Kippford (; otherwise Scaur)
Gazetteer for Scotland is a small village along the Solway coast, in the historic county of Kirkcudbrightshire in

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 ...

, Scotland. Also known as the Solway Riviera and has the most expensive property in Dumfries & Galloway.

History

Between Kippford and Rockcliffe lies the Mote of Mark, a

hill fort A hillfort is a type of fortification, fortified refuge or defended settlement located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typical of the late Bronze Age Europe, European Bronze Age and Iron Age Europe, Iron Age. So ...

. Victorian Kippford had interests in the

granite Granite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly coo ...

quarrying industry; the pier used now by the Solway Yacht Club being a former handling yard for a small railway line running into the hill to the East where a quarry was located.

Geography

Kippford stretches along the banks of the Urr estuary and in places is only one house-wide, being hemmed in between the forested Mark hill (locally known as the ''Muckle'') and the sea. Kippford can only be accessed by car by a road from Barnbarroch which passes by Craigieknowes Golf Course and two campsites. Kippford is also linked to Rockcliffe, which is away, by a scenic track known as the ''Jubilee Path''. The path passes parallel to the coast (and the village of Kippford) but at a higher elevation. The path can be used to access Mark hill and the Mote of Mark, a 5th-century

. Visitors may cross the sands to a small island called Rough Island when the tide allows. Views from Kippford include the

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 ...

n coast across the Solway Firth to the South. To the West can be seen Glen Isle and Screel in the background.

Marine activities

Kippford is a popular sailing village, with many small yachts moored in the tidal estuary of the River Urr, and events organised by the ''Solway Yacht Club''. The

RNLI The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) is the largest of the lifeboat services operating around the coasts of the United Kingdom, Ireland, the Channel Islands, and the Isle of Man, as well as on some inland waterways. Founded in 1824 ...

has maintained a station, now fitted with a D class lifeboat, in Kippford for the past 40 years. The lifeboat service share use of the village's public slipway. Kippford was also involved in the shipbuilding industry, albeit on a very small scale. Kippford is also known as the Solway Riviera and has the most expensive property in Dumfries & Galloway Region.

References

Villages in Dumfries and Galloway {{DumfriesGalloway-geo-stub