Wigtown is passed, ' the
quaintest, auld farrantest county village in Scotland."
A little south of the Bladnoch are the remains of the
■ ■ * .....-.-.
- .. . ■■■¥:*•■ v-;.,
The Gateway, Baldoon Castle
old mansion house of Baldoon, the scene of the death
of the Bride of Lammermoor, ' ' The dear, mad bride
who stabbed her bridegroom on her bridal night."
From Orchardton Bay the coast trends eastward
past Innerwell Point, and then south past the ruins
of Eggerness Castle, where the shore becomes rocky,
rugged, and picturesque. Eggerness (Edgar's Ness)
Point overlooks Garlieston Bay with its trim little
52 KIRKCUDBRIGHT AND WIGTOWN
village. Near the village is Galloway House, long the
principal seat of the Earls of Galloway. The trend is
now almost due south, and creek and cove, foreland
and cape, carry a bold and precipitous coast, pierced
here and there by deep caves, to the Isle of Whithorn,
and then south-west to Burrow Head. About 2\ miles
Remains of Cruggleton Castle
south of Garlieston Bay is the site of what was once the
famous Castle of Cruggleton. All that now remains is
an arch 10 feet high by 13 feet wide ; but from early
days to the close of the sixteenth century it was one of
the chief castles of note in Galloway. At the Isle of
Whithorn in 396 St Ninian began his mission. Two
miles to the south is the bold promontory of Burrow
Head, on the top of which are traces of a small fort
or cairn, an outlook station of the old sea-rovers-
ALONG THE COAST 58
Rounding this, we come in sight of Luce Bay. This
huge sheet of water, covering an area of about 160 square
miles, is 1 8 miles wide at the mouth and narrows to
7 miles along its northern shore, where the Sands of
Luce run out for half a mile at low water.
After Burrow Head we pass the ruins of Castle
Feather and of Port Castle, and reach Port Counan Bay,
on the south side of which is St Ninian's cave. Here,
tradition has it, the saint was wont to retire for medita-
tion and prayer. The cave is 27 feet long and about
10 high. For the greater part of its length the Glasser-
ton shore is backed by a chain of green-topped hills.
Then a mile of steep cliffs is succeeded by an old raised
sea-margin of smooth gravel with high grassy cliffs
beyond. Monreith Bay with its beautiful scenery is
followed by Barnsalloch Point, crowned by the remains
of a fort, Danish or Anglo-Saxon according to the
antiquary one consults. A mile and a half north of
this is Port William. Sweeping round Auchenmalg Bay
at a distance of 9 miles from Port William, we come upon
the headland of Sinniness (Sweyn's Ness), not far from
which are the ruins of Sinniness Castle. Farther on is
the mouth of the Water of Luce, and Glenluce village
with its stately Abbey ruins. The river mouth is
flanked by level lands, while a broad fringe of sands,
dry at low water, stretches right across the head of the
bay. Here is the fishing village of Sandhead. Broken by
a number of small bays, Chapel Rossan, New England
and Drummore, the shore reaches East Tarbet about
9 miles farther south. Drummore village stands on
54 KIRKCUDBRIGHT AND WIGTOWN
Drummore Bay. At Tarbet (Tarbert) two bays run
inland from opposite sides till they nearly meet. Tarbet
means r' drawboat," and in bygone days it was the
]St Medan's -Chapel
(Near the Mull of Galloway)
custom to draw vessels across this narrow isthmus in
order to avoid the dangerous tides of the Mull. From
Tarbet the headland of the Mull stretches eastwards
for a mile ; its extremity 210 feet high is crowned by
a lighthouse. Its southern shore rises in cliffs over
ALONG THE COAST 55
200 feet high. From one of these, so the legend goes,
the brave old Galloway chief was flung — Ultimus
Pictorum — carrying with him the secret of heather
ale.
With the exception of the Bays of Clanyard, Killan-
tringan, Port Logan, Ardwell and Dally with their sandy
beaches, the western coast of the Rhinns — the Back
Shore — is bold and rocky ; the cliffs here rising pre-
cipitously, and there ascending by grassy slopes. Fis-
sures in the cliffs are numerous, and in many places
there are caves with narrow openings but roomy
interiors. Clanyard Bay is flanked by the ruins of
Clanyard Castle ; Port Logan Bay has on its north side
a circular tidal fish-pond, one of the wonders of Galloway.
Tradition says that a ship of the Spanish Armada was
wrecked at Port Float. Port Spital suggests the former
existence of a hospital or hospice. By the ruins of
Dunskey Castle, we reach Portpatrick, the most popular
holiday resort in Galloway. North of Killantringan
Bay is the Kemp's Wark, name reminiscent of the
days of the Northmen. At Saltpans Bay salt is no
longer extracted from sea water, though the name
persists.
From Dally Bay the land inclines to the north-east
as far as Corsewall Point, which carries the ruins of
the old Castle of Corsewall or Cross well. Two and a
half miles east of this Milleur Point is reached, and Loch
Ryan is entered. The loch runs inland for eight miles,
with a breadth varying from a mile and a quarter within
the entrance to two miles and a half. For about three
56 KIRKCUDBRIGHT AND WIGTOWN
miles from Milleur Point the coast resembles that of
the Back Shore, but opposite Kirkcolm village its
character changes. A shelving bank of sand, the Scar,
projects south-east into the Loch for a mile and a half.
Dunskey Castle
Beyond this is The Wig, a fine natural basin, and thence
to Stranraer at the head of the Loch the shore is low
and sandy. Stranraer is the chief centre of population
and commercial activity in the county. The eastern
shore of the Loch is fiat to Cairnryan village, and there-
after rocky and cave-pierced to the Galloway Burn,
where the Wigtownshire coast ends.
RAISED BEACHES, ETC. 57
9. Raised Beaches. Coastal Gains and
Losses. Lighthouses
At various elevations — from 10 to 150 feet — above
the present lea-sevel there occur tracts of ground which
have been sea-beaches in former ages. These terraces,
known as raised beaches, have originated through
successive slow risings of the land with long pauses
between. The 25-foot beach can be seen with fair
continuity along the western shore of the Bay of Luce,
but never extending very far inland. On the opposite
side of the Bay there is evidence of a terrace cut out of
the boulder clay at a time when the land was 40 to 50 feet
lower than it is now. Two fragments may be mentioned :
one extending some three miles from Port Counan to
Cairndoon, the greater part shingly, but cultivated at
its north-west end ; and the other running northwards
from Monreith. The low-lying undulating ground
between Luce Bay and Loch Ryan for the most part is
covered with sand and gravel deposited in terraces, the
most noticeable of which forms the 25-foot beach.
Along the shore of Luce Bay from Auchenmalg to Port
William the 25-foot beach is distinctly traceable as a
shelf of gravel extending inland from the present beach
for 50 to 100 yards. It is seen at Garlieston Bay, at
Orchardton and Baldoon, is well marked from Macher-
more to Wigtown sands, and is easily traced from
Creetown to Ravenshall, where it forms a belt of level
ground between high- water mark and an older sea-cliff.
58 KIRKCUDBRIGHT AND WIGTOWN
Indeed this 25-foot beach forms a prominent feature
all along the southern shores. On the Fleet below
Gatehouse, on the Dee between Tongland and St Mary's
Isle, past Auchencairn, below Kirkennan on the banks
of the Urr, from Caulkerbush to Southerness as a tract
of carse land, past Carsethorn on to Ingleston and up
to Kirkconnel, the terrace may be traced. From the
flats of Cargen the land slopes gradually up to the
50-foot beach, which stretches from Cargenholm north-
wards to Park near Maxwelltown.
Along a great part of the coast there is a constant
loss of land from the action of the sea. This loss is
greatest where the sea-board is composed of boulder
clay and other deposits, and the erosion is most rapid
during severe storms blowing inshore. The material
removed is not wholly lost ; some of it is carried inwards
by the flood-tide and laid down as sediment on the fore-
shore. Thus there is a twofold process continually at
work : here and there the sea is gaining upon the land ;
here and there land is being reclaimed from the sea.
The shores of Loch Ryan have suffered considerably
within the last hundred years. The Scar Ridge at one
time extended about half a mile into the sea and cattle
used to graze on it. So too on the western shore of
Luce Bay, between Sandhead and Drummore, the sea
has at several points gained upon the land ; while at
the same time there has been an increase of the sandy
foreshore at the head of the Bay. The estuary of the
Cree shows both loss and gain. In some places many
acres have been lost ; in others extensive reclamation
RAISED BEACHES, ETC. 50
has taken place, much of what was at one time soft
marsh or sand being now grazing links. In Auchen-
cairn Bay, a strip of merse-land on both sides and much
land at the head of the Bay have been washed away
within the last fifty years. The coast at the head of
Orchardton Bay is specially subject to erosion. Along
the low sandy shores of Kirkbean there are belts of
links which have been slowly wrested from the sea.
All round our shores, wherever navigation is danger-
ous, are built lighthouses for the guidance of mariners.
On Cairn Ryan Point, on the eastern shore of the loch,
is a lighthouse showing a fixed light, visible twelve miles.
On the east pier of Stranraer is another fixed white light,
and on the west pier a fixed red light. Corsewall light
is familiar to all who cross the North Channel. Its
gleams of white and red light, visible sixteen miles,
increase to intense brilliance and gradually fade away
into darkness. From the top of the lighthouse on a
clear day Ailsa Craig is conspicuous on the north, with
the hills of Arran beyond ; Argyll and Ireland lie to
the west ; while eastwards the eye sweeps the coast of
Ayrshire from the Galloway Burn to beyond Ardrossan.
Near Portpatrick is Killantringan light, which with its
flash and eclipse may be seen for nearly twenty miles.
At the extreme end of the headland, close to the edge
of a cliff 210 feet high stands the Mull of Galloway light-
house, with an occulting light visible twenty-five miles.
Here the view is magnificent. From the Dumfriesshire
heights in the north-east the eye circles by Kirkcud-
brightshire and Ayrshire over Kintyre to the Paps of
60 KIRKCUDBRIGHT AND WIGTOWN
Jura in the north-west ; twenty miles to the south the
Mull of Galloway
outline of the Isle of Man cuts the sky ; in the west are
seen the Mountains of Mourne ; while far away on the
CLIMATE 61
eastern horizon loom the giant peaks of the Cumbrian
Mountains. From Hestan Isle with its cave-riddled
cliffs a white flash warns the sailor off the deadly stretch
of Barnhourie Sands, and from Satterness a fixed white
light repeats the tale.
10. Climate
By climate is meant the general tendency of a district
towards mild or severe, average or extreme atmospheric
pressure, temperature and moisture. Weather is the
variation from time to time of all or any of these con-
ditions. Thus climate is the mean of weather, and the
two terms are symbols of different quantities of the
same thing. Weather depends primarily on atmospheric
pressure. This is measured by the barometer, which
rises or falls as the weight increases or diminishes. In
Britain in fine weather the barometer is usually above
30 inches, and is below this when there is rain or storm.
For any given number of days on which the barometer
stands at 30 inches, there are as many fine as rainy days.
The prevailing winds of Galloway are westerly and
south-westerly. What is at once an effect and a demon-
stration of the cause is to be seen in trees grown in
exposed situations. Their branches grow in an easterly
direction. The south-west winds, by far the most
common in winter, blowing from lower and warmer
latitudes across the Atlantic, are the dominant factor in
the climate of Galloway. Laden with aqueous vapour
with which it has become impregnated in its passage
Rainfall Map of Scotland
(By Andrew Watt, M.A.)
Camhrhifje Univ. iVCMM
CLIMATE
G3
over the ocean, the air on striking the land is forced
upwards wherever it meets with rising ground. Thus,
reaching a region of diminished pressure, it expands,
and has now a lessened capacity for holding water-
vapour, a portion of which is precipitated as rain. A
comparison of the rainfall map with the physical map
shows a marked correspondence between elevation and
rainfall ; the hilly regions are the wettest. The western
and lower part of Wigtownshire shows a yearly rainfall
of less than 40 inches ; the rest of the Shire with nearly
all the Stewartry is above that figure. Again nearly
all the northern portion of Kirkcudbrightshire is within
the 50-inch contour, and in the rugged mountainous
region in the north-west of the county there is a rain-
fall of over 60 inches. The influence of orographical
features upon amount and distribution of rainfall is well
shown by the following figures extracted, by permission,
from Mr Andrew Watt's Mean Annual Rainfall of
Scotland, 1871-1910.
Height
No.
Mean
Station.
above
of
Average
Sea.
Years.
Rainfall.
Feet
Inches
Galloway House, Garlieston
20
30
3973
Auchencairn
50
30
47.41
Gatehouse (Cally)
120
40
4943
Glenlee, New Galloway
208
30
57-27
Carsphairn
574
10
61.17
Carsphairn, Shiel
850
5
77-54
64 KIRKCUDBRIGHT AND WIGTOWN
A rainfall record kept at twenty-one stations in
Kirkcudbrightshire for periods varying from five to
Yews, Lochryan
forty years (ending 1910) shows the mean annual rain-
fall for that time to have been 53.68 inches. In Wig-
CLIMATE 65
townshire the stations are not so numerous. The mean
for seven stations, ranging from a five- to a forty-year
period, was 38.83 inches. This is about fifteen inches
less than that of Kirkcudbrightshire, and is in accord-
ance with the relief of the counties.
A temperature record kept at Cargen, Slogarie, Glen-
lee, Cally and Little Ross in Kirkcudbrightshire shows,
for the forty years ending December 1895, a mean
temperature of 320 F. for January and 480 F. for July —
a mean annual range of 160 F. A similar record for
Wigtownshire kept at Corsewall, Loch Ryan, Ardwell,
Kirkcowan, and Mull of Galloway gives a mean January
temperature of 400 F. with 570 F. for July — a mean
annual range of 170 F. For Edinburgh the mean annual
range is 210 F. and for London 260 F.
On the whole the climate of Galloway is favourable
to health and longevity and to the agricultural pursuits
upon which the province depends. Thanks to the
south-west winds from the warm southern regions of
the Atlantic, the winters are as a rule mild. Vegetation
commences earlier in the spring and continues later in
the fall than on the eastern coast of Scotland. Long
continued frosts occur but rarely, and snow seldom lies
long, at least in the lower districts. According to a
work on the agriculture of Galloway published a hun-
dred years ago, " It is generally calculated that in
December and January the industrious farmer can
plough on an average four days per week, and in Nov-
ember and February five." The statement holds good
to-day.
66 KIRKCUDBRIGHT AND WIGTOWN
ii. People — Race, Dialect, Population
It is almost certain that the earliest inhabitants
arrived in Britain when it was simply the west end of
the Continent of Europe. They were small-boned,
long-skulled and dark-haired, and they spoke a dialect
of Iverian, a language whose descendant lives to-day
on the lips of the Basques. After a time they were
driven out or extirpated by invading Celtic tribes, who
were long-boned, broad-skulled and fair-haired. To
these the greater number of the place-names of Galloway
are due, though the invaders would probably adopt and
hand down to posterity at least some of the names of
physical features as given by the conquered race. The
name of the river Urr is practically identical with ur,
the Basque word for water. In the first centuries a.d.
the men of south-west Scotland were Brythonic — like
the modern Welsh. Some of the best representatives
of the Brythonic race, according to Dr Beddoe, are found
among the tall hillmen of Galloway. But since most
of the Celtic place-names in Galloway are not of Welsh
but of Gaelic origin, it seems certain that there had been
a large immigration of Gaelic speakers, perhaps from
Ireland. Gaelic, indeed, continued to be spoken in
Galloway to the end of the sixteenth century. The
advent of Christianity introduced Latin words descrip-
tive of Church offices and rites. " Sagart, the priest
(sacerdos) built himself a cill, a cell (L. cella) : so to this
day Altaggart (AM Shaggairt, the priest's stream) flows
PEOPLE— RACE, DIALECT, POPULATION 07
past the site of Kilfeather (CM Pheaduir, Peter's
Cell)."
Words of English origin passed in by way of North-
umbria from the sixth century to the ninth. These in
turn were supplemented by Scandinavian names brought
by Norse marauders of the eighth to the tenth century.
After the Norman Conquest a stream of Anglo-Normans
poured northwards, bringing a further contribution to
the language of Galloway, increased subsequently by
English-speaking immigrants at the time of the Brucian
settlement.
Such place-names as Bladnoch, Caitans, Kispain,
Rotchell, Syllodioch date back to fable-shaded eras
and their meaning is unknown. But the etymology of
the great bulk of the place-names is fairly easy to make
out. Cnoc, representing an isolated or precipitous hill,
appears in over 220 place-names as prefix Knock ; and
this is closely run by drum (druim), denoting the low
glaciated ridge so frequently met with in the lower
districts of Galloway. Bar, the top of anything, is a
very common prefix. Achadh, arable land, is frequent
as auch. Names of animals enter largely into the topo-
graphy of both counties. Auchengower is the field of
the goat ; Auchenlarie, the field of the mare ; Aucheness,
the field of the horse ; Auchenshinnoch, the field of the
foxes. Pol, pal, fiil, pul, denote water, either flowing or
at rest. Darach, the oak, and beith, the birch, give rise
to scores of names ending in darroch and bae. Old
English burh, burg, fortress, city, appears in Burrow
Head ; tun, town, in Myreton, Broughton, Carleton ;
68 KIRKCUDBRIGHT AND WIGTOWN
wic, village, in Rerwick, Senwick, Southwick ; law, hill,
in Netherlaw, Wardlaw ; Norse borg, fort, occurs in
Borgue, Borness ; botl, house, in Buittle ; by, dwelling,
in Crosbie and Sorbie. Both syllables of Fairgirth are
from Norse, and mean sheep-fold. So with Cogarth,
enclosure for cattle, and Godgarth, enclosure for goats.
Knoits, rocky hillocks, and dints, precipitous rocks, are
characteristic of Galloway, as the Knoits of Bentudor
and the Clints of Dromore.
To-day the vernacular of Galloway is a variety of
Lowland Scots, and is most akin to that of south Ayr-
shire and west Dumfriesshire. Its written form, with
its peculiar vocabulary and idiom, is very faithfully
reflected in the novels of Crockett and in the works of
several local poets.
Kirkcudbrightshire is ninth among the counties of
Scotland in size : in population it is twenty- first. The
actual figures from the census of 1911 are 38,367—
18,069 males and 20,298 females — for Kirkcudbrightshire,
out of the total population of Scotland — 4,759,445.
This is 43 to the square mile, and gives about 14 acres
to every man, woman and child in the county. Of the
inhabitants above fourteen years 11,531 males and
4648 females were returned as engaged in one or other
of the chief industries, while 1166 males and 10,390
females had no specified employment. Agriculture
occupied 4870, and domestic service 2950. Connected
with the building trades there were 875, including
354 joiners. There were 475 quarrymen and 365 metal
workers. The textile industries employed 625, while
PEOPLE— RACE, DIALECT, POPULATION 09
drapers numbered 168 and tailors, dressmakers and
milliners 1177. Nine hundred and fifty-six were
engaged in the preparation and sale of provisions, 525
in railway service and road transit. The professional
O m
00 00
50,000
45,000
40,000
35,000V
30,000
25,000
20,0001
J&
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t,y
, - - -
.-.j
*■
t
/
"'"-
/
/
/
f
t
4?
,
'
Diagram showing Rise and Fall of Population in
Kirkcudbright and Wigtown since 1801
classes numbered 480, and 740 were engaged in Civil and
Local Government Service.
Wigtownshire, ranking seventeenth in size, is twenty-
third in population, the numbers being 15,078 males and
16,920 females — 31,998 in all. This is 66 to the square
miles, with 9 acres to each person. Above fourteen
years of age there were 9338 males and 3672 females
employed in one or other of the principal industries and
services, while 1009 males and 8497 females had no
specified employment. Agriculture engaged 5235 per-
70 KIRKCUDBRIGHT AND WIGTOWN
sons, and domestic service 1826. Including 241 joiners
there were 565 connected with the building trade.
Metal workers numbered 305 ; those engaged in textile
industries 144. There were 155 drapers and 683 tailors,
dressmakers and milliners. The preparation and sale
of provisions occupied 998, while 533 found work in
railway service and road transit. There were 325
members of the learned professions, and 541 attached
to Civil and Local Government Service.
In both counties the alien element in 191 1 was small.
Kirkcudbrightshire had 85 foreigners, Wigtownshire 33.
12. Agriculture
The two counties are almost exclusively devoted to
farming in one or other of its branches, sheep-rearing,
dairying or mixed farming. Down to the middle of the
eighteenth century the agriculture of Galloway was in
the rude and barbarous condition common to Scotland.
The farms were invariably over-cropped, and the methods
of husbandry such that ten or twelve horses were
required for the work now undertaken by two or three.
Implements were often heavy and clumsy, always
miserably inefficient. The soil was hopelessly impover-
ished by the practice of taking the same crop off
it year after year as long as it would repay the seed
and labour. The poor return of straw was inadequate
for the needs of the always overstocked farm during
the winter, and by spring the cattle were often so weak
that they could not rise of themselves. Housing was
AGRICULTURE 71
poor beyond belief : wretched hovels built of stone and
mud, thatched with fern and straw, unglazed holes for
windows, no chimneys to give egress to the smoke,
which found a tardy escape as best it could, were shared
in common by the people and the cows of the farm,
often without an intervening partition. But about
1750, with Mr Craik of Abigland (1703-98) and the
school of farmers which subsequently formed them-
selves on his model, began the series of improvements
in agriculture which have raised the Stewartry to its
present high position among the counties of Scotland.
Enclosing and draining the land, a regular system of
fallowing, the use of calcareous manures as well as the
liberal application of farmyard manures to fallows and
fallow crops, the introduction of greatly improved
implements, the establishment of a regular system of
rotation of crops into which was introduced the use
of sown grasses — these were the chief features of the
new school.
Proprietors in Wigtownshire were no less eager to
encourage and assist then tenants in the improvement
and management of their farms, and this produced little
short of a revolution in agriculture.
The arable part of Kirkcudbrightshire is found chiefly
in the parishes which fringe the coast, in the eastern
slope of the country, along the valleys of the Urr, Dee,
Ken, and Fleet, and in the table-lands between these
valleys. In Wigtownshire the line of railway from
Newton Stewart to Glenluce may be taken approxi-
mately as the boundary between the high and low
72 KIRKCUDBRIGHT AND WIGTOWN
grounds, the cultivated area lying to the south of this
line. Arable farms run from 60 to 600 acres and are
rented from £80 to £700 a year, few exceeding £1000.
Hill or stock farms are, on the whole, much larger, few
being rented under £200, while several exceed £1000.
The rotation of crops is almost uniform. The five-year
course is — oats ; green crop ; oats (in Wigtownshire,
barley or wheat) sown out with grasses and clover seeds ;
hay, cut green, or seeded or pasture ; pasture. The
six-year course is the same with the addition of another
year in pasture. Wheat was extensively grown from
1815 to 1830. As late as 1855 wheat in Wigtownshire
covered 7343 acres ; in 1913 it covered only 71.
Galloway is earlier than most of Scotland. Sowing
of oats begins about the third week of March, and
finishes as a rule by the middle of April. Harvest,
begun by the 12th or 15th of August, is finished in
from three to five weeks, though some districts are two
or three weeks later.
In 1913 of the 575,832 acres in the Stewartry, 92,458
were of arable land, 96,670 of permanent grass and
343,500 of mountain and heath land used for grazing.
25,293 acres under oats yielded an average per acre
of 30.08 bushels ; 1709 acres of potatoes, 6.04 tons ;
11,166 acres of turnips and swedes, 16.17 tons ; 9465
acres of hay grown from rye-grass, 30.02 cwts. ; 12,670
acres of hay from permanent grass, 28.34 cwt. In
the same year the figures for Wigtownshire were : total
area, 311,984 acres ; arable land, 110,722 acres ; per-
manent grass, 8753, and mountain and heath-land used
AGRICULTURE 73
for grazing, 107,814. The 30,535 acres under oats gave
a return of 36.79 bushels per acre ; 1234 acres of
potatoes, 7.5 tons ; 14,167 acres of turnips and swedes,
16.5 tons ; 4950 acres of hay grown from rye-grass
produced 41.05 cwts., and 4731 acres of hay from
permanent grass, 36.24 cwts.
Galloway cattle form one of the oldest and most
characteristic of British breeds. They are essentially a
beef-producing class. They are polled, and a coat of
shaggy or curled black hair with an under coat of fine
short wool fits them for the moist climate of the district.
The picturesque Belted Galloways form one of the most
valuable strains of this ancient breed. They are
described as "exceptionally thick, blocky, nice-haired
animals, and so hardy that they can winter and calve
outside and ail nothing." One of the most interesting
herds of Belties in Galloway belongs to Mr G. G. B.
Sproat, Gatehouse-of- Fleet, the foundation of which
was laid by his father in the Glenkens, early in last
century. A two-year-old bull belonging to this herd
scaled 15 cwts. in store order. A fine dairy of pure-
bred Belted Galloways is owned by Mr James Brown
of Knockbrex. A large and important branch of farm-
ing in Galloway is the rearing of polled store cattle for
the markets of the south. These are bought for the
most part as two-year-olds and are sent direct south to
" gentlemen's grazings," the blue-grey shorthorn
Galloway cross being a particular favourite in England.
On dairying farms the stock used consists entirely of
the Ayrshire breed of cattle.
74 KIRKCUDBRIGHT AND WIGTOWN
In Kirkcudbrightshire few dairies have under 30 cows
and few more than 70 or 80 : in Wigtownshire the
numbers range from 20 to 350. The produce of the
dairies is sold in various forms. Some send milk into
■
Belted Galloway Cattle
(Part of a fine herd belonging to James Brown, Esq.
of Knockbrex, Borgue)
the surrounding towns. Many send their milk to one
or other of the creameries, while many make it into
cheese on the Cheddar system. The returns vary with
the nature and amount of the food. In the southern half
of the Rhinns, that Goshen for cheese-making, a dairy
of 80 cows has averaged 19 stones of cheese per cow for
AGRICULTURE 75
six months. But over all 17I stones per cow may be
taken as the figure for Galloway dairies. This repre-
sents about 3400 pints of milk, or 1 lb. of cheese per
gallon of milk.
A great many of the dairies are managed on either
the bowing or the kaneing system. The farmer provides
and keeps up the cows, buildings and dairy utensils,
allows a certain area of pasture, a fixed quantity of
roots and artificial food, with hay and straw ad lib.
The bower pays his rent in money from £10 to £15 per
cow, and does all the labour connected with the dairy,
and receives all the produce in calves, cheese and pigs
fed on the whey. The kaner pays rent in kind, about
19 or 20 stones (of 24 lbs.) of cheese per cow. The rent
varies according to the quality of the pasture, and the
amount and kind of the roots and artificial food supplied
by the farmer.
The United Creameries, Ltd. has its headquarters at
Dunragit, six miles from Stranraer, with branch factories
at Sorbie, Wigtownshire, and Tarff, Kircudbrightshire.
All milk is weighed and sampled on delivery and paid
for on the basis of the butterfat contained. This is
extracted by separators, the cream and the separated
milk being delivered in different directions. Part of
the cream is chilled to 350 or 400 F. and then put up in
jars or cans for sale as required. The remainder, by
far the larger part, is made into butter. The latest
type of churn — a combined churn and butter-worker —
is in use, in which not only is the cream churned into
butter, but the butter is worked ready for packing. In
76 KIRKCUDBRIGHT AND WIGTOWN
the whole of the process neither cream nor butter is
touched with the hand, the utmost cleanliness in manu-
facture being thus attained. The buttermilk with a
very large proportion of the skim-milk is used for pig-
feeding. A regular stock of from 2500 to 3000 pigs is
kept, and the fat pigs are killed every week. Perhaps
the most important branch of the business is the
manufacture of margarine, for which large and
thoroughly equipped premises are established at Dun-
ragit. The margarine plant is capable of handling
about 50 tons per week.
The Wigtownshire Creamery Co. has its central
creamery at Stranraer, with branches at Sandhead and
Drummore, Wigtownshire, and at Ballymoney, Ireland,
all equipped with the most modern machinery. The
Company handles milk from 9000 to 10,000 cows during
the year, and manufactures cheese, butter and cream.
It also sterilizes a quantity of milk and cream to be
put up in air-tight stoppered bottles. A creamery at
Bladnoch (with a branch at Whithorn), belonging to
the Scottish Co-operative Wholesale Society, produces
butter, margarine and margarine cheese.
Of the 55,398 cattle in the Stewartry in 1913 cows
and heifers numbered 19,166, the remainder being two
years and under. The corresponding figures for the
Shire were 56,800 and 26,883.
Cheviot and black-faced sheep are almost the only
stocks bred or fed in Galloway, and by far the greater
number are black-faced. The class used depends on
the produce of the land : where there is plenty of grass,
MANUFACTURES— MINES—MINERALS 77
even though poor, the Cheviot is the more profitable ;
on land producing chiefly heather the black-faced is
preferable. While equally hardy, the two breeds differ
in quality of wool and mutton, the Cheviot possessing
the finer wool, the black-faced the finer mutton.
In 1913 the Stewartry had 163,754 breeding ewes, with
219,145 other sheep ; the Shire had 48,552 and 62,339.
Brood sows numbered in the Stewartry 763, with
9989 other pigs ; in the Shire 840 and 15,443.
The old race of Galloway horses — " Know we not
Galloway nags ? " asks Ancient Pistol in Shakespeare,
2 Henry IV. — strong, rough-legged hardy cobs about
14! hands high, and much esteemed for pluck and
endurance, is now extinct. The whole attention of
breeders has been turned to Clydesdales, the Scottish
type of agricultural horse. Many of the best Clydes-
dales have been bred in Galloway. Little attention is
paid to the breeding of saddle and driving horses, which
in 1913 numbered 1104 in the Stewartry and 810 in the
Shire. Of horses used for agricultural purposes, in-
cluding brood mares, there were 3309 in the former
county and 3498 in the latter ; of unbroken horses
1520 and 1642 respectively.
13. Manufactures, Mines and Minerals
The manufactures of Galloway are few and unim-
portant. Attempts made at various places to establish
seats of manufacture have not met with lasting success,
and to-day existing works do little more than supply
78 KIRKCUDBRIGHT AND WIGTOWN
local needs. About 1778 a large factory for cotton
spinning was erected at Newton Stewart. But by 1826
the scheme, which for a few years had worked well,
proved a failure, and the factory ceased work. Hand
looms, which in 1818 numbered 311 and whose products
found a ready market with the merchants of Glasgow,
had fallen in 1828 to a third of that number, and in
Newton Stewart
a few years the industry dwindled to extinction. In
1790 Gatehouse-of-Fleet had two cotton factories,
which gave employment to upwards of 200 hands,
with a yearly output of nearly a million and a half
yards of cloth. But distance from the centres of
population and the want of facilities for transport
added greatly to the price of both the raw material
and the manufactured article. About 1815 decline set
in, and by the middle of the century the works had
shut down. Part of the buildings is now occupied by
MANUFACTURES— MINES— MINERALS 79
a bobbin mill, employing about twenty men and boys.
To-day woollen and tweed mills at Maxwelltown, at
Twynholm, at Newton Stewart and at Kirkcowan give
employment to 625 men and women in Kirkcudbright-
shire and 144 in Wigtownshire.
Galloway is not a mining country. Laborious and
expensive searches for coal have met with no practical
success, as what was found in Kirkbean was in too small
quantity to pay the expense of working. Veins of iron
occur at various places in the Stewartry. One, to the
west of Auchencairn, was worked for some time but
was abandoned owing to the small returns and to the
distance from a supply of coal. There used to be a
copper mine in operation at Enrick, near Gatehouse-of-
Fleet. the ores of which, green carbonate of copper and
sulphate of copper with iron pyrites, are said to have
yielded a rich percentage of the metal. An attempt to
re-work this mine, made a few years ago, has been
unsuccessful financially. In Colvend a copper mine
for a brief period yielded a fairly rich ore from a toler-
ably thick seam. A vein of copper pyrites was formerly
worked at Waukmill, near Kirkcowan ; two veins of
barytes occur at Barlocco, Auchencairn, and one at
Tonderghie near Whithorn. Galena has been mined at
Blackcraig near Newton Stewart, in the Wood of Cree,
at the Cairnsmore Mines, at the Pibble Hill Mines
east of Creetown, at Woodhead near Carsphairn, and
at Knockibae near Glenluce. But all these mines have
been abandoned owing to scarcity of the mineral and
expense of working.
80 KIRKCUDBRIGHT AND WIGTOWN
Limestone of excellent quality is obtainable at Kirk-
bean. Certain dark clays occurring at Brickhouse near
Carsethorn have been worked for brick making, and
there are brick and tile works at Dalbeattie and near
Carty. Building material is obtained from the large
quarries of the Queensberry grit group near Glenluce ;
from the quarries near Newton Stewart and Wigtown ;
from the porphyrites and micro-granites of Tongland
and Loch Dougan ; from the granite quarries of Cree-
town and Dalbeattie ; and from the beds of greywacke
at Portpatrick. Wherever beds of greywacke are met
with they are used for road metal, and Dalbeattie
granite is largely used for the manufacture of grano-
lithic pavement. At Cairnryan a band of grey shales
and flags is worked for roofing purposes. The chief
mineral wealth of Kirkcudbrightshire is its granite, and
the quarries of Creetown and Dalbeattie are widely
known. The Mersey Dock Board owned and worked
one of the Creetown quarries and of its granite most
of the Liverpool Docks were built. For eighty years
this quarry employed from 180 to 300 men and had
an average yearly output of 10,000 tons, half of which
went for dock building purposes and half for setts.
Much of the granite is crushed for use in pavements,
garden paths, and such like. In Dalbeattie Messrs
Fraser & Young make a specialty of the crushed
granite trade. Their mills crush the stone and run it
into railway waggons alongside. At their mill at Old
Lands Quarry on the Urr vessels are loaded directly
from the machine. The Craignair quarries have sent
FISHERIES, SHIPPING AND TRADE 81
granite all over the world. Lighthouses at Ceylon,
the lower portion of the Eddystone Lighthouse, part
of the Thames Embankment and of the Liverpool
Docks, and the Albert Bridge, Belfast, for which more
than 40,000 cubic feet of wrought granite were pro-
vided, are constructed of its stone. Banks in London
and Liverpool, the Town Halls of Manchester and
Birkenhead, insurance buildings in London, Liverpool
and other cities owe their structural beauty to the
Granite City of the South.
Other industries are bone works and flour mills at
Dalbeattie ; iron foundries and implement works, motor,
and coach works, cabinet-making works at Castle
Douglas ; mills and dye works at Maxwelltown.
The extraction of salt from sea-water by evaporation
was formerly carried on at several places on the coast.
Satterness, now Southerness, and Saltpans Bay remind
us of this industry by their names. But with the repeal
of the salt tax and the production of finer and cheaper
salt in the " 'wich " towns of England the industry
disappeared.
14. Fisheries, Shipping and Trade
Little has been done to develop and conserve the
fishing industry of Galloway. Symson's words in his
Large Description, written in 1684, might be used to-day :
" our sea is better stored with good fish than our shoare
is furnished with good fishers." Fishing is, of course,
carried on at a number of places in Kirkcudbrightshire ;
F
82 KIRKCUDBRIGHT AND WIGTOWN
but only two " creeks " are recognised by the Fishery
Board for Scotland — Kirkcudbright and Creetown. In
Wigtownshire there are ten — Stranraer, Kirkcolm, Port-
patrick, Port Logan, Drummore, Sandhead, Glenluce,
Port William, Isle of Whithorn and Garlieston.
Pelagic fish, including herring, mackerel and sparlings
— the last got principally in the Cree — are taken by nets.
Such demersal fish as cod, haddocks, skate, plaice and
flounders are taken by trawl, lines and nets. Salmon
are caught in fixed or " stake " nets. The principal
shell-fish obtained are lobsters and crabs caught in
dome-shaped cages of net stretched over a strong frame ;
oysters taken by the dredge ; shrimps in specially
constructed nets ; and mussels and whelks picked from
the rocks to which they are found clinging. Recently
whelks have been much over-gathered ; and the same is
true of other shell-fish. In the estuary of the Cree
hundreds of acres of mud cover to-day what' forty years
ago produced huge quantities of mussels. In former
years thirty smacks at a time might have been seen
dredging oysters in Wigtown Bay : this too is a thing
of the past.
In 1913 there were 8991 fishing boats in Scotland,
manned by crews amounting to 38,262. Of these Wig-
townshire supplied 127 boats, none over 30 feet of keel,
and 193 fishermen ; Kirkcudbrightshire boats numbered
21, all under 30 feet of keel, manned by 29 men. The
total quantity of sea-fish of all kinds (exclusive of shell-
fish) landed within the year was 7,828,350 cwts. of the
value of {3,997,717. Of this amount Wigtownshire
FISHERIES, SHIPPING AND TRADE 83
contributed 45,723 cwts. — 32,354 cwts. being herring,
valued at £14,321 — which realised £19,647, and Kirk-
cudbrightshire 178 cwts., valued at £300. The total
value of the shell-fish landed was £72,354. Of the
1,316,100 oysters included in this return, 1,305,400
oysters dredged from, the beds in Loch Ryan sold for
£4757. The shell-fish returns for Kirkcudbrightshire
amounted to £537.
Salmon frequent the Cree, the Dee, the Fleet, the
Nith and the Urr. The numerous lochs, well stocked
as a rule with trout, and in many cases with perch and
pike, offer excellent sport to the angler, while the burns
and lanes of both counties contain sea-trout, herling,
river-trout, pike and perch.
We must not omit reference to the Solway Hatchery,
situated at Kinharvie, two miles from the village of
New Abbey. It is one of the oldest and largest hatcheries
in the kingdom, and from it large quantities of ova and
fish are yearly dispatched to all parts of the world.
Notwithstanding the favourable length of seaboard,
the commerce of Galloway is inconsiderable. There are
few good harbours.
Portpatrick owed its early importance to its proximity
to Ireland. In addition to mails and passengers, there
were landed on its pier in 181 2 no fewer than 20,000
Irish cattle. In 1821 operations were begun for the
construction of a harbour on a large scale. Over
£500,000 was spent in erecting sea-walls, deepening
basins, and otherwise attempting to make it a safe
haven. But the experience of a few winters with their
84 KIRKCUDBRIGHT AND WIGTOWN
tremendous gales from the south-west was sufficient to
show that in the contest between man and the elements
victory was to lie with the latter. The harbour was
found unsafe, the mail-route was transferred to Stran-
■^■i i
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HB
The Harbour, Stranraer
raer and Larne, and to-day the sole shipping of this
costly harbour consists of a few fishing boats.
Stranraer has a large and commodious, harbour
situated at the head of Loch Ryan. The loch itself is
almost land-locked, and, except in the case of a gale from
the north, the anchorage is all that could be desired.
The harbour consists of a breastwork and an east and
west pier. From the east pier steamers carrying mails,
passengers and goods sail for Larne (39 miles) once a day
in winter, and twice a day in summer. There is also
FISHERIES, SHIPPING AND TRADE 85
regular steam communication with Glasgow and Liver-
pool.
The harbour of Kirkcudbright is well sheltered, of
considerable extent, and of easy approach. But pier
accommodation is very small, and tidal conditions make
it suitable for small vessels only. Dalbeattie is served
by a harbour on the river Urr, called Dub o' Hass, some
five miles from the Solway, and vessels of 150 tons burden
can come up thus far. At Old Land Wharf vessels of
200 tons can be handled, while Palnackie can be taken
by vessels of 300 tons. The nature of the Solway beach
and the phenomena of its careering tides render naviga-
tion precarious, and limit it on the whole to vessels of
comparatively small tonnage.
From about the middle of the eighteenth century to
that of the nineteenth, the story of the commerce of
Galloway is in the main one of increase. Thus Kirk-
cudbright, which in 1801 had 37 vessels on its register,
with an aggregate of 1648 tons, had in 1846 54 vessels,
totalling 2069 tons. Wigtown, which had 25 ships with
a burden of 984 tons in 1801, had in 1845 an aggregate
tonnage of 3892. Stranraer, with 44 vessels capable
of carrying 1732 tons in 1801, had in 1868 a tonnage of
2969. But with the introduction of railway facilities
there came a sharp decline of sea-borne commerce. In
1 913 Stranraer had only 8 vessels, aggregating 1886
tons ; Wigtown had 6, with a cargo capacity of 356 tons ;
Kirkcudbright is now a creek under Dumfries, and the
combined returns of port and sub-port showed for the
same year a register of 14 vessels, with a tonnage of
86 KIRKCUDBRIGHT AND WIGTOWN
770. The trade of these ports is largely coastwise, and
for the most part with towns on the west of England and
Scotland, and east of Ireland. It consists mainly of
the import of coal, lime, and manures, and the export of
agricultural produce. The values of the imports from
foreign countries for the year named were ; — Dumfries
(including Kirkcudbright), manures of all kinds £4519,
oil-seed cake £852, all other articles £771 ; Wigtown (in-
cluding Garlieston, Port William, and Isle of Whithorn),
manures of all kinds £1320, all other articles £405 ;
Stranraer, manures of all kinds £1639, sawn wood and
timber £1091, all other articles £1633.
Other Statistics of Galloway Sea-Trade
Vessels Engaged in General Coasting Trade in 191 3
Entered.
Cargo
in Tons.
Left. . C^g°
in Ions.
Stranraer .
Wigtown .
Kirkcudbright
7£>3
213
336"
285,925
16,468
21,020
764 286,400
212 16,674
358 22,845
Vessels Engaged in Foreign Trade
Entered.
Cargo
in Tons.
Left.
Cargo
in Tons.
Stranraer .
Wigtown .
Kirkcudbright
5
10
2138
399
1106
I
Nil.
Nil.
140
Nil.
Nil.
HISTORY 87
15 History
Before the Roman general, Agricola, invaded North
Britain in a.d. 80, our knowledge of the history of the
country is scanty and untrustworthy. In the course of
Agricola's campaigns, the Romans were in the south-
west corner in 82, looking out upon Ireland. The district
afterwards to be known as Galloway, became, nominally
at least, part of the Roman Empire. But the absence
of the remains of Roman camps and stations, and of any
Roman road west of the Nith, and the infrequency of
articles of Roman manufacture, show that the Roman
occupation was never very thorough, and was at most of
interrupted duration.
Towards the end of the fourth century, the first
Christian missionary (so says Bede, following tradition),
arrived in North Britain. The most indubitable part
of the tradition is that St Ninian, landing at the
Isle of Whithorn, built a church of stone, which the
Latin writers knew as Candida Casa, in Old English
Hwilcern — both names meaning " White House." St
Ninian converted the Southern Picts, as the men of the
region came later to be called ; but the new faith was
submerged in the old paganism, when early in the fifth
century the Roman power vanished in Britain. Who
these Picts of Galloway exactly were is obscure.
Ptolemy had designated the inhabitants of the south-
west Novantae, and afterwards we hear of the district
as the home of the Attacotti. These were distinct from
88 KIRKCUDBRIGHT AND WIGTOWN
the Scots, and were absurdly credited with being
cannibals.
Early in the seventh century Galloway fell into the
hands of the kings of Northumbria, under whom the
native chief ruled. Anglians from. Northumbria over-
ran the district in considerable numbers, yet without
effecting any great change in the district either in civil
polity or in knowledge and practice of the arts. Towards
the close of the eighth century Northumbria was faced
with the grim fury of the Northmen, and its suzerainty
over Galloway had to be given up. Galloway then sub-
mitted to the sway of the Northmen, till freed from their
domination by Malcolm Canmore about the middle of
the eleventh century. In 1124. on the accession of
David I, Galloway became merged in Scotland.
When David interfered in the Civil War in England,
the men of Galloway were prominent for their fierceness
and their cruelty to the conquered. In 1138, at the
Battle of the Standard, they turned a probable victory
into a defeat. Their leaders claimed an ancient privilege
of forming the van of the Scottish host, and though
David knew the risk of exposing undisciplined troops,
with no defensive armour, to the mail-clad Norman
knights, he had to concede the claim. All that stubborn
courage could do, the Picts of Galloway did ; but the
English arrows shot them down, and the Normans
remained unbroken. After two hours of grim conflict,
the Galwegians lost their last chief, and on the cry that
the king was killed, they turned in flight. Then
followed a general scattering of the Scots, though Prince
HISTORY 89
Henry's knights were winning in another part of the
field. Only David's reserves prevented the English
pursuit from annihilating the Scots.
In Malcolm IV's reign, Galloway rebelled, and was
again subdued, only to break away when William the
Lyon was taken prisoner in England. For eleven years
Gilbert and his son were practically independent rulers.
But after Gilbert's death in 1185, Roland, son of Uchtred,
who had been murdered by his brother Gilbert, regained
the lordship. By residence at the Scottish Court, and
by marriage with de Moreville's daughter, Roland had
become a Scoto-Norman, and was on friendly terms with
King William. But even so, the men of Galloway, in
the next century, more than once displayed their in-
vincible love of independence, and their detestation of
Norman ways.
When the Maid of Norway died, 1290, one half of the
lordship of Galloway belonged to John Balliol, while a
third of the remainder was owned by Alexander Comyn.
In the war of succession which ensued, Galloway followed
the banners of its lords and suffered accordingly. In
1300 Edward I overran Galloway as far as the Fleet,
and reduced the Stewartry to subjection. It suffered
again at the hands of Robert the Bruce, who invaded it
because the inhabitants refused to follow his standard ;
and the struggles of Edward Balliol to regain his father's
throne once more plunged it into the horrors of war.
About 1370 Galloway came into the hands of the House
of Douglas, and from then to 1455 the history of Galloway
is a story of ravage and oppressive tyranny by the
90 KIRKCUDBRIGHT AND WIGTOWN
turbulent and ambitious family of Threave. On the
fall of the Douglases the lordship of Galloway, with the
earldom of Wigtown, passed to the Crown. Intestine
strife, the consequence of frequent quarrels between
petty chiefs, brings the history of the Province down
to 1513, when many Galloway men of note fell beside
their king on " Flodden's fatal field."
The doctrines of the Reformation were warmly
espoused in Galloway. The attempts of the Stuart
kings to establish Prelacy were resisted by none more
strenuously than by the Westland Whigs. The Pentland
Rising of 1666, the prelude to the " Killing Time," had
its origin in Dairy, in the north of the Stewartry. At
the battle of Bothwell Bridge (1679) a band of Galloway
men in the Covenanting Army gallantly held the bridge
against the Royalists till their ammunition was exhausted
and they were ordered to retire. In the last years of
Charles IPs reign, and throughout James IPs, the
lonely moors and hillsides of Galloway were scoured
by dragoons in search of Covenanters. Many a grave
testifies to the steadfastness of the wild Westland Whigs,
whom the troopers of Claverhouse and Grierson might
kill but could not subdue. In May 1685 occurred the
terrible drowning of the Wigtown Martyrs, Margaret
M'Pauchlan, aged 63, and Margaret Wilson, aged 18,
who were " by unjust law sentenced to die . . . and tyed
to a stake within the Flood for adherence to Scotland's
Reformation Covenants, National and Solemn League."
The Revolution settlement of 1689 was accepted
quietly in Galloway. When the cry " The Auld Stuarts
HISTORY
91
back again " rang through Scotland in 1715, only two
Galloway gentlemen mounted the White Cockade-
Hamilton of Baldoon and Gordon of Earlston — and as
little interest was taken in the " 'Forty-five." In 1724
Galloway was thrown into confusion by the action of
Martyrs' Graves, Wigtown
the Levellers and Haughers, secret societies formed
against the Parking Lairds, who were endeavouring to
improve their system of husbandry by the erection of
march dykes and fences. But with the exception of
this episode the history of Galloway for the last two
hundred years has been one with that of the rest of
Scotland — material progress and general advancement,
social, educational and political.
92 KIRKCUDBRIGHT AND WIGTOWN
16. Antiquities
In regard to early civilisations it is usual to speak of
three epochs, the Stone, the Bronze, and the Iron. In
the first, stone was the material used for those tools and
weapons which, in a later and higher degree of culture,
were made of metals. It is questionable whether
palaeolithic man ever reached Scotland, but of the
presence of neolithic man the evidence is ample. His
weapons were of fine form, often highly polished, made
of other stones than the flint of his palaeolithic pre-
decessor, and are found associated with existing fauna.
In Galloway, cairns and hut circles, cliff forts and hill
forts, mote-hills and doons indicate his distribution,
and mark his activities. The stone circles and rock-
sculpturings met with are referable probably to the
bronze period. Cairns are classified as chambered or
cisted. Of the former, which had within them a burial
chamber capable of being used for repeated interments,
there are eleven in Kirkcudbrightshire. Those which
have long chambers lie in the valley of the Cree, east of
which none is to be found south of Carsphairn. In
Wigtownshire there are four, three in New Luce and one
in Old Luce. Of cairns with round chambers there are
four in the Stewartry, and three in Wigtownshire. Cisted
cairns, containing a stone coffin intended for a single
act of burial, are more numerous, and are widely dis-
tributed.
There are thirteen stone circles in the Stewartry,
ANTIQUITIES 93
three of which surround a central boulder. The only
stone circle in Wigtownshire, with the outer ring of stones
(19 in number) complete, is at Torhouskie near Wigtown.
It is popularly believed to be the burial place of King
Galdus. A stone at Laicht near Cairnryan, known as
the Taxing Stone, is said to mark the tomb of Alpin,
King of Scots, who was slain in Glenapp, 741 a.d. When
circles are found in proximity to a cairn, they appear to
have formed part of an original plan. A notable
instance is the group of associated remains at Cauldside ,
Anwoth.
In Kirkcudbrightshire the area in which rock sculptures
are found is restricted, but within this they are in con-
siderable numbers. One group is found between the
Cree and the Fleet, and another eastward from the
estuary of the Dee to an imaginary line running north
and south through Dundrennan. There is also a small
group on the west side of Kirkcudbright. The greater
number lie near the coast. In Wigtownshire such
sculpturings have been recorded in ten places, most of
these being in the Machers. The remains of ancient
defensive constructions are very numerous in the
Province. The Deil's Dyke was a rampart raised by
the Galloway Picts as a defence against their neighbours
to the north, the Brigantes of Strathclyde. According
to Train " it commences at the farm of Beoch, and
extends through the farms of Braid, Auchenvane,
Kirnearven, and Kilfedder ; passes the north end of
Loch Maberry, along Glenvernoch, and in Knockville
runs into the Loch of Cree, to continue through Kirk-
94 KIRKCUDBRIGHT AND WIGTOWN
cudbrightshire and Dumfriesshire as far as Hightae Flow
in Loch Maben parish."
Not infrequently advantage has been taken of natural
topographical situations, such as cliffs or promontories,
or hills. Thus at Kemp's Wark, Larbrax, may be
noted " the adaptation of its defensive lines to suit the
altering requirements of the position as they pass from
the narrow level of the front to the steeply sloping flank
where they give place to a terrace." As a rule they are
earth works, and consist of a single rampart and trench.
But Borness Batteries, Borgue, is defended by two
trenches and three ramparts, and the Doon, Twynholm,
has double fosse and ramparts. The fort at Castle Hill
Point, Colvend and Southwick, has for its main line of
defence a stone wall some ten feet thick. Three hill
forts in the Stewartry have been more or less vitrified,
and one in the sister county.
Of mote hills, flat-topped mounds of earth and stone,
in part natural, though sometimes wholly artificial, there
are eleven in Wigtownshire and twenty-six in the
Stewartry. The typical form is a truncated cone with
an average height of 20 to 30 feet, surrounded at its base
by a ditch. But the shape varies : at Boreland and
Drummore, the mound is oval ; at Skaith it is almost a
square. The most important in the Stewartry is the
Mote of Urr. A simple truncated cone, it rises to a
height of 33 feet, with a level top, 91 feet by 76, and
comprises citadel, trenches, and base court on an ex-
tensive and well-preserved scale. The largest and best
preserved in the Shire is the Mote of Innermessan. A
o
o
OG KIRKCUDBRIGHT AND WIGTOWN
perfect circle, it has a circumference at the base of 336
feet, while from foundation to top it measures 78 feet.
mm
m
mm
■-'■ <
*:,
«W
I 2
Sculptured Stones, Kirkmadrine
It is generally believed that motes were used as courts of
justice and places of public assembly, and in some places
ANTIQUITIES
97
they are still known as court-hills. A curious broch-
like structure at Castle Haven, Borgue, has had its
details laid bare by excavation, and its construction
restored. Of the many caves with which the shores are
pierced, none is more deserving of notice than Borness
Cave. It is situated at the head of an inlet below
precipitous cliffs, about 27 feet above present high-water
level. Systematically explored in 1872, it yielded
abundant evidence of human habitation. The finds
98 KIRKCUDBRIGHT AND WIGTOWN
included charred vegetable remains, remains of animals,
polishers, whetstones, needles of bone, and a small cup
of Samian ware, probably of the first century.
Early sculptured stones are very numerous in Wigtown-
shire. Two now in a porch of the Church of Kirk-
madrine, where they have been placed within recent
Canoe from Dowalton Loch, and Paddle from Ravenstone
Moss, to the east of the Loch
years, are probably the earliest Christian monuments to
the dead known in Scotland. Both bear the monogram
of Christ within a circle, while a Latin inscription on
one shows that it had originally indicated the last resting
place of " two holy and pre-eminent priests." A long
lost third inscribed stone was recently discovered acci-
dentally. A sketch made a hundred years ago showed
the inscription, " Initium. et Finis, Alpha et Omega,"
with the Cross inside a ring, and the labarum, of Con-
ANTIQUITIES
99
stantine on the top arm of the Cross. A stone of high
antiquity is housed with other sculptured stones and old
Horned Mask of Bronze
(From Torrs, Kelton)
crosses in a crypt at Whithorn. It probably marked
the position of a church dedicated to St Peter.
From the Glenluce Sands there have been recovered
;' more objects of antiquity than from any area of similar
extent in Scotland." The relics range from neolithic to
100 KIRKCUDBRIGHT AND WIGTOWN
mediaeval times. The group of crannogs exposed by
the drainage of Dowalton Loch in 1863, the first to be
discovered of the unusually large number of these
primitive dwellings in Wigtownshire, has done much to
increase our knowledge of the manner of life and degree
of civilisation of the ancient inhabitants of the country.
Bronze Bracelet
(Found near Plunton Castle)
The number of superimposed floors and the nature of the
relics found embedded in the crannogs show that these
lake-dwellings continued from neolithic times well into
the Christian era.
Of miscellaneous objects of antiquity found in Kirk-
cudbrightshire, the rarest is a small urn of the incense-
cup shape, unearthed from an interment at Whinnyliggate.
A horned mask of bronze was found at Torrs, Kelton ;
a bronze mirror in a bog, Balmaclellan; and a bronze
ARCHITECTURE— ECCLESIASTICAL 101
bracelet near Plunton Castle. In Wigtownshire there fall
to be noted a bronze axe, Glasserton ; a broad bronze
dagger, near Stranraer ; and a gold penannular orna-
ment, with ends terminating in cup-shaped discs, found
on High Drummore, Kirkmaiden.
From time to time are unearthed flint-knives and
arrowheads, discs, stone-hammers and axes, and finger-
rings, which throw a dim and uncertain light on the life
and customs of the by-gone races who roamed along the
shores of the storm-bitten Solway, or trod the wind-
swept moors of the interior.
17. Architecture — (a) Ecclesiastical
No trace now remains of the Candida Casa, the church
built by St Ninian to the east of the Isle of Whithorn.
But on its site stand roofless walls, part of a sacred
edifice belonging, it is thought, to the thirteenth century,
and probably a Chapel of Ease of the Priory of Whithorn.
The Priory was founded in the twelfth century by Fergus,
Lord of Galloway, who handed it over to Premon-
stratensian Monks. The church of the Priory became
the cathedral of the diocese of Galloway, and remained
so for 500 years. Here were deposited relics of the patron
saint, and hither flocked crowds of pilgrims, of whom were
kings and queens of Scotland, " For the dear grace to
kiss St Ninian's bones." The nave of the Priory church,
and a low fragment of a wall of the west tower are all
that is left of the once stately pile. Recent excavations
show that the total length of the church, from the west
102 KIRKCUDBRIGHT AND WIGTOWN
tower to the Lady Chapel, was 250 feet. In the south
wall is a splendid Norman doorway, dating back to the
foundation of the Priory, the rich carving on which has
bid defiance to the winds* and rains of the centuries.
Of Wigtown Priory, a monastery of the Dominicans,
founded in 1267, and of Soulseat Monastery, no trace
St Ninian's Chapel
now exists. By the end of the thirteenth century there
were in Scotland eight abbeys belonging to the Cistercian
Order, three of these being in Galloway — Glenluce, Dun-
drennan, and Sweetheart. Glenluce Abbey, founded in
1190, was peopled with monks from Melrose. Of the
church itself, Early English in style, there remains now
but the south transept gable, with eastern side chapels.
The cloister walls are fairly entire to the height of 16
ARCHITECTURE— ECCLESIASTICAL 103
feet, and the Decorated chapter house is well preserved,
its arched roof supported by an octagonal pillar, 18 feet
high.
The oldest religious house in the Stewartry is Dun-
Norman Arch, Whithorn Priory
drennan Abbey, founded 1142. Its church was cruciform
with a six-bayed nave, side aisles, transept and chancel,
and central tower and spire, 200 feet high. Built partly
in the Transition Norman style, but belonging principally
to the First Pointed, the chief portions extant are the
>>
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c
C
c
u
■o
C
3
Q
ARCHITECTURE— ECCLESIASTICAL 105
north and south walls of the chancel, the east aisle of
the south transept, a few feet of the piers of the central
tower, and the doorway of the chapter house, flanked on
each side by a double window. Interesting monumental
stones are those known as the Abbot, the Cellarer, the
Nun, the Prior, and the Belted Knight.
In contrast to Dundrennan, the Old Abbey, Sweet-
heart is often called the New Abbey, because built 130
years later. New Abbey was founded by Devorgilla,
widow of the founder of Balliol College, Oxford. When
her husband died she had his heart embalmed and
placed in a casket, which she carried with her wherever
she went. She was buried near the high altar, the heart
of her husband being laid upon her breast. Hence the
romantic name, Dalce Cor, Sweet Heart. The abbey was
colonised by monks from Dundrennan, and was richly
endowed. The remains consist chiefly of the nave and
aisles of the conventual church. The mullions and
tracery of the western rose-window are fairly complete,
as also are the side windows of the choir, the clerestory,
and the upper windows of the north transept.
One other religious house falls to be mentioned, Lin-
cluden Abbey, founded 1161 by Uchtred, son of Fergus,
Lord of Galloway, for nuns of the order of St Benedict.
Towards the close of the fourteenth century the nuns
became " insolent," and were expelled by Archibald the
Grim, who converted the foundation into an ecclesiastical
college. Of small extent, the Old College of Lincluden
is a very fine specimen of Gothic architecture. Tin-
remains of the Collegiate church embrace the chancel,
106 KIRKCUDBRIGHT AND WIGTOWN
south transept, south aisle and sacristy, and two vaulted
chambers north of the sacristy. In the middle wall of
the choir is a magnificent tomb, canopied by a richly
Tomb of the Duchess of Touraine
ornamented semi-circular arch, in which was buried
Margaret, wife of Archibald, fourth Earl of Douglas, who
received the Dukedom of Touraine
From the Reformation to the opening of the nine-
teenth century ecclesiastical architecture was practically
dead in Scotland. The eighteenth century churches
ARC HITECTURE— MILITARY
107
were " mean, incommodious, and comfortless." Since
then, however, a notable change has taken place, and
many a stately church has been reared in the country.
Glasserton Church
In Galloway we may take Glasserton as an example of
an eighteenth century building, repaired and ennobled
in the nineteenth century.
18. Architecture — (b) Military
Under the influence of Norman architecture, the old
single keeps of the Scottish landowners gave place to
stately piles of massive masonry, consisting of walled
enclosures, with towers of defence along the line of wall.
Of this, the Edwardian or First Period type of castle,
108 KIRKCUDBRIGHT AND WIGTOWN
there are two examples in the Stewartry, and these are
but fragmentary ruins — Castledykes, as the ancient
castle of the Lords of Galloway is now called, at Kirk-
cudbright ; and Buittle Castle, about ii miles from
Dalbeattie, which was also a stronghold of the Lords of
Galloway, and which figured largely in the Wars of
Independence, during the thirteenth and fourteenth
centuries.
But the ravages of these wars impoverished the country
and made buildings of such extent henceforward im-
possible. From the middle of the fourteenth century
strongholds reverted to the simple keep, oblong in plan,
with plain, massive walls, 8 to 10 feet thick. Gradually,
however, they became more elaborate. They were once
more built round a central courtyard, but the defensive
features began to give way to domestic needs, while in
some cases they were turned into ornaments.
The sixteenth century was a time of great activity in
castle-building, the L plan being characteristic of the
period. In this type a square wing, containing the
wheel stair and small upper rooms, projects at right
angles to the main building. Examples of this in the
Stewartry are numerous, as the castles of Drumcoltran,
Barholm, Carsluith, Kenmure, and Plunton. Of castles
built on the Z plan Auchenskeoch is the only example in
the county.
Threave Castle possesses unusual interest, because of
its style of architecture, its association with many note-
worthy incidents in Scottish history, and its ownership
by the Douglases for nearly a century. It is built on
ARCHITECTURE- --M1LITAR V
101)
an island of about 20 acres in extent, formed by two
branches of the River Dee, about 2| miles west of Castle
Douglas. It is protected by the main stream of the
river on the west front ; on the other sides by a wall,
Threave Castle
5 feet thick, with round towers at the east angles and at
the terminus of the south wall. The tower at the south-
east angle is still entire. Its internal diameter is 9 feet,
and it is surrounded by walls 4! feet in thickness. It is
three stories in height, with three loopholes in each
story. A ditch, with a rampart outside the wall, en-
closed an outer court, about 150 feet square, while
110 KIRKCUDBRIGHT AND WIGTOWN
a gateway, defended by a drawbridge, but without a
portcullis, led through the east wall to the inner court,
and was opposite the entrance to the castle. The
keep measured 45 feet by 24 feet, within walls 8 feet
thick, which were pierced with windows on every side.
From the ground to the top of the ruined parapet on the
east side is fully 70 feet in height. The castle was built
by Archibald the Grim in the fourteenth century, and
is said to occupy the site of an earlier fortalice, of which
however, no traces now exist. Threave was the last
fortress to hold out for the Douglases, and the opera-
tions attending its reduction were superintended by
James II in person. The story of the siege, with the
part played by Mons Meg and her maker Brawny Kim is
firmly fixed in popular tradition, but does not bear close
scrutiny. After the castle became royal property, it
was entrusted to different powerful families in succession.
In 1526 it was vested in the Lords Maxwell as hereditary
keepers, who became Earls of Nithsdale and Stewards
of Kirkcudbright, and it remained in their hands till the
attainder of the Earl of Nithsdale in 1716.
Kirkcudbright Castle, standing on the left bank of
the Dee, belongs to the L type, with certain modifica-
tions. It is a strong, massive building, four stories in
height, its walls still almost entire. It was built in 1582
by Sir Thomas M'Lellan of Bombie, in whose family it
remained to the middle of the eighteenth century, when
it passed into the hands of Sir Robert Maxwell of
Orchardton : it is now the property of the St Mary's
Isle family.
ARCHITECTURE— MILITARY
111
Cardoness Castle, near Gatehouse, on the right bank
of the Fleet, is a simple oblong, 43 by 22 feet. It was
Cardoness Castle
built probably in the latter half of the fifteenth century.
For centuries a seat of the powerful M'Cullochs, it is
to-day owned by Sir Wm. Maxwell, Bart. Three miles
112 KIRKCUDBRIGHT AND WIGTOWN
north of Gatehouse, also on the right bank of the Fleet,
is Rusco Castle. An oblong, 38 by 29 feet, it rises to a
height of 50 feet, and is divided into three stories and
Rusco Castle
attics. It dates from the close of the fifteenth century
and was for long owned by the Gordons of Lochinvar.
Plunton Castle, Borgue, now in ruins, was built about
the middle of the sixteenth century. Cumstoun Castle,
ARCHITECTURE— MILITARY 113
Twynholm, also in ruins, is another sixteenth century
building. The ruins of Wreaths Tower, Kirkbean,
indicate the same period. Drumcoltran Castle, near
Kirkgunzeon, is a sixteenth century erection. Midway
between Gatehouse-of-Fleet and Creetown, and about
a quarter mile from the coast are the ruins of Barholm
Hills Tower Lochanhead
Castle. It is of the L type, and dates probably from the
early years of the seventeenth century. With Carsluith
Castle and several others, it claims to be the Ellangowan
of Guy Mannering. Carsluith Castle stands on a pro-
montory overlooking Wigtown Bay, about 3^ miles from
Creetown. It is of L shape, with windows on the first
floor. From time to time the building has been altered,
the original part dating probably from the end of the
fifteenth century. Hills Tower, Lochanhead, in Loch-
H
114 KIRKCUDBRIGHT AND WIGTOWN
rutton parish, is an ancient building, with a later
entrance lodge bearing date 1598.
The Round Tower of Orchardton, situated about 6
Round Tower of Orchardton
miles south-east of Castle Douglas, is the only one of its
form in the province, and in some respects is said to be
without parallel among the castles of Scotland. The
tower is about 40 feet high, with an inside diameter of
15 feet, and consists of three stories. The second story
appears to have been used as the principal apartment. A
ARCHITECTURE— MILITARY 115
circular piscina in this indicates its use at times as a
private chapel. It dates probably from the latter half
of the fifteenth century.
Of the Edwardian type of castle there appear to
have been two in Wigtownshire, Cruggleton, of which
there remains but a single arch, and Wigtown, of which
there is now no trace.
The majority of castles in the county were erected
between the fifteenth and seventeenth centuries ; and of
these the Old Place of Mochrum, belonging successively
to the Dunbars, the M 'Do walls, and the Bute family,
is the most remarkable. It has been carefully restored,
and is to-day an excellent reproduction of a late fifteenth
or an early sixteenth century castle. Dunskey, Myrton,
and Killaser belong to the same period ; Lochnaw and
Craigcaffie date some fifty years later. Dunskey, a
weather-beaten ruin, on an almost inaccessible headland
overhanging the sea, with an immense ditch on the land-
ward side, must have been impregnable. It was of the L
type. Others of this type in the county are SorbieTower,
Stranraer Castle, Myrton, Galdenoch, Castle Wigg, and
Isle of Whithorn Castle. Castle Park, Glenluce, is the
most complete example of the L castles built about the
close of the century.
Craigcaffie, a fine old ruin, is another example of the
square keep. Long the property of the Neilson family,
it has formed part of the Stair estates since 1791. Stran-
raer Castle, built by Adair of Kinhilt, passed into ^he
hands of the Kennedys, and thereafter to the Dalrymples
of Stair. For a time it was used as a prison, and to-day
116 KIRKCUDBRIGHT AND WIGTOWN
most of it is occupied by merchants' stores. Castle
Kennedy, built in the beginning of the seventeenth
century, was destroyed by fire in 1716, and has never been
rebuilt. A dormer window, with a beautiful head, is the
Castle Kennedy
only architectural ornament remaining to the ivy-clad
ruins. On the shores of the White Loch of Myrton are the
ruins of Myrton Castle, the keep of which was erected
on a mote-hill. From the end of the eighteenth century
it has belonged to the Maxwells of Monreith.
ARCHITECTURE— DOMESTIC, ETC. 117
10. Architecture — (c) Domestic and
(Municipal
The venerable mansion of Kirkconnell is said to be
one of the oldest inhabited houses in Scotland. It
contains many interesting objects associated with the
life of Mary Queen of Scots, and her descendants,
James II and the Old Pretender.
Finely situated on a conspicuous knoll at the head
of Loch Ken, stands Kenmure Castle, for centuries the
principal seat of the Gordons of Lochinvar. The present
building, which appears to have been built on the E
plan, is said to occupy the site of one of the seats of the
Lords of Galloway. Tradition says that John Balliol
was born in the old fortalice, and that it became his
favourite residence. In 1715 Viscount Kenmure, " the
bravest lord that ever Galloway saw," threw in his lot
with the Jacobites. Taken prisoner at Preston, he
was executed, and the estates and title were forfeited.
In 1824 these were restored to his grandson, but the
title became extinct in 1847. The Castle is now a
commodious and handsome residence. The stately
beech-hedges and the avenue of fine lime trees are
specially noteworthy. Among the family heirlooms
are several old pictures and Jacobite relics.
Erected in 1763 but greatly altered in 1835, Cally
House, with its spacious gardens and extensive policies,
is situated amid picturesque surroundings. The columns
of the portico are massive granite monoliths. The
118 KIRKCUDBRIGHT AND WIGTOWN
entrance hall is built of marble and contains some fine
pieces of sculpture.
Among the many other mansion houses of the
Stewartry may be mentioned Ardwall, Cardoness,
Cassencarie, Goldielea, Kirkdale, Kirroughtree, Cairns-
more, Cumloden and Shambellie.
Lochnaw Castle has been in the possession of the
Lochnaw Castle
Agnew family for nearly six hundred years. It is de-
lightfully situated on a green eminence surrounded by
woods and overlooking a romantic loch. The line of
buildings runs east and west and fronts the south.
A central square tower five stories high, a portion of
the " New " castle built in 1426 still remains and forms
part of the modern building. The grounds contain
many fine specimens of foreign coniferous trees.
ARCHITECTURE DOMESTIC, ETC. 119
Galloway House, built about the middle of the
eighteenth century, stands in a beautifully timbered
park. It consists of a central block with two projecting
wings of the same height, its handsome front facing
the west and overlooking Cruggleton Bay.
Lochinch Castle, the residence of the Earl of Stair,
Lochinch Castle
is built- in the old Scottish Baronial style, exhibiting
pepper-box turrets, rope mouldings, crow-stepped
gables and carved projecting gargoyles. Its terraced
gardens are of singular beauty. There is also a splendid
pinetum, the principal feature of which is the great
Araucaria Avenue, said to be the finest of its kind in
the British Isles.
120 KIRKCUDBRIGHT AND WIGTOWN
Other residences of note in Wigtownshire are the Old
Place of Mochrum, Monreith House, Lochryan House.,
Logan House, Glasserton House, Physgill, Dunragit.
Corsewall House, Penninghame House and Dunskey.
Dalbeattie has a Town Hall built of native granite,
with a square tower and illuminated clock. The New
Town Hall of Castle Douglas, built in 1862 to supersede
Old Place of Mochrum
the Old Town Hall of 1790, is of red free-stone. In
Kirkcudbright there is a quaint Mercat Cross, dating
from 1504. Behind it is the Old Tolbooth, an erection
of Tudor times, with tower and spire built of stones
taken from the ruins of Dundrennan Abbey.
The Court House in Wigtown is a handsome building
of red and white freestone with a lofty clock tower.
Flanking the Old Cross, a monolith about 10 feet high
and 18 inches in diameter, stands the New Market
Cross, an octagonal pillar about 20 feet high, rising from
ARCHITECTURE— DOMESTIC, ETC. 121
a circular flight of steps. The Old Cross is a fine speci-
men of the pillar crosses characteristic of many Scottish
burghs. In Stranraer the New Town Hall, built of
The Tolbooth. Kirkcudbright
red and white freestone, owes its architectural effect
to its lantern spire and crow-stepped gables. The
Macmillan Hall in Newton-Stewart is the largest public
hall in the county, and houses the municipal offices of
the burgh.
Old and New Market Crosses, Wigtown
COMMUNICATIONS 128
20. Communications
Prior to 1780 there was scarcely a road in the two
counties worthy of the name. The original trackways
had been largely due to horsemen, whose anxiety to
avoid bogs and morasses had led them to beat out paths
over hills of, in many cases, very steep gradient. These
roads were kept in supposed repair by statute labour,
parishioners being bound to give six days' work every
year upon the parish roads. The old " military " road
from Dumfries to Portpatrick (so-called because soldiers
were employed in its construction) followed the original
tracks and was carried from height to height, with no
ostensible object. Fragments of this road may yet be
made out as far west as Glenluce, where all further
trace ceases.
About 1780 Parliament imposed an assessment for
making and maintaining roads in Galloway. Roads
subsequently constructed were upon more approved
principles, and repairs were more systematically effected.
Traffic was kept as low down as possible, since it was
found to be easier and cheaper to carry a road round a
hill than over it.
Many of the old moor roads owe their origin to the
ling-tow-men or smugglers. One of these ran from
Portpatrick to Clydesdale by way of Loch Inch, New
Luce, The House of the Hill and the Nick of Balloch.
From The House of the Hill a road ran to Edinburgh
by Glentrool and another to Ayrshire by the Nick of
124 KIRKCUDBRIGHT AND WIGTOWN
Balloch. The routes from several landing-places con-
verged at Kirkcowan, which thus formed a convenient
halting-place on the way to Glasgow by Minnigaff,
northwards by Loch Trool, Loch Enoch, Loch Doon
and Dalmellington ; and to Edinburgh by Curriedon,
Moniaive and Penpont, through the Dalveen Pass and
past Elvanfoot. We must remember that the Galloway
coast afforded unrivalled opportunities for smuggling,
and in the eighteenth century and the first part of the
nineteenth the " free-traders " plied a busy trade in
brandy, silks and lace from the Isle of Man. Scott in
a note to Guy Mannering mentions the statement of a
smuggler " that he had frequently seen upwards of
two hundred Lingtow-men assemble at one time, and
go off into the interior of the country, fully laden with
contraband goods."
Galloway now possesses excellent roads. We begin
with Wigtownshire. At Challoch, 2,\ miles from New-
ton Stewart, the road to Ayrshire divides. The right
fork goes through the valley of the Cree as far as Bar-
grennan Church and thence across the north-west of
Kirkcudbrightshire to Straiton. The left fork passes
Glassoch and the Snap, crosses Fyntalloch Moor, and,
leaving the county by the isthmus between Loch
Maberry and Loch Dornal, makes for Barrhill. The
road from Newton Stewart to Portpatrick follows in
the main the railway line. At Glenluce it is joined by
a road which left the road to Barrhill at Glassoch, and
by one which has come from Girvan down the valley
of the Luce. A road from Glenluce strikes Luce Bay
COMMUNICATIONS 125
at Auchenmalg and follows the coast as far as Port
William. Thereafter it passes through Monreith and
goes by way of Glasserton to Isle of Whithorn. About
half a mile from this village it connects with a road
which comes from Newton Stewart through Wigtown
and Kirkinner to Sorbie. Soon after passing Glenluce
the main road to Portpatrick forks at West and East
Challoch, one branch crossing the Rhinns to its terminus
on the North Channel, the other going by way of Stran-
raer along the eastern shore of Loch Ryan to the
Galloway Burn, where it enters Ayrshire. Good roads
also connect Stranraer with Corsewall Point and the
Mull of Galloway.
Wigtownshire has three lines of railways. The
Portpatrick and Wigtownshire Joint- Railway, branch-
ing off the G. and S.W. system at Castle Douglas,
traverses the county by Newton Stewart and Glenluce
to Stranraer and Portpatrick. The Wigtownshire
Railway runs from Newton Stewart, by Wigtown and
Garlieston, to Whithorn. The Girvan and Portpatrick
Railway enters the county in the north of New Luce
parish, and, following closely the valley of the main
Water of Luce, joins the Portpatrick Railway at East
Challoch near Dunragit.
Let us now turn to Kirkcudbrightshire. An ex-
cellent road leads from Maxwelltown to Newton Stewart
by Crocketford. Skirting Auchenreoch Loch, it goes
through Springburn on its way to Castle Douglas. It
passes through Bridge of Dee, Ringford and Twynholm
to strike the coast near Gatehouse-of-Fleet. From this
126 KIRKCUDBRIGHT AND WIGTOWN
point on to Creetown is often spoken of as the most
beautiful shore-drive in Britain, there being in Carlyle's
opinion only one to equal it — -the drive back. Crossing
the railway near Palnure Station, the road enters
Newton Stewart through its picturesque suburb, Cree-
bridge. From Maxwelltown the road to Dalbeattie
follows in the main the railway, crossing at Kirkgunzeon
Station from the south to the north side of the line.
Starting once more from Maxwelltown, one may follow
a good road south through New Abbey and Kirkbean
and thence west to Rockcliffe. A branch connects
this popular watering place with Dalbeattie. From
Dalbeattie Kirkcudbright may be reached either by
Castle Douglas, or by Palnackie, Auchencairn and
Dundrennan. At Crocketford a branch from the main
road makes for the north of the county through Corsock
Bridge (where it is joined by one from Dalbeattie)
past Balmaclellan to New Galloway. From Castle
Douglas a road skirts the railway through Crossmichael
to Parton. It leans upon the shore of Loch Ken for
about a mile, and keeps within half a mile of the Loch
till opposite Kenmure Castle. Near Dalbeattie it joins
the road from Maxwelltown, and then, flanked by the
grand hills guarding the Glenkens, it makes by way of
Dairy and Carsphairn for Dalmellington and Ayrshire.
From Kirkcudbright through Ringford and Laurieston a
road which skirts the beautiful Woodhall Loch, crosses
the railway at New Galloway Station. After hugging
the western shore of Loch Ken for nearly three miles,
it passes through New Galloway, and at Allangibbon
ADMINISTRATION AND DIVISIONS 127
Bridge connects with the road coming through Dairy
on its way north. A little frequented but highly
picturesque hill road connects New Galloway with
Newton Stewart. Many inferior roads and rough hill
tracks cross the county and link up parishes and hamlets
and farms with the more important centres.
From Dumfries the G. and S.W. Railway sends off
a branch, which passes by Maxwelltown and Dalbeattie
to Castle Douglas. It is continued to Creetown and
Palnure, near which it enters Wigtownshire. From
Castle Douglas the line to Kirkcudbright passes through
Bridge of Dee and Tarff stations.
21. Administration and Divisions
When Galloway came under the dominion of the King
of Scots, the inhabitants were allowed to retain their
old laws, and this continued for a long time. These
laws were to some extent modified by WiUiam the
Lyon. When Archibald the Grim obtained the
Stewartry and the Shire, he managed to secure the
suppression of some of the old laws, but others remained
till, by Act of Parliament in 1426, Galloway was brought
under the general law of Scotland. But for long,
indeed down to 1747, when heritable jurisdictions
were abolished, the powers of both Steward and Sheriff
were confused and overlapped by independent juris-
dictions held by the great families and the great
churchmen.
The custom of handing down responsible judicial
128 KIRKCUDBRIGHT AND WIGTOWN
offices from father to son without respect to qualifica-
tion for the position was perhaps vicious, but in actual
practice it worked out not so badly. It was compara-
tively seldom that justice was perverted, seldom that
decisions were partial, or that oppression was sustained.
For long the Wild Scots of Galloway preferred " gentle-
man's law," the law of the heritable functionary to
whom they instinctively yielded deference, to that of
the more learned stipendiaries whose law not infrequently
seemed at singular variance with native ideas of justice
and equity.
In addition to jurisdictions of a baronial or feudal
character there was and still is that of the burgh. There
is the royal burgh, a corporate body erected to be holden
of the Sovereign. The burgh of barony holds its
charter from the feudal superior of the lands. Of more
recent creation is the police burgh, a town or place of
more than 700 inhabitants, made a corporation by Act
of Parliament. There are six burghs in the Stewartry,
Castle Douglas, Dalbeattie, Gatehouse, Kirkcudbright,
Maxwelltown and New Galloway. The royal burghs
are Kirkcudbright, since 1455, and New Galloway,
since 1630. In the Shire, the royal burghs, in order of
creation, are : Wigtown, 1457, Whithorn, 151 1, Stranraer,
1617. Newton. Stewart, originally a burgh of barony,
is now a police burgh.
Burghs are managed by Town Councils. The
Councillors regulate the trade of the burgh and the
conduct of the inhabitants, and from their own number
elect magistrates, who act as judges in the police courts.
ADMINISTRATION AND DIVISIONS 129
County matters were formerly administered by Com-
missioners of Supply, but are now in the hands of the
County Council. It levies rates for county purposes,
it makes by-laws for the government of the county, it
administers the Food and Drug Acts, and the Diseases
of Animals Act, it maintains roads and bridges, it
controls the police, it appoints officers of health,
manages lunatic asylums and hospitals, and exercises
general supervision over matters relating to public
health.
The two chief authorities in a Scottish county are the
Lord- Lieutenant, who is at the head of the magistracy
and is the highest executive authority, and the Sheriff,
who is the chief local judge of the county. The Sheriff
is assisted by a Sheriff-substitute, or by Sheriffs-
substitute. Kirkcudbrightshire has a Lord-Lieutenant,
twenty-five Deputy-Lieutenants, and over 160 Justices
of the Peace. Wigtownshire has a Lord-Lieutenant,
thirteen Deputy-Lieutenants, and some eighty Justices
of the Peace. Both counties have the same Sheriff-
principal, each has a Sheriff-substitute. Kirkcudbright-
shire has three Honorary Sheriffs-substitute, Wigtown-
shire five.
Kirkcudbrightshire and^Wigtownshire are united for
Parliamentary Representation into the Constituency of
Galloway.
The parishes in Kirkcudbrightshire are : Anwoth,
Balmaclellan, Balmaghie, Borgue, Buittle, Carsphairn,
Colvend, Crossmichael, Dairy, Girthon, Irongray, Kells,
Kelton, Kirkbean, Kirkcudbright, Kirkgunzeon, Kirk-
i
130 KIRKCUDBRIGHT AND WIGTOWN
mabreck, Kirkpatrick-Durham, Lochrutton, Minnigaff,
New Abbey, Parton, Rerrick, Terregles, Tongland,
Troqueer, Tywnholm, Urr. The parishes of Carsphairn,
Kells, Dairy and Balmaclellan are often spoken of
collectively as " the Glenkens."
The Wigtownshire parishes are : Glasserton, Inch,
Kirkcolm, Kirkcowan, Kirkinner, Kirkmaiden, Leswalt,
Mochrum, New Luce, Old Luce or Glenluce, Penning-
hame, Portpatrick, Sorbie, Stoneykirk, Stranraer,
Whithorn, Wigtown.
Till 1894 Parochial Boards looked after the affairs
of the parishes, but were then superseded by Parish
Councils. These administer the Poor Law, appoint
registrars, provide burial grounds, and levy rates for
education.
The Education Act of 1872 set up a new and homo-
geneous system of education in Scotland. School
Boards were created in every parish and burgh in
Scotland, and to them was entrusted the management
of education within their bounds. Under the Munro
Act of 1918 the School Board gives place to the
Education Authority, and the parish as administrative
unit of education to the county with its electoral
divisions. The Act virtuallv recasts the whole of the
Scottish educational system outside the Universities.
Nursery schools may be instituted for children between
the ages of two and five, and the age for leaving school
has been raised to fifteen, with conditional exemption.
Continuation classes, compulsory to the age of eighteen
for those who are not receiving suitable instruction in
ROLL OF HONOUR 131
other ways, are to give due attention to physical exer-
cises, cultural subjects, and such vocational training as
is suitable to the requirements of the locality ; and the
pupils are to have the benefit of medical examination
and supervision. Higher education up to Training
College and University is to be made possible, by
adequate financial assistance, for every child who can
profit thereby. Thus extensively and intensively the
Act is far-reaching, providing for the full educational
development of the community, with equal opportunity
for all.
22. Roll of Honour
The sons of Galloway have distinguished themselves
in many walks in life. Brave men of action, learned
jurists, pious and scholarly churchmen, philosophers,
poets, novelists and artists have shed lustre on the
Province which gave them birth.
Admiral Sir John Dalrymple Hay who was born in
1821 and died in his 91st year, could look back on a
naval career of fifty years full of adventure and honour.
Rear-Admiral Sir John Ross, a native of Inch, made
several voyages of discovery in Arctic regions and pub-
lished books and pamphlets on the results. Paul
Jones, born at Arbigland in 1747 and known, till he
transformed his name, as John Paul, was a famous
seaman. When the American Colonies rebelled against
Britain, he became head of their first naval force and
made a descent on the Solway. He raided St Mary's
132 KIRKCUDBRIGHT AND WIGTOWN
Isle, carrying off Lord Selkirk's plate, which he after-
wards restored. Subsequently he served as rear-
admiral of the Russian Black Sea Fleet. Sir Andrew
Agnew, the last of the Hereditary Sheriffs of Galloway,
Sir John Ross
was in early life a skilful officer under the Duke of Marl-
borough and noted for deeds of great personal daring.
John Dalrymple, second Earl of Stair, distinguished
himself at Malplaquet and Ramilies. Sir William
Gordon of Earlston, an officer in the 17th Lancers, was
one of the " Noble Six Hundred."
:
ROLL OF HONOUR 133
Andrew Symson, who died in 1712, minister of
Kirkinner for twenty years prior to the Revolution,
though not a native, is closely identified with the Pro-
vince by his Large Description of Galloway. Samuel
Rutherford, covenanting hero and divine, was for nine
years minister of Anwoth. John Macmillan, the founder
of the Cameronian Church, was a native of Minnigaff.
Balsarroch
(At one time the property of the ancestors of Sir John Ross)
Dr Alexander Murray, a shepherd's son born at Dun-
kitterick, in the brief thirty-seven years of his life rose
to be the most eminent linguist and Oriental scholar
of his day. Dr Henry Duncan, a son of the manse of
Lochrutton, minister of Ruthwell, was the founder of
Savings Banks. Wm. Maxwell Hetherington, D.D., a
native of Troqueer, church historian and poet, was
Professor of Apologetics and Systematic Theology in
134 KIRKCUDBRIGHT AND WIGTOWN
the University of Glasgow. Alexander Raleigh, D.D.,
born in the parish of Buittle, was a prominent Congre-
gational minister.
Professor Thomas Brown, who succeeded Dugald
* ^■**&&'^f*
Rev. Alexander Murray, D.D.
Stewart in the chair of Moral Philosophy, Edinburgh
University, was born in Kirkmabreck manse. David
Landsborough, the Gilbert White of Arran and the
Cumbraes, was a native of Dairy. John Ramsay
M'Culloch, born in Whithorn, in his day a noted writer
on political economy, edited the Scotsman, 1818-1820.
ROLL OF HONOUR 135
Another journalist, William M'Dowall, published a
valuable history of Dumfries as well as other works of
a more or less antiquarian cast. The quaint Gallovidian
Encyclopedia of John Mactaggart is a classic authority
on Galloway customs and speech. With this work
must be conjoined The Seasons by David Davidson,
another Stewartry man. Will Nicholson, the author
of the Brownie of Blednoch, is the Galloway poet. After
him may be mentioned John Lowe, whose Mary's Dream
was long a popular song in the district ; and Robert
Kerr, best known by My First Fee, and The Widow's ae
Coo. The Rev. William Mackenzie, a native of Kirk-
cudbright, wrote a laborious and minute History of
Galloway. The Literary History of Galloway is from
the pen of Dr Thomas Murray, a native of Girthon.
In a series of Galloway stories embodying the spirit
of the Province, Samuel Rutherford Crockett has fixed
much of its folk-lore and legend, and a wealth of its
old-world words and phrases. Several of the Trotter
family, descendants of the famous " muir doctor " of
Galloway, have won distinction as writers. His son
Robert published tales founded upon local traditions.
His daughter, Isabella, wrote memoirs of her father.
Alexander Trotter, a grandson, was the author of East
Galloway Sketches, and Robert de Bruce Trotter of two
delightful volumes of Galloway Gossip.
The legal profession is represented by the first
Viscount Stair, Lord President of the Court of Session,
whose work, the Institutions of the Law of Scotland, is
the greatest of the complete treatises on Scots Law ;
136 KIRKCUDBRIGHT AND WIGTOWN
and by his son the first Earl of Stair, who succeeded
" Bluidy Mackenzie " as Lord Advocate. Of recent
years, Lord Ardwall was a Stewartrj? man in all but the
accident of birth and early life. The same may be said
of the great physicist, James Clerk Maxwell.
In art the Faed brothers have a reputation that is
world-wide. John, the eldest, for many years was a
noted miniature portrait painter. He was elected
R.S.A. in 1851. Thomas, Royal Academician in 1864,
excelled like his brother in subjects dealing with pathetic
or sentimental incidents in humble Scottish life. A
third brother, James, achieved high artistic success in
line engraving.
23. The Chief Towns and Villages
(The figures in brackets after each name give the population
in 191 1, and those at the end of each section are refer-
ences to pages in the text.)
A .—KIRKCUDBRIGHTSHIRE
Auchencairn (235), a village beautifully situated on bay
of same name, about 10 miles east of Kirkcudbright, has
good sea-bathing. Near it is Auchencairn House, with a
fine collection of modern British paintings, (pp. 58, 63, 79,
126.)
Balmaclellan (pa. 559), a village in the N.E. of the
county. Robert Paterson, Scott's " Old Mortality," lived
here in 1768 ; and here his wife taught a small school for
twenty years, (p. 126.)
CHIEF TOWNS AND VILLAGES 137
Borgue (pa. 1023), a village 6 miles S.W. of Kirkcud-
bright. Near it is Earlston House. The parish has long
been famous for its honey, (pp. 3, 68.)
Carsphairn (pa. 360), a village in extreme north of
county, is a health resort, (pp. 6, 63, 79, 92, 126.)
Castle Douglas (3016), the commercial capital of the
Stewartry, is a railway junction. It has a large well-
equipped and highly successful Academy, has iron foundry,
motor works, coach works, sawmills, cabinet-making
works, aerated-water manufactories, a tannery and large
grain stores. Castle Douglas is one of the most important
market-towns in the south of Scotland, with busy sales of
live stock every week, while hiring, horse and other fairs
are held periodically, (pp. 15, 16, 33, 81, 109, 114, 120,
125.. 126, 127, 128.)
Creebridge (366), a small village on Stewartry side of
Bridge over the Cree at Newton Stewart, (p. 126.)
Creetown (873), a burgh of barony, seaport and fishing
village, at head of Wigtown Bay, has large granite quarries,
(pp. 23, 33, 42, 49, 50, 57» 79, 80, 82, 113, 126, 127.)
Dalbeattie (3357), the Granite City of the South, 14 J miles
S.W. of Dumfries, has bone works, flour mills, dye works,
brick and tile works, an iron forge, concrete works, wood-
turning works, bobbin mill, saw mill, paper mill, and
creamery. Its quarries, which employ several hundreds
of men, yield very fine granite, (pp. 19, 33, 80, 81, 85, 108,
120, 126, 127, 128.)
Dairy (490), " The Clachan," " St John's Town," a
village beautifully situated on the left bank of the River
Ken, 16 miles N.W. of Castle Douglas, has good golfing,
(pp. 6, 19, 30, 126, 127, 134.)
>1
1-
Q
CHIEF TOWNS AND VILLAGES 139
Dundrennan (101), a village 5 miles S.S.E. of Kirkcud-
bright, charmingly situated in a narrow valley on the right
bank of Abbey Burn, has ruins of a fine Abbey, (pp. 16,
93, 102, 103, 105, 126.)
Gatehouse-of -Fleet (1032), picturesquely situated on
River Fleet about 9 miles from Kirkcudbright. A bobbin
mill employs about twenty hands. Near it is Barlay Mill,
the birthplace of the Faeds, the noted family of artists,
(pp. 4, 16, 2i, 25, 49, 58, 63, 73, 78, in, 112, 113, 125, 128.)
Kirkcudbright (2205), the county town, royal and
parliamentary burgh, on left bank of River Dee, 6 miles
from the mouth of its estuary, has a very good museum,
especially rich in flora and fauna of district. The Academy
is a very successful secondary school and centre for junior
students, (pp. 2, 3, 20, 30, 32, 33, 82, 85, 86, 93, 108, 120,
126, 127, 128, 135.)
Kirkpatrick-Durham (277), a village 5 miles N.N.E. of
Castle Douglas.
Kippford (pa. 696), 4 miles south of Dalbeattie, the most
important of the Colvend watering-places ; headquarters of
Urr Yacht Club. Kippford does a large trade in mussels,
and has good golfing, (p. 46.)
Maxwelltown (6200), formerly the " Brig En'," on the
right bank of the Nith, directly opposite Dumfries, has
tweed mills, hosiery manufactures, dyeworks, saw mills
and nursery grounds. H.M. General Prison for Dumfries
and Galloway is situated in the town. The Observatory
Museum contains many relics of Burns, and a fine collec-
tion of minerals. There is also a camera obscura with
regular suite of Claude Lorraine glasses. About a mile
from Maxwelltown are the ruins of Lincluden College.
(PP- 7. 34. 36, 58- 79, 81, 125, 126, 127, 128.)
140 KIRKCUDBRIGHT AND WIGTOWN
New Abbey (178), a village 7 miles south of Dumfries.
The ruins of Sweetheart Abbey are close to the village.
Near it is the Solway Fishery, one of the largest hatcheries
in the kingdom, (p. 83.)
New Galloway (352), a royal and parliamentary burgh at
head of Loch Ken, has good golfing. Near it is Kenmure
Castle, (pp. 6, 19, 33, 63, 126, 127, 128.)
#^
.* ••;-.- ... -/,-
Lincluden College
Palnackie (pa. 825), a village in Buittle, on right bank
of Urr Water, 3J miles S.S.W. of Dalbeattie, has a good
natural harbour ; and, till the introduction of the railway
in 1861 diverted its trade, was the port of Castle Douglas,
(pp. 19, 85, 126.)
Rhonehouse, a village i\ miles from Castle Douglas,
formerly noted for its fairs, one of which was the most
important in the south of Scotland.
CHIEF TOWNS AND VILLAGES 141
Rockcliffe (72), a hamlet in Colvend, 7 miles S.E. of
Dalbeattie, an excellent watering-place, (pp. 6, 46, 126.)
Southerness Village, in Kirkbean parish (711), 10 miles
S.E. of Dalbeattie, a favourite resort of sea-bathers and
summer visitors, (pp. 43, 58, 81.)
■HBHHI
Sweetheart Abbey
Twynholm, a village 3 miles N.N.W. of Kirkcudbright,
has an old established woollen mill, where tweeds and
blankets are manufactured, (pp. 3, 9, 79, 125.)
B.— WIGTOWNSHIRE
Bladnoch (pa. 1369), a village on river of same name,
1 J miles from Wigtown, has a large distillery and a creamery.
The Wigtown Martyrs were drowned in the river, 1685.
(pp. 07, 70.)
142 KIRKCUDBRIGHT AND WIGTOWN
Cairnryan (pa. i860), formerly Macherie, a seaport village
on eastern shore of Loch Ryan, has a good harbour, (pp.
56, 93-)
Drummore (401), a seaport village on the west side of
Luce Bay, has a small harbour with good anchorage. In
the immediate vicinity there is splendid bathing ground.
(PP- 53, 58. 7°. 82, 94.)
Gold Penannular Ornament
(Found on High Drummore)
Garlieston (482), a village about 9 miles S.E. of Wigtown,
has boat building, fishing, chemical manufactures, grain
mill, saw mill, and considerable export of whelks, (pp. 63,
82, 86, 125.)
Glenluce (774), a village 8 miles east of Stranraer. Two
miles north are the ruins of Glenluce Abbey, (pp. 3, 53, 71,
79, 80, 82, 102, 115, 123, 124, 125.)
Isle of Whithorn (261), a seaport village 3! miles S.E. of
Whithorn; popular summer resort, (pp. 52, 82, 86 87 101
125.)
CHIEF TOWNS AND VILLAGES 143
Kirkcowan (pa. 1244), a village on left bank of Tarff
Water, 6 J miles from Newton Stewart, has woollen mills.
(PP- 33. 65, 79, 124.)
Kirkinner (pa. 1206), a village about 3 miles south of
Wigtown, noted for its fine scenery, (p. 125.)
Creamery, Drummore
New Luce (pa. 481), a village on left bank of Water of
Luce. ' Prophet " Peden was minister of the parish for
three years prior to his ejection in 1662. (pp. 23, 92, 123.)
Newton Stewart (2063), finely situated on right bank
of River Cree. A tannery, a brewery and tweed mills
give employment to a number of hands. Wool furnished
144 KIRKCUDBRIGHT AND WIGTOWN
from the surrounding country and purchased for the
English markets has for long been a staple branch of its
trade. The Douglas High School for girls and the Ewart
Institute for boys are successful secondary schools, (pp. 23,
71- 78> 79, 80, 121, 124, 125, 126, 127, 128.)
Port Logan (pa. 1792), a fishing village at the head of
Portnessock Bay, 14 miles from Stranraer : is the station
of a lifeboat which serves the Bay of Luce and the Irish
Channel. Near it is the Logan fish pond, constructed in
1800, into which the sea washes at every tide through a
narrow crevice. It is visited annually by hundreds to
see the tame fish, cod and saithe, which are kept in it.
(pp. 36, 82.)
Port William (645), a seaport on east side of Luce Bay,
24 miles S.E. of Stranraer, (pp. 53, 82, 86, 125.)
Portpatrick (517), a village picturesquely situated amid
fine cliffs on the west coast of the Rhinns, is a very popular
holiday resort. The town owed its early importance to
its nearness to Ireland. As far back as 1677 a boat carried
mails twice a week to and from Donaghadee, 21 miles
distant, (pp. 6, 9, 55, 59, 82, 83, 123, 124, 125.)
Sandhead (pa. 2279), a village on Luce Bay, 7 miles
south of Stranraer, has considerable fishing, (pp. 5^ 58
76, 82.)
Sorbie (pa. 1354), a village 6£ miles south of Wigtown.
Two miles west was Dowalton Loch, now drained, famous
for its crannogs. (pp. 68, 75, 125.)
Stoneykirk (pa. 2279), a village in the Rhinns, 6 miles
S.S.E. of Stranraer. The name is derived from St Stephen,
in Scots, Steenie. This word was by mistake regarded as
coming from stane, Scots for stone.
CHIEF TOWNS AND VILLAGES 145
Stranraer (6444), a royal and police burgh at the head of
Loch Ryan, is the herring-fishing headquarters for boats
on the Ballantrae banks and a centre and market for a
large agricultural district, with cattle, horse and hiring
fairs. It has flour mills, creameries, and a noted oyster
fishery. Its castle was the residence of Claverhouse when
Creamery, Sandhead
Sheriff of Galloway. Stranraer is in direct communication
by rail with Carlisle and Glasgow, and by sea with Lame
and the north of Ireland, (pp. 6, 7, 28, 56, 59, 75, 76, 82,
84, 85, 121, 125, 128.)
Whithorn (1170), a royal and police burgh, 11 miles south
of Wigtown, an ancient ecclesiastical centre, was one of
the most celebrated places of pilgrimage in the country.
K
14f> KIRKCUDBRIGHT AND WIGTOWN
It owes its business prosperity to its rich agricultural
surroundings. Its name is a corruption of the Old English
word Hwitcern, " White House," i.e. St Ninian's Candida
Casa. (pp. 79, 99, 101, 125, 128, 134.)
Ancient Sculptured Stones, Whithorn
Wigtown (1369), a royal burgh and seaport on the west
side of Wigtown Bay, was one of the chief stations of the
Norsemen from the eighth to the eleventh century. Its
commercial importance arises from its position as centre
of an agricultural district, (pp. 2, 5, 80, 85, 86, 93, 115,
J20, 125, 128.)
DIAGRAMS
147
Scotland
29,798 sq. miles
Kirkcudbright
Wigtown
Fig. 1. Areas of Kirkcudbright (900 square miles)
and Wigtown (487 square miles) compared
with that of Scotland
Scotland
4.759.445
Kirkcudbright
Wigtown
Fig. 2. Population of Kirkcudbright (38,363) and
of Wigtown (31,990) compared with that of
Scotland in 191 1
148 KIRKCUDBRIGHT AND WIGTOWN
9 •
O ■
Wigtown 66
Kirkcudbright 43
Scotland 157
Lanarkshire 1633
Sutherland 10
Fig. 3. Comparative density of Population to the square
mile in 191 1
(Each dot represents 10 persons)
Fig. 4. Proportionate area under Corn Crops com-
pared with that of other cultivated land in
Kirkcudbright and Wigtown in 19 16
DIAGRAMS
149
Fig. 5. Proportionate areas of Chief Cereals in
Kirkcudbright and Wigtown in 19 16
Turnips & Swedes
24,257 acres
Fig. 6. Proportionate areas of land in
Kirkcudbright and Wigtown in 1916
149 KIRKCUDBRIGHT AND WIGTOWN
Fig. 7. Proportionate numbers of Live Stock
in Kirkcudbright and Wigtown in 1916
CO
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GEOLOGICAL MAP OF
KIRKCUDBRIGHT
AND
WIGTOWN
English Milf*
lolio wa?- Jb>.
^ ■
oamFf
9mr Head.
Parishes in Wigtown.
1 Kirkcolm. 1 0 .Ktnfccowan.
2 Leswa.lt. \ 1 Penninghame.
3 Stranraer. 1 2 Mochrum.
4 -Port Patrick. 1 3 Wigtoion.
5 Stoneykirk. 1 4 JTwvfc inner.
6 Kirkrkaiden. 1 5 Sorbie.
7 /»»cn. 1 6 Glasscrttm.
8 JT«w 2>wce. 1 7' IFnitnorn.
9 OW iuce.
Parishes in Kirkcudbright.
1 Carsphaim. 1 4 ^ew Abbey.
2 Minnigaff. 1 5 Kirkbean.
3 KWi*. 1 6 Colvend.
4 Dairy. 1 7 Buittle.
5 Balmaclcllan. 1 8 Crossmichael.
6 Parton. 1 9 Balmaghie.
7 Kirkpatrick 20 Oirthon.
Durham.
8 Kirkpatrick
Irongray.
9 Terregles.
1 0 Trdqueer.
1 1 Lo'chrntton.
12 Prr.
21 Kirkmabreck.
22 ^InwotA.
23 Twynholm.
24 Borgve.
25 Kirkcudbright.
26 TongueUmd.
27 Kelton.
1 3 Kirkguvzeon. 28. Rerriok.
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