The Minnigaff Hills are a range of hills in the

Galloway Hills The Galloway Hills are part of the Southern Uplands of Scotland, and form the northern boundary of western Galloway. They lie within the bounds of the Galloway Forest Park, an area of some of largely uninhabited wild land, managed by Forestry an ...

range, part of the

Southern Uplands The Southern Uplands () are the southernmost and least populous of mainland Scotland's three major geographic areas (the others being the Central Lowlands and the Highlands). The term is used both to describe the geographical region and to col ...

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 ...

. A southerly range, they are perpendicular to the Range of the Awful Hand, Dungeon Hills and Rhinns of Kells to the north. In total, these four ranges are 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 ...

The Hills

The hills of the range are the second lowest of the Galloway Hills with the highest hill, Lamachan Hill, reaching 717m, but cover a much more circular area. They are located entirely within

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 ...

and, despite the name, are most commonly ascended from nearby

Glen Trool Glentrool () is a glen in the Southern Uplands, Galloway, Scotland. It contains Loch Trool which is fed by several burns and drained by the Water of Trool. North of Glen Trool is Merrick, the highest mountain in the Southern Uplands. The glen ...

to the north, albeit more steeply, rather than Minnigaff itself to the south. A common round takes in Lamachan Hill and Curleywee with the option of Larg Hill, however the most easterly and isolated

Donald Donald is a Scottish masculine given name. It is derived from the Gaelic name ''Dòmhnall''.. This comes from the Proto-Celtic *''Dumno-ualos'' ("world-ruler" or "world-wielder"). The final -''d'' in ''Donald'' is partly derived from a misinter ...

, Millfore, is normally ascended on its own. The higher summits broadly form an 'N' shape and contain far more divergent satellite ridges and individual hills than the other three ranges. From west to east (excluding all satellite ridges) the hills are:

Ecology

The SSSI Cairnbaber, lies on the northeast slopes of Millfore and is an example of a SNH priority habitat, Inland Rock Outcrops.

Etymology

Scottish Gaelic Scottish Gaelic (, ; Endonym and exonym, endonym: ), also known as Scots Gaelic or simply Gaelic, is a Celtic language native to the Gaels of Scotland. As a member of the Goidelic language, Goidelic branch of Celtic, Scottish Gaelic, alongs ...

influence is clear on a number of hills in the range; ' Curleywee' is said to come from ''cor le gaeith'' (hill in the wind) and ' Millfore' from ''meall fuar'' (cold round hill). 'Larg Hill' may derive from Irish: ''learg'' (slopes of a hill). An area of land was historically given to the Mackie of Larg by

Robert the Bruce Robert I (11 July 1274 – 7 June 1329), popularly known as Robert the Bruce (), was King of Scots from 1306 until his death in 1329. Robert led Kingdom of Scotland, Scotland during the First War of Scottish Independence against Kingdom of Eng ...

; known still as Cumloden, just north of Minnigaff and 5 miles from Larg Hill itself. 'Lamachan Hill', historically 'Lommachan', may derive from Irish: ''loma'' (bare).

References

{{coord missing, Dumfries and Galloway Mountains and hills of the Southern Uplands Mountains and hills of Dumfries and Galloway Mountains and hills of East Ayrshire