87-586: Kirkcudbrightshire ( / k ɜːr ˈ k uː b r i ʃ ər / kur- KOO -bree-shər ) or the County of Kirkcudbright or the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright is one of the historic counties of Scotland , covering an area in the south-west of the country. Until 1975, Kirkcudbrightshire was an administrative county used for local government . Since 1975, the area has formed part of Dumfries and Galloway for local government purposes. Kirkcudbrightshire continues to be used as
174-532: A county of a city . The boundaries of the counties of cities were periodically expanded as their urban areas grew. With the exception of the four counties of cities, the other burghs which had been excluded from county council control in 1890 were all placed under the authority of the county councils in 1930. Under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1929 , the county councils of the two least populous counties, Kinross-shire and Nairnshire, were each paired with
261-465: A lord-lieutenant . Following the union of Scotland and England under the Acts of Union 1707 , the term 'county' came to be used interchangeably with the older term 'shire'. From 1748 onwards sheriffs ceased to be automatically appointed to a single shire, with progressively larger sheriffdoms created instead, grouping multiple shires under a single sheriff. Elected county councils were created in 1890 under
348-400: A registration county for land registration. A lower-tier district called Stewartry covered the majority of the historic county from 1975 to 1996. The area of Stewartry district is still used as a lieutenancy area . Dumfries and Galloway Council also has a Stewartry area committee . Ultimately meaning "shire of the church of Saint Cuthbert ", Kirkcudbrightshire forms the eastern part of
435-524: A Pictish princess, (the view that there were Picts in Galloway in historical times cannot be wholly rejected) an event which marked the beginning of the decay of Norse influence. The Galloway chiefs became lieges of the Scottish king, whilst retaining some independence as the sub-kingdom or semi-autonomous Lordship of Galloway . Following the death of Lord Alan of Galloway in 1234 the area was brought fully under
522-474: A bar, is very thin (0.15–0.5 mm (5.9–19.7 mils)) and decorated around its edges with incised and punched zigzags, lines and dots. It had been cut up and folded, and the two pieces do not join; together they amount to just under a third of the original collar. Initial surface analysis has shown that the metal contains 11% silver and 0.5% copper. Further analysis may indicate whether the lunula had been made of Irish or Scottish gold. Staff of Stranraer Museum and
609-525: A bridge from Galloway to Ulster would cost just under £20.5 billion. In 2012 the University of Glasgow led a community archaeology project in Inch, between Stranraer and Cairnryan , including a geophysical survey of the area to the north of the motte at Innermessan. It is a site with a very long history – from the early mesolithic , about 10,000 years ago, to a medieval town, now disappeared, which in its time
696-475: A converted pair of late 18th century houses. A large extension was built in 1952 to the rear of the building facing Daar Road. Kirkcudbrightshire was abolished as an administrative county in 1975 under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 . A two-tier system of regions and districts was put in place instead, with the area becoming part of the Dumfries and Galloway region. Most of Kirkudbrightshire became part of
783-457: A county basis after 1975 were very few, principally relating to land registration, in which capacity they are known as registration counties . Local government was reorganised again in 1996 under the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994 , with the regions and districts being replaced by 32 single-tier council areas . Some of the council areas have the same names as historic counties, but may cover significantly different areas. For example,
870-559: A larger neighbour; Nairnshire with Moray, and Kinross-shire with Perthshire. The county councils of these four counties continued to be elected separately, but most functions were provided through them acting as the "joint county councils" of Perth & Kinross and Moray & Nairn. In 1963 the Government published a white paper which proposed a reduction in the number of counties from thirty-four to between ten and fifteen. A process of consultation between county councils and officials from
957-707: A number of small lochs in its north, notably Dernaglar Loch , Whitefield Loch , Castle Loch and Mochrum Loch . The Scares , a group of very small rock-islands, lie in Luce Bay. Major road links to the area comprise the A77 to the north, and A75 to the east. The European route E18 starts in Northern Ireland and runs from Stranraer , Wigtownshire ( A75 ) – Gretna ( M6 ) – Carlisle ( A69 ) to Newcastle . It then re-joins at Norway, goes through Sweden, Finland and ends at Saint Petersburg, Russia. Like all European routes , it
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#17328510199661044-443: A ruling in abstract terms, as the answer depended on the context; they were one shire for the purposes of the administration of justice, lieutenancy , and parliamentary constituencies , but formed two shires for local government functions. The commissioners were gradually given other local government functions. The commissioners did not exercise powers over any royal burghs within their areas, which were self-governing. In 1707,
1131-496: A single county called Ross and Cromarty , and resolved the ambiguity regarding Orkney and Shetland by declaring them to be two separate counties (using the then-prevalent spelling of 'Zetland' for Shetland), after which there were 33 counties. The act also triggered a review of parish and county boundaries to eliminate exclaves and cases where parishes straddled county boundaries. Most of the resulting boundary changes took effect in 1891. The amended boundaries were not just used for
1218-523: A small mass forms the Cairnsmore of Carsphairn . Much granite was quarried from Kirkmabreck, near Creetown for dock construction from 1830 on. Glacial deposits occupy much of the low ground; the ice, having travelled in a southerly or south-easterly direction, has left abundant striae on the higher ground to indicate its course. Radiation of the ice streams took place from the heights of Merrick, Kells, etc.; local moraines are found near Carsphairn and in
1305-643: Is known as Rhinns of Galloway , and is split from the 'mainland' by Loch Ryan in the north and Luce Bay in the south; its northern tip is Milleur Point and its southern the Mull of Galloway , which is also the southernmost point in Scotland. Across Luce Bay lies the Machars peninsula, a roughly triangular-shaped land of low hills, separated from Kidcudbrightshire by Wigtown Bay , and culminating in Burrow Head . Machars contains
1392-701: Is not signposted as such in the United Kingdom. The European Union is partly financing "The Stranraer and Loch Ryan Waterfront Project", at Inch . The port at Cairnryan is Scotland's main embarkation point for ferries to Northern Ireland, with regular crossings to Larne and the Port of Belfast . These services formerly left from Stranraer. Stranraer station connects the Glasgow South Western Line to Ayr , Paisley Gilmour Street and Glasgow Central as well as Kilmarnock . The Beeching cuts cut off
1479-562: The Aberdeenshire council area is much larger than the historic county of Aberdeenshire, also including most of the historic county of Kincardineshire and part of Banffshire , whereas the Renfrewshire council area is much smaller than historic Renfrewshire, only covering the central part of the historic county. Conversely, Fife retained the same boundaries at both the 1975 and 1996 reforms. The historic counties of Scotland are included in
1566-698: The Act of Union united Scotland with England . England also had shires , which had been mostly created in Anglo-Saxon times, and had gradually also come to be known as counties. The word 'county' means an area controlled by a noble called a count in Norman French , or earl in English. Following the Norman conquest , England's earldoms (which, like Scotland's provinces, had previously covered substantially different territories to
1653-654: The Battle of Solway Moss (1542) the shires of Kirkcudbright and Dumfries fell under English rule for a short period. The treaty of Norham (24 March 1550) established a truce between the nations for ten years; and in 1552, the Wardens of the Marches consenting, the debatable land ceased to be matter for debate, the parish of Canonbie being annexed to Dumfriesshire, that of Kirkandrews to Cumberland . McCulloch and Gordon families were of Cardoness Castle, Anwoth Parish and Rev. Rutherford
1740-637: The Castle Douglas and Dumfries Railway and Portpatrick Railway in 1965 resulting in an adverse mileage increase via the Glasgow South Western Line to reach Stranraer from Carlisle and the West Coast Main Line. Wigtownshire has been one of the mooted locations for a proposed bridge or tunnel linking Britain and Ireland. A 2010 report by the Centre for Cross Border Studies estimated building
1827-962: The Glasgow South Western Line to reach Stranraer Harbour (for Larne Harbour and Port of Belfast ) from Dumfries , Carlisle and the West Coast Main Line to London Euston , and leaving the county without any railway permanent way . The Stewartry is composed of the following 28 civil parishes. [REDACTED] This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain : Chisholm, Hugh , ed. (1911). " Kirkcudbrightshire ". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. 55°00′N 4°00′W / 55.000°N 4.000°W / 55.000; -4.000 Counties of Scotland The Shires of Scotland ( Scottish Gaelic : Siorrachdan na h-Alba ; Scots : Scots coonties ), or Counties of Scotland , were historic subdivisions of Scotland . The shires were originally established in
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#17328510199661914-544: The Index of Place Names (IPN) published by the Office for National Statistics . Each "place" included in the IPN is related to the historic county it lies within, as well as to a set of administrative areas. None of the counties' legal names included the suffix 'shire'. Those counties named after towns therefore had the same name as the town, but were routinely referred to in legal contexts as
2001-576: The Local Government (Scotland) Act 1889 , taking most of the functions of the commissioners of supply. The county councils were abolished in 1975, when local government was reorganised. Following another reorganisation in 1996, Scotland is now divided into 32 council areas . Some of the council areas share names with the historic counties, but in most such cases they have notable differences in their boundaries. The historic counties are still used for certain limited functions, serving as registration counties . There are also lieutenancy areas which are based on
2088-478: The Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 . A two-tier system of regions and districts was put in place instead, with the area becoming part of the Dumfries and Galloway region and the Wigtown district. The Wigtown district covered all of the former administrative county of Wigtownshire plus the two parishes of Kirkmabreck and Minnigaff from neighbouring Kirkcudbrightshire. Further local government reform in 1996 saw
2175-458: The Middle Ages for judicial purposes, being territories over which a sheriff had jurisdiction. They were distinct from the various older mormaerdoms , earldoms and other territories into which Scotland was also divided, which are collectively termed the provinces of Scotland by modern historians. The provinces gradually lost their functions, whereas the shires gradually gained functions. From
2262-562: The Representation of the People (Scotland) Act 1868 , generally being divided into smaller constituencies. The group of constituencies within each county was termed the 'parliamentary county'. Elected county councils were introduced in 1890 under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1889 , taking most of the functions of the commissioners of supply, which were eventually abolished in 1930. The 1889 Act also merged Ross-shire and Cromartyshire into
2349-530: The Scottish Office was begun to effect the amalgamations. Following a change of government, it was announced in 1965 that a "more comprehensive and authoritative" review of local government areas would be undertaken. In 1966 a Royal Commission on Local Government in Scotland, chaired by Lord Wheatley , was appointed. The commission's report in 1969 recommended the replacement of the counties with larger regions. In 1970 another change in government control
2436-626: The Stewartry district. The two parishes of Kirkmabreck and Minnigaff in the west of the county went instead to the Wigtown district, whilst the five parishes of Kirkbean , Kirkpatrick Irongray, New Abbey , Terregles , and Troqueer in the east of the county went to the Nithsdale district. Further local government reform in 1996 saw the Stewartry, Wigtown and Nithsdale districts abolished and their functions passed to Dumfries and Galloway Council, which continues to operate area committees based on
2523-574: The "Shire" suffix a separate word, as for example "Berwick Shire", "Roxburgh Shire", "the Shire of Selkirk otherwise known as Etterick Forest", and in the north to "Murray" (Moray), "Inverness Shire", "Aberdeen Shire", "Banff Shire", "Ross Shire". The map of Boswell's and Johnson's A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland (1773) gives "Shire" to every one shown, including "Angus Shire" and "Fife Shire". The Ordnance Survey 's official maps produced from
2610-506: The 'shire of X' or 'county of X' in order to distinguish the county from the town. However, in general usage, many of the counties had 'shire' appended to their names, particularly those named after towns. The first detailed county maps of Scotland were produced in the late 17th century. John Adair's maps of c. 1682 included the names of Midlothian , East Lothian , Twaddall and Wast Lothian (the latter also as "Linlithgowshire" ). The county maps of Herman Moll (c. 1745) preferred to keep
2697-552: The 14th century, but there were more pronounced changes to the shires of the Highlands and Islands into the 17th century, as the Scottish crown sought to consolidate its authority over the whole kingdom. From the 17th century the shires started to be used for local administration apart from judicial functions. In 1667 Commissioners of Supply were appointed in each shire to collect the land tax. There were 33 shires at that time, which were each given their own commissioners of supply, with
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2784-464: The 16th century, the shires served as constituencies , electing shire commissioners to the Parliament of Scotland . From 1667 each shire had commissioners of supply responsible for collecting local taxes; the commissioners of supply were subsequently given various local government functions as well. From 1797, the shires also served as areas for organising the militia , which was the responsibility of
2871-416: The 19th century onwards adopted the practice of adding 'shire' to the end of the name of each shire named after a town, and also used the names Argyllshire, Buteshire, Ross-shire (prior to its merger with Cromartyshire in 1889) and Morayshire, despite those four not being named after towns. Some counties had alternative names by which they were sometimes known. In five cases the legal name was changed during
2958-481: The 20th century: Other alternative names sometimes used informally included 'The Mearns' for Kincardineshire, 'Tweeddale' for Peeblesshire, 'Ettrick Forest' for Selkirkshire, and 'Teviotdale' for Roxburghshire. Until the 1930s, the General Post Office advised against included county names in addresses, recommending they only be used in those cases where it was necessary to distinguish between post towns with
3045-506: The Deagh and Minnoch valleys. Glacial drumlins of boulder clay lie in the vales of the Dee, Cree and Urr. The climate and soil suit grass and green crops rather than grain. The annual rainfall averages 1,160 millimetres (45.7 in). The mean temperature for the year is 9 °C (48 °F); for January 4 °C (39 °F)and 15 °C (59 °F) for July. Castle Douglas and Dumfries Railway
3132-524: The Dee immediately to the west of the modern town of Castle Douglas , was reduced and converted into a royal keep. As the Douglases went down the Maxwells rose, and the debatable land on the south-east of Dumfriesshire was for generations the scene of strife and raid, not only between the two nations but also among the leading families, of whom the Maxwells, Johnstones and Armstrongs were always conspicuous. After
3219-475: The Post Office used the form Morayshire, and used Ross-shire for the mainland part of Ross and Cromarty. Otherwise, it omitted the 'shire' suffix. The Post Office also used the spelling 'Shetland' rather than the legal spelling of 'Zetland'. The county council of Dunbartonshire considered a motion to change that county's name to 'Lennox' in 1956. Supporters of the idea argued that as well as bringing back into use
3306-587: The Urr, rising in Loch Urr on the Dumfriesshire border, falls into the sea a few miles south of Dalbeattie 27 miles (43 kilometres) from its source. Silurian and Ordovician rocks are the most important in this county; they are thrown into oft-repeated folds with their axes lying in a north-east–south-west direction. The Ordovician rocks are graptolitic black shales and grits of Llandeilo and Caradoc age. They occupy all
3393-735: The W. side of the Nith at Dumfries. Volcanic necks occur in the Permian and basalt dikes penetrate the Silurian at Borgue, Kirkandrews, etc. Most of the highest ground is formed by granite plutons which have been intruded into the Ordovician and Silurian rocks; the Criffel pluton lies about Dalbeattie and Bengairn, another mass extends east and west between the Cairnsmore of Fleet and Loch Ken , another lies north-west and south-east between Loch Doon and Loch Dee and
3480-574: The Wigtown district abolished and its functions passed to Dumfries and Galloway Council, which continues to operate a Wigtown area committee for the pre-1996 Wigtown district. The former Wigtown district is also used as a lieutenancy area . Wigtownshire borders the Irish Sea to the west, the Solway Firth to the south, Ayrshire to the north, and the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright (or Kidcudbrightshire) to
3567-637: The Wigtownshire branch of the University of the Third Age walked the field looking for artefacts. Test pits were dug and Historic Scotland commissioned a geophysical survey. No more metalwork was found, nor any evidence for why the lunula might have been buried there. From 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 mediaeval times. The fields between
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3654-443: The authority of a sheriff , and became known as the Shire of Wigtown, or Wigtownshire. The area was also sometimes called West Galloway ( Scottish Gaelic : Gallobha-an-iar ). The county town was historically Wigtown , with the administrative centre moving to Stranraer , the largest town, following the creation of Wigtownshire County Council in 1890. The 11th-century ex-King of Dublin and Mann, Echmarcach mac Ragnaill , had
3741-410: The authority of the county councils. Following the example of Edinburgh, three of the burghs outside county council control were subsequently also made independent from their host county for other functions too, with the provost of such burghs acting as lieutenant, being Glasgow in 1893, Dundee in 1894, and Aberdeen in 1899. Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh and Glasgow were then each known as
3828-467: The basis for the authority of the earls and other nobles in their provinces. Those office holders who were displaced were compensated. The reforms of 1748 therefore saw the effective end of any meaningful function for the provinces, with the shires or counties thereafter being the main administrative divisions of Scotland. Also in 1748, under the Sheriffs (Scotland) Act 1747 , the office of sheriff principal
3915-462: The coast between the granite and the younger rocks. Carboniferous rocks appear in small faulted tracts, unconformable on the Silurian, on the shores of the Solway Firth. They are best developed about Kirkbean, where they include a basal red breccia followed by conglomerates, grits and cement stones of Calciferous Sandstone age. Brick-red sandstones of Permian age just come within the county on
4002-531: The control of the Scottish crown. In 1308 the district was cleared of the English and brought under allegiance to the king, when the lordship of Galloway was given to Edward Bruce . In 1369 Archibald the Grim , Earl of Douglas , was given the part of Galloway east of the River Cree , where he appointed a steward to administer the area, which became known as the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright. The following year, he acquired
4089-464: The counties and the parliamentary counties, which was resolved when constituencies were next reviewed in 1918 . Secondly, valuation rolls continued to have effect over the area for which they had been originally compiled. Thirdly, any ecclesiastical rights or jurisdictions were unaffected by the changes to boundaries (a provision more relevant to the parish changes than the county ones). Burghs were towns with certain rights of self-government. Prior to
4176-664: The country nominally formed part of the Roman province of Britannia , but the evidence is against there having been a prolonged effective Roman occupation. There was a Roman temporary marching camp at Shawhead, in Kirkpatrick Irongray. After the retreat of the Romans, the fate of the Novantae is unknown. By the 6th century, Galloway was part of the Brythonic kingdom of Strathclyde . During
4263-426: The county, with the exception of the burgh of Edinburgh , which from 1482 had appointed its own sheriff. Edinburgh was thereafter sometimes described as the "city and county of the city of Edinburgh" to distinguish it from the surrounding "county of Edinburgh" (Midlothian). When county councils were created in 1890, the 26 largest burghs were allowed to retain their independence, but smaller burghs were placed under
4350-483: The death of Lord Alan of Galloway in 1234 the area was fully brought under the control of the Scottish crown. In 1369 Archibald the Grim , Earl of Douglas , was given the part of Galloway east of the River Cree , where he appointed a steward to administer the area, which became known as the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright . The following year, he acquired the rest of Galloway west of the Cree, which continued to be administered by
4437-457: The division of the country (as it then was) into shires by the conversion of existing thanedoms . The shires occasionally covered the same area as a province; for example, the shire of Forfar covered the same area as the province of Angus . More often though, the shires were groupings or subdivisions of the provinces. For example, the province of Lothian was covered by the three shires of Linlithgow , Edinburgh and Haddington . Conversely,
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#17328510199664524-471: The east. Across the sea to the west lies Northern Ireland and to the south the Isle of Man , both of which can be readily seen on a clear day. Together the Stewartry and Wigtownshire are referred to as Galloway . The county is largely flat, with some low hills in the north, with Craigairie Fell being the county's tallest peak at a modest 322 m (1,056 ft). The western 'hammer-head' peninsula of Wigtownshire
4611-455: The exception of the sheriffdom of Orkney and Shetland, where separate bodies of commissioners were created for each group of islands. Orkney and Shetland having one sheriff but two sets of commissioners of supply led to ambiguity about their status. At a court case in 1829, the Court of Session was asked to rule on whether Shetland and Orkney formed one shire or two. The court declined to give such
4698-624: The following year, on 28 August 1862, with the Stranraer Harbour branch, which opened on 1 October 1862; although building work continued on the line for another five years. The Kirkcudbright Railway was a railway branch line linking Kirkcudbright to the Castle Douglas and Dumfries Railway at Castle Douglas . It opened in 1864, and closed in 1965. The Beeching cuts cut off the Castle Douglas and Dumfries Railway and Portpatrick Railway in 1965 resulting in an adverse mileage increase via
4785-507: The government of Scotland. The document listed the twenty-three shires then existing and either appointed new sheriffs or continued heritable sheriffs in office. The remaining shires were formed either by the territorial expansion of the Kingdom of Scotland , or by the subdivision of existing sheriffdoms. There were occasional changes to the shires; those of the Lowlands were relatively stable from
4872-485: The grouped shires were nevertheless still considered separate shires, retaining separate commissioners of supply. In 1794 Lord-Lieutenants were appointed to each county, and in 1797 county militia regiments were raised, bringing Scotland into line with England, Wales and Ireland. In 1858 police forces were established in each shire under the Police (Scotland) Act 1857 . The counties lost their role as constituencies under
4959-428: The historic counties, but with some notable differences. The early Kingdom of Alba was subdivided into smaller territories under the control of various ranks of noble, including mormaers , earls , and thanes . As Alba expanded and evolved into the Kingdom of Scotland , it took in various other territories as it grew. There was no single collective term for these territories at the time, but modern historians now use
5046-422: The inhabitants of the shire. In the 1760s a military road was constructed from Bridge of Sark, near Gretna, Dumfries and Galloway to Portpatrick by Major William Caulfeild . Elected county councils were established in Scotland in 1890 under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1889 . Kirkcudbrightshire County Council established its headquarters at County Buildings, 121–123 High Street, Kirkcudbright , being
5133-407: The introduction of county councils in 1890, there were two main types: royal burghs and police burghs . Some burghs were additionally classed as parliamentary burghs , excluding them from the constituency of the wider county. Royal burghs were independent from the county's commissioners of supply, but police burghs were not. Both types of burgh were subject to the authority of the sheriff court of
5220-610: The king's sheriff, and so became known as the Shire of Wigtown. This led to the local custom of referring to Kirkcudbrightshire as "The Stewartry" and Wigtownshire as "The Shire" , which continued into the 20th century. Most of Wigtownshire was still Gaelic-speaking at the beginning of the 16th century. Elected county councils were established in Scotland in 1890 under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1889 . Wigtownshire County Council held its first meeting at Wigtown County Buildings in The Square at Wigtown on 22 May 1890, when it
5307-471: The local government functions of the county councils, but were also applied for all other administrative functions, including justice, militia, school boards and other functions, with just three exceptions. Firstly, the boundary changes did not affect any parliamentary constituencies, which remained as they were when last reviewed under the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 . This led to some divergence between
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#17328510199665394-506: The longer rivers are the Cree, which rises in Loch Moan and reaches the sea near Creetown after a course of about 30 miles (50 kilometres); the Dee or Black Water of Dee (so named from the peat by which it is coloured), which rises in Loch Dee which after a course mainly S.E. and finally S., enters the sea at St Mary's Isle below Kirkcudbright , its length being nearly 36 miles (58 kilometres);
5481-520: The medieval lordship of Galloway , which retained a degree of autonomy until it was fully absorbed by Scotland in the 13th century. In 1369, the part of Galloway east of the River Cree was placed under the control of a steward based in Kirkcudbright and so that area became known as the "Stewartry of Kirkcudbright". The rest of Galloway remained under the authority of a sheriff based in Wigtown , and so became known as Wigtownshire . Kirkcudbrightshire
5568-429: The mound and Dunragit village and Droughduil Mote , Old Luce, Wigtownshire , contain "one of the most important Stone Age sites in Scotland". Aerial photography and archaeological excavation of the henge has revealed the remains of three massive concentric timber circles; the outer circle was 300 metres (980 ft) in diameter, almost six times the size of Stonehenge. Built c. 2500 BC , this huge monument
5655-450: The name of the old province which had covered the area, it would eliminate the long-standing confusion caused by the county using the spelling 'Dunbarton' and the town the spelling 'Dumbarton'. The change was not pursued. Not shown: Wigtownshire Wigtownshire or the County of Wigtown ( Scottish Gaelic : Siorrachd Bhaile na h-Ùige , Scots : Wigtounshire ) is one of the historic counties of Scotland , covering an area in
5742-429: The ninth century, the region was part of the Kingdom of Northumbria . A hoard that has been attributed to either a Northumbrian metal-worker, or a Viking campaigner, was deposited near Talnotrie c.875-900. During the next two hundred years the area was subject to incursions by Danes, Saxons and Scandinavians. After Malcolm Canmore defeated and killed Macbeth in 1057, he married the dead king's relative, Ingibiorg,
5829-669: The northern part of the county north-west of a line which runs some 3 m. north of New Galloway and just south of the Rinns of Kells. South-east of this line graptolitic Silurian shales of Llandovery age prevail; they are found around Dalry, Creetown, New Galloway, Castle Douglas and Kirkcudbright. Overlying the Llandovery beds on the south coast are strips of Wenlock rocks; they extend from Bridgehouse Bay to Auchinleck and are well exposed in Kirkcudbright Bay, and they can be traced farther round
5916-505: The pleasure of the monarch. Following the unsuccessful Jacobite Rising of 1745 the government took the opportunity of overhauling county government. In 1748, under the Heritable Jurisdictions (Scotland) Act 1746 , hereditary sheriffs were abolished, with the right to appoint all sheriffs returning to the crown. The same act also abolished other hereditary jurisdictions including regality, justiciary and others; these had formed
6003-549: The pre-1996 districts, subject to some boundary changes where ward boundaries no longer follow the pre-1996 district boundaries. The former Stewartry district is used as a lieutenancy area under the name the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright. Kirkcudbrightshire has a shoreline on the Solway Firth , between the rivers Nith and Cree . Inland, the area has many hills, with its highest point being Merrick 843 metres (2,766 ft). There are many "burns" and "waters", but their length seldom exceeds 7 or 8 miles (11 or 13 kilometres). Among
6090-409: The rest of Galloway west of the Cree, which continued to be administered by the king's sheriff, and so became known as the Shire of Wigtown. This led to the local custom of referring to Kirkcudbrightshire as "The Stewartry" and Wigtownshire as "The Shire" , which continued into the 20th century. In 1455 Threave Castle , the most important fortress in Galloway, which Archibald the Grim had built on
6177-492: The same name. The Post Office changed its policy in the 1930s, requiring the name of the county in which the post town lay to be included in most cases, with the exception of certain post towns which were large and well-known places, or which gave their names to their counties. Like the Ordnance Survey, the Post Office appended 'shire' to the legal name for all counties named after towns. For counties not named after towns,
6264-469: The sheriffs. Despite the shires of Scotland not being controlled by a count or earl as their English counterparts had once been, following the union of 1707, the term 'county' also came to be used for Scottish shires. The office of sheriff or steward had become hereditary in certain families in the majority of sheriffdoms. At the accession of George II in 1727, twenty-two sheriffs were hereditary, three were appointed for life and only eight held office at
6351-411: The shire of Ayr covered the three provinces of Carrick , Cunninghame and Kyle . Shires were sometimes created which did not endure. For example, there was a Sheriff of Dingwall in the mid-13th century, and in 1293 shires of Lorn and Kintyre were created, which were later merged into the shire of Argyll . In 1305 Edward I of England , who had deposed John Balliol , issued an ordinance for
6438-557: The shires) were reorganised to generally correspond to individual shires, which therefore also became known as counties. Unlike in England, Scotland's shires remained quite distinct territories from its earldoms and other provinces in 1707. Whereas English earls by that time had little or no role in local administration, Scottish earls and other nobles continued to exercise significant authority in their provinces, having powers of regality to hold courts which operated in parallel with those of
6525-438: The south-west of the country. Until 1975, Wigtownshire was an administrative county used for local government . Since 1975 the area has formed part of Dumfries and Galloway for local government purposes. Wigtownshire continues to be used as a territory for land registration, being a registration county . The historic county is all within the slightly larger Wigtown Area , which is one of the lieutenancy areas of Scotland and
6612-580: The term provinces , or provincial lordships for the smaller ones. Malcolm III (reigned 1058 to 1093) appears to have introduced sheriffs as part of a policy of imitating the administrative structures then being used in England by its Norman rulers. The provinces formed part of the feudal hierarchy of land ownership, but justice was administered by sheriffs, appointed to separately defined shires. More shires were created by Edgar (reigned 1097 to 1107), Alexander I (reigned 1107 to 1124), and in particular David I (reigned 1124 to 1153). David completed
6699-470: The title Rex Innarenn , " King of the Rhinns ", attributed to him on his death in 1065 AD. The western sections of Galloway had been firmly aligned with the Isle of Man , and Norse and Gaelic-Norse settlement names from the 10th and 11th centuries are spread all along the coastal lands of south-western Scotland. These coastal lands became the sub-kingdom or semi-autonomous Lordship of Galloway . Following
6786-470: Was a ceremonial centre and a meeting place for south-west Scotland's early farming communities. Funding for the dig was provided by Historic Scotland and the University of Southampton . The staff at Stranraer Museum assisted with computing and communications facilities and access to collections. Wigtownshire was divided into civil parishes : The civil parish of Stranraer was created out of parts of Leswalt and Inch parishes in 1622. The parish of Glenluce
6873-410: Was administered by larger sheriffdoms and counties no longer served as constituencies. As part of the 1975 reforms, lord-lieutenants ceased to be appointed to counties, instead being appointed to new lieutenancy areas based on groups of the new districts. The lieutenancy areas loosely corresponded to the pre-1975 counties, but with some notable differences. The administrative functions left operating on
6960-536: Was decided to hold the council's annual meeting each May at Wigtown, but other meetings were to be held alternately at Stranraer and Newton Stewart . The council later established its main offices at Ashwood House on Sun Street, Stranraer, close to the Sheriff Court on Lewis Street which was the council's meeting place when it met in Stranraer. Wigtownshire was abolished as an administrative county in 1975 under
7047-443: Was followed by the publication of a white paper in 1971 implementing the commission's reforms in a modified form. The abolition of counties "for local government purposes" was enacted by the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 , with counties playing no part in local government after 16 May 1975, being replaced by regions and districts. The counties had already lost almost all their non-local government functions by this time; justice
7134-541: Was incorporated on 21 July 1856; the act was obtained by the Glasgow and South Western Railway . It opened on 7 November 1859 and was substantially closed, under the Beeching cuts , on 14 June 1965. The Portpatrick Railway was authorised on 10 August 1857. By 12 March 1861, the line connected Stranraer to Castle Douglas , where it joined the newly constructed Castle Douglas and Dumfries railway . The branch to Portpatrick opened
7221-410: Was minister of Anwoth . After the union (1707) things mended slowly but surely, curious evidence of growing commercial prosperity being the enormous extent to which smuggling was carried on. No coast could serve the "free traders" better than the shores of Kirkcudbright, and the contraband trade flourished until the 19th century. The Jacobite risings of 1715 and 1745 elicited small sympathy from
7308-450: Was more important than Stranraer. An unnamed detectorist found a gold lunula in a cultivated field near Garlieston , Sorbie in March 2011, the first Scottish gold lunula found in over 100 years. The lunula is a flat, crescent-shaped neck ornament thought to date from around 2300 – 2200 BC, and described by some archaeologists as a symbol of power. The gold sheet, probably hammered out from
7395-476: Was occasionally referred to as East Galloway. It is bounded on the north by Ayrshire , on the west by Wigtownshire, on the south by the Irish Sea and Solway Firth , and on the east by Dumfriesshire . The county town is Kirkcudbright. The country west of the Nith was originally peopled by a tribe of Celts called Novantae , who long retained their independence. After Gnaeus Julius Agricola 's invasion in 79 AD,
7482-421: Was reduced to a largely ceremonial one, with a sheriff depute or sheriff substitute appointed to each 'county, shire or stewartry'. Twelve of the smallest counties were paired to form sheriffdoms, a process of amalgamation that was to continue until the twentieth century, and thus led to the sheriffdoms and the shires having different boundaries. Where multiple shires were grouped into a single sheriffdom after 1748,
7569-497: Was used in local government as the Wigtown District from 1975 to 1996. Wigtownshire forms the western part of the medieval lordship of Galloway , which retained a degree of autonomy until it was fully absorbed by Scotland in the 13th century. In 1369, the part of Galloway east of the River Cree was placed under the control of a steward and so became known as the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright . The rest of Galloway remained under
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