Girthon, a parish of SW Kirkcudbrightshire, containing the greater part of the post-town of Gatehouse, and traversed across its northern half by 45/8. miles of the Portpatrick section of the Glasgow and South-Western railway. It is bounded N and NE by Kells, E by Balmaghie and Twynholm, SE by Borgue, SW by Wigtown Bay, W by Anwoth and Kirkmabreck, and NW by Minnigaff. Its utmost length, from N to S, is 14¼. miles; its breadth varies between 15/8. and 67/8. miles; and its area is 34,993¼. acres, of which 943½ are foreshore and 675½ water. The river Dee winds 6 miles east-south-eastward along all the boundary with Kells, and from Girthon is fed by a dozen or so of burns; but the drainage mainly belongs to the Water of Fleet, which, with its principal head-stream, traces all the western border, and from the interior receives Little Water of Fleet and numberless lesser tributaries. Four lakes, with their utmost length and breadth and their altitude above sea-level, are Loch Whinyeon (41/3. x 41/3. furl.; 725 feet), on the Twynholm border; Loch Skerrow (5½ x 4 furl.; 425 feet), close to the Balmaghie border; Loch Fleet (3 x 2 furl.; 1120 feet), in the north-western interior; and Loch Grennoch (2 miles x 3 furl.; 680 feet), on the Minnigaff border. Three-fourths of the land, comprising all the northern and most of the central division, with a strip along the eastern border, is bleak and heathy upland, with but few spots devoted to tillage or capable of producing corn. The upland consists rather of broad masses, irregularly intersected by water-courses, than of continuous ridges or distinct hills, and rarely rises to mountain altitude. Some of the principal summits, from S to N, are Cairntook Hill (1000 feet), Castramont Hill (700), White Top of Culreoch (1000), Craiglowrie (1079), Craigronald (1684), Craigwhinnie (1367), Auchencloy Hill (684), Shaw Hill (1255), and Round Fell (1319). The rest of the land, comprising a strip along the middle and lower reaches of the Fleet, is chiefly undulating, partly flat or gently sloping, and all of it fertile, finely cultivated, and highly embellished. Granite predominates throughout the uplands, and metamorphic rocks, chiefly clay slate, prevail in the lowlands. Slate has been quarried on Culreoch farm; and a vein of copper ore, on the lands of Enrick, was leased, and for some time worked, by a Welsh company. The soil of the uplands is very poor; that of the lowlands is naturally various, and has been highly improved. About 4000 acres are regularly or occasionally in tillage, and a fair proportion throughout the lowlands is under wood. Three small ancient moats are at Castramont, Enrick, and Bush Park; and at Enrick stood an occasional residence of first the abbots of Tongland, next the bishops of Galloway, which has bequeathed to its site the name of Palace Yard. The Rev. William Erskine, who figures among the worthies in Wodrow's History of the Sufferings of the Church of Scotland, was minister of this parish, in which, at Auchencloy, Claverhouse shot four Covenanters, 18 Dec. 1684. Besides the three Faeds, the celebrated artists, already noticed under Barlay Mill, natives of Girthon were Captain James Murray Denniston (1770-1857), author of Legends of Galloway. and Thomas Murray, LL.D. (1792-1872), author of the Literary History of Galloway. Mansions, both separately noticed, are Cally and Castramont; and 2 proprietors hold each an annual value of £500 and upwards, 17 of from £20 to £50. Girthon is in the presbytery of Kirkcudbright and synod of Galloway; the living is worth £203. The old church, 2 miles SSE of Gatehouse, is a roofless ruin, with a graveyard, the Broughton vault, and the grave of ' Robert Lennox, who was shot to death by Grier of Lagg, in the paroch of Tongland, for his adherence to Scotland's Covenants, 1685. ' A little further S is the site of the Mill of Girthon or the Lake, whose miller was fined in 1300 by Edward I. of England. The present parish church is noticed, with three other places of worship and the schools, under Gatehouse. Valuation (1860) £7328, (1882) £8942, 2s. 10d. Pop. (1801) 1727, (1831) 1751, (1861) 1702, (1871) 1586, (1881) 14l5.—Ord. Sur., shs. 5, 4, 8, 9, 1857-63.
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