Galloway
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Galloway ( ; ; ) is a region in southwestern
Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...
comprising the historic counties of
Wigtownshire Wigtownshire or the County of Wigtown (, ) is one of the Counties of Scotland, historic counties of Scotland, covering an area in the south-west of the country. Until 1975, Wigtownshire was an counties of Scotland, administrative county used for ...
and Kirkcudbrightshire. It is administered as part of the
council area {{Unreferenced, date=May 2019, bot=noref (GreenC bot) A council area is one of the areas defined in Schedule 1 of the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994 and is under the control of one of the local authorities in Scotland created by that Ac ...
of
Dumfries and Galloway Dumfries and Galloway (; ) is one of the 32 unitary council areas of Scotland, located in the western part of the Southern Uplands. It is bordered by East Ayrshire, South Ayrshire, and South Lanarkshire to the north; Scottish Borders to the no ...
. Galloway is bounded by sea to the west and south, the Galloway Hills to the north, and the River Nith to the east; the border between Kirkcudbrightshire and Wigtownshire is marked by the River Cree. The definition has, however, fluctuated greatly in size over history. A native or inhabitant of Galloway is called a Gallovidian. The region takes its name from the ''Gall-Gàidheil'', or "stranger Gaels", a people of mixed Gaelic and Norse descent who seem to have settled here in the 10th century. Galloway remained a Gàidhealtachd area for much longer than other regions of the
Scottish Lowlands The Lowlands ( or , ; , ) is a cultural and historical region of Scotland. The region is characterised by its relatively flat or gently rolling terrain as opposed to the mountainous landscapes of the Scottish Highlands. This area includes ci ...
and a distinct local dialect of the Scottish Gaelic language survived into at least the 18th century. A hardy breed of black, hornless
cattle Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, bovid ungulates widely kept as livestock. They are prominent modern members of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus '' Bos''. Mature female cattle are calle ...
named Galloway cattle is native to the region, in addition to the more distinctive Belted Galloway or "Beltie".


Geography and landforms

Galloway comprises the part of Scotland lying southwards from the Southern Upland watershed and westward from the River Nith. Traditionally it has been described as stretching from "the braes of Glenapp to the Nith". The valleys of three rivers, the Urr Water, the Water of Ken and River Dee, and the Cree, all running north–south, provide much of the good arable land, although there is also some arable land on the coast. Generally however the landscape is rugged and much of the soil is shallow. The generally south slope and southern coast make for mild and wet climate, and there is a great deal of good pasture. The northern part of Galloway is exceedingly rugged and forms the largest remaining
wilderness Wilderness or wildlands (usually in the plurale tantum, plural) are Earth, Earth's natural environments that have not been significantly modified by human impact on the environment, human activity, or any urbanization, nonurbanized land not u ...
in Britain south of the Highlands. This area is known as the Galloway Hills.


Land use

Historically Galloway has been known both for
horse The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 mi ...
s and for cattle rearing, and
milk Milk is a white liquid food produced by the mammary glands of lactating mammals. It is the primary source of nutrition for young mammals (including breastfeeding, breastfed human infants) before they are able to digestion, digest solid food. ...
and
beef Beef is the culinary name for meat from cattle (''Bos taurus''). Beef can be prepared in various ways; Cut of beef, cuts are often used for steak, which can be cooked to varying degrees of doneness, while trimmings are often Ground beef, grou ...
production are both still major industries. There is also substantial
timber Lumber is wood that has been processed into uniform and useful sizes (dimensional lumber), including beams and planks or boards. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as finishing (floors, wall panels, window frames). ...
production and some fisheries. The combination of hills and high rainfall make Galloway ideal for
hydroelectric Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is Electricity generation, electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies 15% of the world's electricity, almost 4,210 TWh in 2023, which is more than all other Renewable energ ...
power production, and the Galloway Hydro Power scheme was begun in 1929. Since then,
electricity generation Electricity generation is the process of generating electric power from sources of primary energy. For electric utility, utilities in the electric power industry, it is the stage prior to its Electricity delivery, delivery (Electric power transm ...
has been a significant industry. More recently
wind turbine A wind turbine is a device that wind power, converts the kinetic energy of wind into electrical energy. , hundreds of thousands of list of most powerful wind turbines, large turbines, in installations known as wind farms, were generating over ...
s have been installed at a number of locations on the watershed, and a large offshore wind-power plant is planned, increasing Galloway's 'green energy' production.


History


Mesolithic and Neolithic

It is thought that aspects of the Barsalloch Fort site in Galloway date to the Mesolithic period. A number of sites date to the Neolithic; these include the Drumtroddan standing stones, the Torhousekie stone circle, and the Cairnholy chambered cairn. There is also evidence of one of the earliest pit-fall traps in Europe which was discovered near Glenluce,
Wigtownshire Wigtownshire or the County of Wigtown (, ) is one of the Counties of Scotland, historic counties of Scotland, covering an area in the south-west of the country. Until 1975, Wigtownshire was an counties of Scotland, administrative county used for ...
.


Iron Age

The
Iron Age The Iron Age () is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progre ...
is where prehistoric archaeological remains and recorded history overlap for Galloway. Galloway's Iron Age sites are similar to the rest of Scotland. Its distinctive type sites consist of
crannog A crannog (; ; ) is typically a partially or entirely artificial island, usually constructed in lakes, bogs and estuary, estuarine waters of Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. Unlike the prehistoric pile dwellings around the Alps, which were built ...
s, promontory forts, and duns. Galloway has a preponderance of crannog-type sites compared to certain other regions of Scotland. This is due largely to the region's geography favouring lochs (or now-former lochs), as well as a bias toward higher survival rates of undisturbed sites available for archaeological investigation due to loch-draining taking place later in Galloway than in other regions, with the discovery of such sites eliciting antiquarian interest. For example, the Black Loch of Myrton site (which likely dates to around the 5th century BC) was discovered due to loch-draining activities in the area of the Maxwell family estate during the 19th century. The site received the attention of a local antiquarian, Sir Herbert Maxwell, who conducted a basic excavation. Initially thought to be a crannog, the Black Loch of Myrton site was later recharacterized as a "lochside village". Promontory forts are highly topographically-defined sites, which in Galloway generally occupy coastal promontories overlooking the Solway Firth. Investigation of one such site at Carghidown revealed a "sporadically occupied refuge" according to Toolis, who also notes that "hardly any promontory forts occupy strongly defensive locations or have immediate access to the sea." While many surviving sites represent sporadically-occupied locations or individual households, there are also examples of multiple-household settlements. One of these is the Rispain Camp site near Whithorn, which contained a form of bread wheat unique amongst Iron Age sites in Galloway. This is a possible indication that Rispain Camp had different agricultural practices than elsewhere in Galloway, especially given the relatively low occurrence of rotary querns at sites in the area. Roughly contemporary with the Rispain Camp site, a cluster of roundhouses at Dunragit (dating to the early centuries AD) was revealed to contain examples of native (i.e. non-Roman) pottery. Certain households in Galloway seem to have taken social prominence later in the Iron Age. Lead items appear; isotope analysis of goods at a number of Iron Age and Roman period sites indicate the Scottish Southern Uplands as a possible ore source for the lead material, though it is unclear how early extraction of lead could have taken place in Galloway specifically. Metallurgical testing done on three lead beads recovered from the Carghidown site (dated to ) indicated a closer affinity to the Southern Uplands than to a sample from the
Isle of Man The Isle of Man ( , also ), or Mann ( ), is a self-governing British Crown Dependency in the Irish Sea, between Great Britain and Ireland. As head of state, Charles III holds the title Lord of Mann and is represented by a Lieutenant Govern ...
. The area around Whithorn, containing both the Carghidown and Rispain Camp sites, appears to have become a local power centre. The Carghidown site is located only a short distance to the east along the coast from St Ninian's Cave, while the Rispain Camp site is several miles inland. Following the start of the
Roman conquest of Britain The Roman conquest of Britain was the Roman Empire's conquest of most of the island of Great Britain, Britain, which was inhabited by the Celtic Britons. It began in earnest in AD 43 under Emperor Claudius, and was largely completed in the ...
, the Roman general Gnaeus Julius Agricola campaigned northward, reaching Scotland around AD 79. A possible comment about "trackless wastes" may have referred to Galloway, but this is unclear. The source of this comment is the version of Tacitus' ''
Agricola Agricola, the Latin word for farmer, may also refer to: People Cognomen or given name :''In chronological order'' * Gnaeus Julius Agricola (40–93), Roman governor of Britannia (AD 77–85) * Sextus Calpurnius Agricola, Roman governor of the m ...
'' which is contained in the '' Codex Aesinas''. The ''Codex Aesinas'' is a composite work produced in the 15th century, which is based on a now-lost 9th century work, the '' Codex Hersfeldensis'', which contained portions of the ''Agricola''. The interpretation of "trackless wastes" is based on material thought to derive from the 9th century codex, with an original Latin ("first crossing into the trackless wastes") having been corrupted into , which is grammatically incorrect in Latin. The interpretation that this passage refers to Galloway is based on contextual information, as the work later refers to "the part of Britain that faces Ireland", which is seen as referring to southwestern Scotland. In the 2nd century, the Alexandrian geographer
Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; , ; ; – 160s/170s AD) was a Greco-Roman mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were important to later Byzantine science, Byzant ...
produced his '' Geographia'', which was written . This work included Britain. No surviving copies of the ''Geographia'' exist which are older than the 13th century, creating the possibility that details may have been lost or distorted. Ptolemy credited much of his work to a now-lost atlas by Marinus of Tyre, a previous geographer whose work is thought to have been created around AD 114. Though it would have been written within the century after Agricola's campaign, Ptolemy's work is a Roman perspective on Britain following the conquest, and not necessarily a reflection of pre-Roman social or ethnic groups. Ptolemy listed two peoples as inhabitants of the area around Galloway: the Novantae in the west (associated with Wigtownshire, Kirkcudbrightshire, and southern Ayrshire) and the Selgovae in the east (primarily associated with modern-day Dumfriesshire). It is thought that the Iron Age inhabitants of the Barsalloch Fort site were the Novantae people. The Rispain Camp site is also associated with the Novantae. In the west, the city of (literally 'very royal place'), shown on
Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; , ; ; – 160s/170s AD) was a Greco-Roman mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were important to later Byzantine science, Byzant ...
's map of the world, is a strong contender for the site of , referred to in the Welsh Triads as one of the 'three thrones of Britain' associated with the legendary
King Arthur According to legends, King Arthur (; ; ; ) was a king of Great Britain, Britain. He is a folk hero and a central figure in the medieval literary tradition known as the Matter of Britain. In Wales, Welsh sources, Arthur is portrayed as a le ...
, and may also have been the ' of the sub-Roman Brythonic kingdom of . 's exact position is uncertain except that it was 'on Loch Ryan', close to modern day
Stranraer Stranraer ( , in Scotland also ; ), also known as The Toon or The Cleyhole, is a town in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, on Loch Ryan and the northern side of the isthmus joining the Rhins of Galloway to the mainland. Stranraer is Dumfries ...
; it is possible that it is the modern settlement of Dunragit (). According to tradition, before the end of Roman rule in Britain, St. Ninian established a church or monastery at Whithorn,
Wigtownshire Wigtownshire or the County of Wigtown (, ) is one of the Counties of Scotland, historic counties of Scotland, covering an area in the south-west of the country. Until 1975, Wigtownshire was an counties of Scotland, administrative county used for ...
, which remained an important place of
pilgrimage A pilgrimage is a travel, journey to a holy place, which can lead to a personal transformation, after which the pilgrim returns to their daily life. A pilgrim (from the Latin ''peregrinus'') is a traveler (literally one who has come from afar) w ...
until the
Reformation The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major Theology, theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the p ...
.


Middle Ages

A Brythonic speaking kingdom dominated Galloway until the late 7th century when it was absorbed by the English kingdom of
Bernicia Bernicia () was an Anglo-Saxon kingdom established by Anglian settlers of the 6th century in what is now southeastern Scotland and North East England. The Anglian territory of Bernicia was approximately equivalent to the modern English cou ...
. English prevalence was supplanted by Britons and Norse-Gaelic () peoples between the 9th and the 11th century. This can be seen in the context of both the vacuum left by
Northumbria Northumbria () was an early medieval Heptarchy, kingdom in what is now Northern England and Scottish Lowlands, South Scotland. The name derives from the Old English meaning "the people or province north of the Humber", as opposed to the Sout ...
being filled by the resurgent Cumbric Britons and the influx of the Norse into the Irish Sea, including settlement in the Isle of Man and in the now English region of western
Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders the Scottish council areas of Dumfries and Galloway and Scottish Borders to the north, Northumberland and County Durham to the east, North Yorkshire to the south-east, Lancash ...
immediately south of Galloway. If it had not been for Fergus of Galloway who established himself in Galloway in the mid-twelfth century, the region would rapidly have been absorbed by Scotland. This did not happen because Fergus, his sons, grandsons and great-grandson Alan, Lord of Galloway, shifted their allegiance between Scottish and English kings. During a period of Scottish allegiance, a Galloway contingent followed David, King of Scots, in his invasion of England and led the attack in his defeat at the Battle of the Standard (1138). Alan died in 1234, leaving three daughters and an illegitimate son, Thomas (). Alexander II of Scotland, Galloway's suzerain, planned to divide Galloway between Alan's three daughters and their husbands (all Norman noblemen) and to exclude Thomas under Norman feudal law. However, Thomas considered himself Alan's heir under the Gaelic system of tanistry. In the ensuing Galloway revolt of 1234–1235, an army of Galwegian rebels ambushed Alexander's royal army and nearly inflicted a defeat before relief forces arrived to support the king. The rebels retreated to Ireland, and Alexander left Walter Comyn, Lord of Badenoch to subdue Galloway; Comyn sacked its abbeys before fleeing when faced with the return of the rebels. The rebellion was eventually ended with the return of royal forces. The result was a partition of Galloway, serving to fragment it administratively, though some ecclesiastical (the bishopric) and judicial (the office of Justiciar of Galloway) offices survived further into the High Medieval period and beyond. Alan's eldest daughter, (Latinized as Dervorguilla), married John de Balliol, and their son (also John) became one of the candidates for the Scottish Crown. Consequently, Scotland's Wars of Independence were disproportionately fought in Galloway. There were a large number of new Gaelic placenames being coined post 1320 (e.g. Balmaclellan), because Galloway retained a substantial Gaelic speaking population for several centuries more. Following the Wars of Independence, Galloway became the
fief A fief (; ) was a central element in medieval contracts based on feudal law. It consisted of a form of property holding or other rights granted by an overlord to a vassal, who held it in fealty or "in fee" in return for a form of feudal alle ...
of Archibald the Grim,
Earl of Douglas This page is concerned with the holders of the forfeit title Earl of Douglas and the preceding Scottish feudal barony, feudal barons of Douglas, South Lanarkshire. The title was created in the Peerage of Scotland in 1358 for William Douglas, 1 ...
. In 1369, he received 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 part 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. The two parts of Galloway thereafter were administered separately, becoming separate
counties A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...
. The High Medieval period saw a gradual incorporation of Galloway into Scotland. Scotland's legal system was administered as a system of three provinces, each with a justiciar (high official). The Justiciar of Galloway was one of these, along with justiciars for Lothian and "Scotia" (lands north of the Forth and Clyde). Additionally, Whithorn remained an important cultural centre; medieval kings of Scots made pilgrimages there.


Reformation and Covenanters

Folklore holds that a copy of the Wycliffe Bible was circulating in Galloway around 1520, and secret groups (proto-conventicles) gathered to hear a man named Alexander Gordon preach from it. With the end of the monasteries, the large ecclesiastical landholdings created under the medieval Lordship of Galloway were broken up amongst hundreds of small landowners. In the case of Dundrennan Abbey, much of the abbey's lands came into the hands of the family of its last abbot, Edward Maxwell. Following the death of the pre-Reformation Bishop of Galloway in 1575, there were disputes over who would be bishop, and the see was vacant for a considerable period of time in the late 16th century due to opposition to
episcopal polity An episcopal polity is a hierarchical form of church governance in which the chief local authorities are called bishops. The word "bishop" here is derived via the British Latin and Vulgar Latin term ''*ebiscopus''/''*biscopus'', . It is the ...
by the Presbyterian faction within the
Church of Scotland The Church of Scotland (CoS; ; ) is a Presbyterian denomination of Christianity that holds the status of the national church in Scotland. It is one of the country's largest, having 245,000 members in 2024 and 259,200 members in 2023. While mem ...
. The Anglo-Scottish
Union of the Crowns The Union of the Crowns (; ) was the accession of James VI of Scotland to the throne of the Kingdom of England as James I and the practical unification of some functions (such as overseas diplomacy) of the two separate realms under a single ...
took place in 1603, leading to the supremacy of the Stuart dynasty in Britain and Ireland. James, the Stuart monarch of both Scotland and England, heavily policed the activities of the riding clans of the nearby
Scottish Borders The Scottish Borders is one of 32 council areas of Scotland. It is bordered by West Lothian, Edinburgh, Midlothian, and East Lothian to the north, the North Sea to the east, Dumfries and Galloway to the south-west, South Lanarkshire to the we ...
, leading to a large number of Borderers emigrating or being transported to Ireland or to the American colonies. The
Plantation of Ulster The Plantation of Ulster (; Ulster Scots dialects, Ulster Scots: ) was the organised Settler colonialism, colonisation (''Plantation (settlement or colony), plantation'') of Ulstera Provinces of Ireland, province of Irelandby people from Great ...
began around this time. Attempts beginning under James VI to enforce Caesaropapism,
episcopal polity An episcopal polity is a hierarchical form of church governance in which the chief local authorities are called bishops. The word "bishop" here is derived via the British Latin and Vulgar Latin term ''*ebiscopus''/''*biscopus'', . It is the ...
,
high church A ''high church'' is a Christian Church whose beliefs and practices of Christian ecclesiology, Christian liturgy, liturgy, and Christian theology, theology emphasize "ritual, priestly authority, ndsacraments," and a standard liturgy. Although ...
Anglicanism Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...
, and Laudianism within the
Church of Scotland The Church of Scotland (CoS; ; ) is a Presbyterian denomination of Christianity that holds the status of the national church in Scotland. It is one of the country's largest, having 245,000 members in 2024 and 259,200 members in 2023. While mem ...
, ultimately triggered the Presbyterian backlash of the 17th-century
Bishops' Wars The Bishops' Wars were two separate conflicts fought in 1639 and 1640 between Scotland and England, with Scottish Royalists allied to England. They were the first of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, which also include the First and Second En ...
, which saw the appearance of the
Covenanters Covenanters were members of a 17th-century Scottish religious and political movement, who supported a Presbyterian Church of Scotland and the primacy of its leaders in religious affairs. It originated in disputes with James VI and his son ...
as a religious, political, and military force. The Covenanters began as participants in conventicles, which, similarly to the use of Mass stones by the equally illegal
Catholic Church in Scotland The Catholic Church in Scotland, overseen by the Scottish Bishops' Conference, is part of the worldwide Catholic Church headed by the Pope. Christianity first arrived in Roman Britain and was strengthened by the conversion of the Picts thr ...
, were unsanctioned secret religious services that took place outdoors, in barns, or in granaries. The Covenanter movement was particularly popular in the southwest of Scotland. Covenanters had skirmishes with government troops in Galloway, some of which featured the "Galloway flail", a variant of the agriculturally-derived melee weapon.


Cattle trade

Galloway's agricultural economy was indirectly affected by the 17th-century Plantation of Ulster. Peasants in Galloway had, dating back to the Middle Ages, traditionally practiced a mixture of dairy-focused pastoral
transhumance Transhumance is a type of pastoralism or Nomad, nomadism, a seasonal movement of livestock between fixed summer and winter pastures. In montane regions (''vertical transhumance''), it implies movement between higher pastures in summer and low ...
and intensive agriculture, with pockets of arable land being intensively cultivated by some peasants, while others migrated between upland and lowland pastures with their herds. Landowners such as Sir John Murray, the earl of Annandale, received large land grants in Ulster which were only suitable for pasture. In order for their tenants in Ireland to pay rent, an export market had to be created, which was soon sanctioned by the Scottish Privy Council, for Irish cattle to be exported to England via Galloway. Some landowners used the cattle trade in the 17th century as a way to grow their landholdings, as the system of a large number of small landholders began to consolidate into larger estates. The Irish cattle trade increased until up to 10,000 head of cattle per year were being exported through this route in the year 1667. It was in this year that the importation of Irish cattle to England was banned. However, the importation of Scottish cattle was not banned; this created a new opportunity for Galloway landowners to profit from illicit Irish cattle. By this time, a number of prominent individuals associated with the Stuart monarchy held lands in both Galloway and in Ulster, facilitating the illicit trade, which "may have been tolerated for political reasons". Many of these landowners were also Episcopalians. Galwegian Gaelic seems to have lasted longer than Gaelic in other parts of Lowland Scotland, and Margaret McMurray (d. 1760) of Carrick (outside modern Galloway) appears to have been the last recorded speaker.


Modern history

In modern times,
Stranraer Stranraer ( , in Scotland also ; ), also known as The Toon or The Cleyhole, is a town in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, on Loch Ryan and the northern side of the isthmus joining the Rhins of Galloway to the mainland. Stranraer is Dumfries ...
was a major ferry port, but the company have now moved to Cairnryan.


Galloway in literature

Galloway has been the setting of a number of novels, including
Walter Scott Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European literature, European and Scottish literature, notably the novels ''Ivanhoe'' (18 ...
's ''
Guy Mannering ''Guy Mannering; or, The Astrologer'' is the second of the Waverley novels by Walter Scott, published anonymously in 1815. According to an introduction that Scott wrote in 1829, he had originally intended to write a story of the supernatural, ...
''. Other novels include the historical fiction trilogy by Liz Curtis Higgs, ''Thorn in My Heart'', ''Fair is the Rose'', and ''Whence Came a Prince''. Richard Hannay flees London to lie low in Galloway in
John Buchan John Buchan, 1st Baron Tweedsmuir (; 26 August 1875 – 11 February 1940) was a Scottish novelist, historian, British Army officer, and Unionist politician who served as Governor General of Canada, the 15th since Canadian Confederation. As a ...
's novel '' The Thirty-nine Steps''. '' Five Red Herrings'', a
whodunit A ''whodunit'' (less commonly spelled as ''whodunnit''; a colloquial elision of "Who asdone it?") is a complex plot-driven variety of detective fiction Detective fiction is a subgenre of crime fiction and mystery fiction in which an criminal ...
by Dorothy L. Sayers, initially published in the US as ''Suspicious Characters'', sees Lord Peter Wimsey, on holiday in
Kirkcudbright Kirkcudbright ( ; ) is a town at the mouth of the River Dee, Galloway, River Dee in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, southwest of Castle Douglas and Dalbeattie. A former royal burgh, it is the traditional county town of Kirkcudbrightshire. His ...
, investigating the death of an artist living at
Gatehouse of Fleet Gatehouse of Fleet ( ) is a town, half in the civil parish of Girthon, and half in the parish of Anwoth, divided by the river Water of Fleet, Fleet, Kirkcudbrightshire, within the council administrative area of Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. ...
; the book contains some remarkable descriptions of the countryside. S R Crockett, a bestselling writer of historical romances active before the First World War, set several novels in the region including '' The Raiders'' and '' Silver Sand''. Galloway is also the setting of several memoirs, including Devorgilla Days written by
Wigtownshire Wigtownshire or the County of Wigtown (, ) is one of the Counties of Scotland, historic counties of Scotland, covering an area in the south-west of the country. Until 1975, Wigtownshire was an counties of Scotland, administrative county used for ...
author Kathleen Hart, an account of life in Wigtown, Scotland's national book town. With regard to Scottish Gaelic literature, the only text known to survive in Galwegian Gaelic is a song called ''Òran Bagraidh'', which was collected from a North Uist seanchaidh by
Celticist Celtic studies or Celtology is the academic discipline occupied with the study of any sort of cultural output relating to the Celtic-speaking peoples (i.e. speakers of Celtic languages). This ranges from linguistics, literature and art history ...
Donald MacRury. In
Canadian literature Canadian literature is written in several languages including Canadian English, English, Canadian French, French, and various Indigenous Canadian languages. It is often divided into French- and English-language literatures, which are rooted in th ...
, poet and
playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes play (theatre), plays, which are a form of drama that primarily consists of dialogue between Character (arts), characters and is intended for Theatre, theatrical performance rather than just Readin ...
Watson Kirkconnell's visit to his ancestral village in the region inspired his original poem ''"Kirkconnell, Galloway, A.D. 600. Visited A.D. 1953"''. The poet pondered how much the culture of the region and the celebration of
Christmas Day Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A liturgical feast central to Christianity, Chri ...
had changed since Kirkconnell Abbey was founded by St. Conal, a Culdee monk from
Gaelic Ireland Gaelic Ireland () was the Gaelic political and social order, and associated culture, that existed in Ireland from the late Prehistory of Ireland, prehistoric era until the 17th century. It comprised the whole island before Anglo-Norman invasi ...
and missionary of the Celtic Church. The landscape, he commented, remained largely unchanged and called upon his readers to embrace the awe that their ancestors had once felt before the incarnation and birth of
Jesus Christ Jesus (AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Chris ...
.Watson Kirkconnell (1966), ''Centennial Tales and Selected Poems'',
University of Toronto Press The University of Toronto Press is a Canadian university press. Although it was founded in 1901, the press did not actually publish any books until 1911. The press originally printed only examination books and the university calendar. Its first s ...
, for
Acadia University Acadia University is a public, predominantly Undergraduate education, undergraduate university located in Wolfville, Nova Scotia, Canada, with some Postgraduate education, graduate programs at the master's level and one at the Doctorate, doctor ...
. Pages 132-133.


See also

* Galloway Association of Glasgow * Galloway pony


References

* Brooke, D: ''Wild Men and Holy Places''. Edinburgh: Canongate Press, 1994 * Oram, Richard, ''The Lordship of Galloway''. University of St Andrews, 1988 *


External links


Galloway Dialect
at Scots Language Centre {{coord, 55, 03, N, 4, 08, W, source:kolossus-nowiki, display=title Geography of Dumfries and Galloway