Kirkinner (, ) is a village in the

Machars The Machars () is a peninsula in the historical county of Wigtownshire in Galloway in the south-west of Scotland. Its name (in Scots and English) is derived from the Gaelic word ''Machair'' meaning low-lying or level land, known as "links" on ...

, in the historical county 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 ...

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. About southwest of

Wigtown Wigtown ( (both used locally); ) is a town and former royal burgh in Wigtownshire, of which it is the county town, within the Dumfries and Galloway region in Scotland. It lies east of Stranraer and south of Newton Stewart. It is known as "Scotl ...

, it is bounded on the east by the bay of Wigtown, along which it extends for about three miles, and on the north by the river Bladnoch."Kirkinner"
Undiscovered Scotland. Retrieved 22 September 2013.

History

There is a "Hill fort, Ring Hill", North Balfern, near Orchardtown Bay. Doon Hill fort (which is not a dun), Capenoch Croft, west of Barnbarroch, occupies a rocky knoll from which the ground falls away steeply to the E. Around the rim of the knoll there is the remains of a substantial stone wall, enclosing an area some 34.0m NE-SW by 30m transversely. The entrance, 4.0m wide, is in the SW. There is a ditch around the base of the knoll, except on the E, where there are steep slopes. It has been cut through living rock to the E of the entrance, and there are traces of a counterscarp bank on the NW. On 21 December 1560 there was a Crown Confirmation of Feu Charter of 21 December 1560 by James Doddis prior, Allan Peter, Rolland Tailzeor, John Gibson and Thomas Wryt friars predicatores of the Convent of Wigton with consent of the chapter & of (Brother) John Greirsoun, Provincial of the Order, in augmentation of the Rental etc. & for £1000 Scots, in favour of (Sir) Alexander Stewart of Garroleis (Garlies) elder, & (Dame) Katharine Stewart spouses, conjunctly for their lives and Robert Stewart their son and his lawful heirs male whom failing William Stewart (of Castle Stewart,

Penninghame Penninghame in Wigtownshire, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, is a List of civil parishes in Scotland, civil parish area, 8 miles (N. W.) from Wigtown. The area is approx 16 miles in length, and from 5 to 6 miles' width, bounded on the north and ...

, Wigtownshire ?) brother to the said Robert whom failing Anthony Stewart also their brother, of the following lands and annual rents, ecclesiastical & secular. Rev. Andrew Simson was minister and the personal friend and parish clergyman of David Dunbar at Kirkinner. He wrote a poem on the morning of the funeral of Janet Dunbar (née Dalrymple) at Kirkinner in 1669 which may have been read at the funeral. Her strange death on the night of her marriage forms the basis of the plot of

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 ''

The Bride of Lammermoor ''The Bride of Lammermoor'' is a historical novel by Sir Walter Scott, published in 1819, one of the Waverley novels. The novel is set in the Lammermuir Hills of south-east Scotland, shortly before the Act of Union of 1707 (in the first editio ...

''.

St Kennara’s Cross

Just off Kirkinner's main street (A746 Whithorn road) stands the parish church of St Kennera (also Cinnera or Cannera). The 19th-century church stands on the site of a 13th-14th-century foundation and perhaps an even earlier monastic cell where lived the 4th-century hermitess, Saint Kennera. The church is now closed for worship, and the 4-foot-high cross-slab dating from the 10th century AD which was once housed inside the church has now been rehoused in a display cabinet outside the village hall, at the side of the main street. On the stone is carved a Celtic style disc-headed cross. The stone slab had apparently stood at the western side of the church for some time before being brought into the church for safety.

Parish

There are two different Timothy Pont maps showing the Kirkinner area in

. Kirkinner parish can be seen at the National Library of Scotland, John Ainslie map of AD 1782. The parish was sometimes known as Kirkinner and Longcastle parish, the parish of Longcastle having been annexed into Kirkinner in 1650. It was a parish for both civil and religious purposes from the sixteenth century until 1975.

19th and 20th centuries

Castelcruick was located at or near Crook of Baldoon, at the end of Shell Road on the opposite side of Lane Burn to

Baldoon Castle Baldoon Castle was a 16th-century castle about south west of Wigtown, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, south of the river Bladnoch.Coventry, Martin (2001). ''The Castles of Scotland''. Musselburgh: Goblinshead. p. 65 History The Dunbars of W ...

. Crook of Baldoon has been referred to simply as Crook (1851 census), Cruick (1841 census), Cruik, Creoch, Creochs, Crioch, and Friar's Cruik. According to ''Around the Parish of Kirkinner'', it was part of the Baldoon estate in the 19th century. The flat carse lands by Bladnoch River were home to a Royal Air Force field of World War II. Lane Burn seems to have been diverted for the Baldoon Airfield, based on comparison of the 1895 and current OS maps. Kirkinner railway station was located on the

Newton Stewart Newton Stewart (Scottish Gaelic language, Gd: ''Baile Ùr nan Stiùbhartach'') is a former burgh town in the historical county of Wigtownshire in Dumfries and Galloway, southwest Scotland. The town is on the River Cree with most of the town to ...

Whithorn Whithorn (; ), is a royal burgh in the historic county of Wigtownshire in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, about south of Wigtown. The town was the location of the first recorded Christian church in Scotland, "White/Shining House", built by ...

branchline. The station opened on 2 August 1875, closed to passengers on 25 September 1950 and to freight on 5 October 1964.

Gallery

Kirkinner Cemetery - Air Force War Graves - geograph.org.uk - 672629.jpg, Kirkinner Cemetery - Air Force war graves File:Barnbarroch House.jpg, Barnbarroch House File:Capenoch Croft.jpg, Capenoch Croft near Doon Hill fort File:Milldriggan mill, burn and bridge.jpg, Milldriggan mill, burn and bridge File:Hill fort, Ring Hill, North Balfern, Kirkinner.jpg, Hill fort, Ring Hill, North Balfern

References