Luce Bay is a large

bay A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a ''gulf'', ''sea'', ''sound'', or ''bight''. A ''cove'' is a small, ci ...

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 ...

in southern

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 ...

. The bay is 20 miles wide at its mouth and is bounded by the Rhins of Galloway to the west and the Machars to the east. The Scares are rocky islets at the mouth of the bay.

Bombing range

From the 1930s to the 1990s, it was a bombing range used for training purposes by RAF aircraft (and later allied aircraft on a leasing basis) based at West Freugh. Discharged bombs were retrieved by a retired minesweeper based at

Drummore Drummore (; (from Scottish Gaelic, Gaelic ''An Druim Mòr'' meaning "the great ridge") is the southernmost village in Scotland, located at the southern end of the Rhins of Galloway in Dumfries and Galloway: it has two satellite clachans, called ...

. It is still a licensed

Ministry of Defence A ministry of defence or defense (see American and British English spelling differences#-ce.2C -se, spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and Mi ...

range with byelaws restricting access during test and evaluation activities conducted by

QinetiQ QinetiQ ( as in '' kinetic'') is a British defence technology company headquartered in Farnborough, Hampshire. It operates primarily in the defence, security and critical national infrastructure markets and run testing and evaluation capabili ...

on behalf of the MOD. Once an important commercial fishery, Luce Bay is now seldom used for this purpose. It contains important marine and littoral life, and has been declared a

Special Area of Conservation A special area of conservation (SAC) is defined in the European Union's Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC), also known as the ''Directive on the Conservation of Natural Habitats and of Wild Fauna and Flora''. They are to protect the 220 habitats and ap ...

Scottish Natural Heritage NatureScot () is an executive non-departmental public body of the Scottish Government responsible for Scotland’s natural heritage, especially its natural, genetic and scenic diversity. It advises the Scottish Government on nature conservati ...

Places on Luce Bay coastline

* Ardwell, Auchenmalg * Chappel Rossan *

* Glenluce * River Luce *

Maryport Maryport is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Cumberland (unitary authority), Cumberland district of Cumbria, England. The town is on the coast of the Solway Firth and lies at the northern end of the former Cumberland Co ...

, Mull of Galloway *

Monreith Monreith ( ; ) is a small seaside village in the Machars, in the historical county of Wigtownshire, Scotland. A ruined church near Monreith is called "Kirkmaiden-in-Fernis" and was dedicated to St Medan. The chancel was rebuilt as a mausoleum for ...

* Port William *

Sandhead Sandhead is a small village in Dumfries and Galloway, south west Scotland. It overlooks Luce Bay, 7 miles south of Stranraer Stranraer ( , in Scotland also ; ), also known as The Toon or The Cleyhole, is a town in Dumfries and Galloway, ...

* Terrally Bay, Torrs Warren

References

External links

Qinetiq
Bays of Scotland Bombing ranges History of Dumfries and Galloway Landforms of Dumfries and Galloway Military installations in Scotland Solway Firth Bays of the Irish Sea {{DumfriesGalloway-geo-stub

Bombing range

Places on Luce Bay coastline

See also

References

External links