Minnigaff is a village and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

in the historic county of

Kirkcudbrightshire Kirkcudbrightshire ( ) or the County of Kirkcudbright or the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright is one of the Counties of Scotland, historic counties of Scotland, covering an area in the south-west of the country. Until 1975, Kirkcudbrightshire was an ...

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 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 ...

. Lead was discovered there in 1763 and mined about two miles from the village until 1839.

Etymology

The name ''Minnigaff'' or ''Minigaff'' is of Brittonic origin. The generic element is ''mönïδ'', meaning "a prominent hill", while the specific is ''goβ'', meaning "a blacksmith" (cf. Welsh ''mynydd-gof''). The Minnigaff Hills, part of the

Galloway Forest Park Galloway Forest Park is a forest park operated by Forestry and Land Scotland, principally covering woodland in the historic counties of Kirkcudbrightshire and Wigtownshire in the administrative area of Dumfries and Galloway. It is claimed to ...

, are located north of the village.

History

Minnigaff was one of two parishes from Kirkcudbrightshire which were included in the Wigtown District which existed from 1975 to 1996, and as such forms part of the Wigtown

lieutenancy area Lieutenancy areas (), officially counties and areas for the purposes of the lieutenancies, are the separate areas of the United Kingdom that are appointed to a lord-lieutenant – a representative of the British monarch. In many cases they have s ...

rather than the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright lieutenancy.

Notable people

Minnigaff is the birthplace of John M'Millan, the

Cameronian Cameronian was a name given to a radical faction of Scottish Covenanters who followed the teachings of Richard Cameron, and who were composed principally of those who signed the Sanquhar Declaration in 1680. They were also known as Society M ...

preacher. Sir James Mirrlees, winner of the 1996

Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences The Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, officially the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel (), commonly referred to as the Nobel Prize in Economics(), is an award in the field of economic sciences adminis ...

was also born there.

Buildings

* List of listed buildings in Minnigaff, Dumfries and Galloway

References

External links

Video and History of the Kirk, Church and Castle
Villages in Dumfries and Galloway Parishes in Dumfries and Galloway {{DumfriesGalloway-geo-stub