Kirkgunzeon, a post-office village and a parish of SE Kirkcudbrightshire. The village stands, 190 feet above sea-level, on Kirkgunzeon Lane or Burn, ½ mile WNW of Kirkgunzeon station on the Glasgow and South-Western railway, this being 10¼ miles SW of Dumfries and 4¼ NNE of Dalbeattie. It was originally called Kirkwinong or Kirkwinnyn, from the same saint who gave name to Kilwinning in Ayrshire.
The parish, containing also the stations of Killywhan and Southwick, 2 miles NNE and 2¼ SSW of Kirkgunzeon station, is bounded N by Lochrutton, E by Newabbey, SE and S by Colvend, and SW, W, and NW by Urr. Its utmost length, ftom N to S, is 6½ miles; its utmost breadth, from E to W, is 47/8 miles; and its area is 11, 956¼ acres. Kirkgunzeon Lane, coming in from the N, winds 4½ miles south-westward through the interior, then 2¼ miles southward along the western boundary, till, passing off into Urr, and there taking the name of Dalbeattie Burn, it falls into Urr Water, 7 furlongs below Dalbeattie town. In the valley of the stream the surface declines to close on 100 feet above sea-level, thence rising to 450 at Barclosh Hill and 750 at Clawbelly Hill in the S, 520 at Bar Hill in the W, 646 at Camphill in the N, 1250 at the Long Fell and 1050 at Lotus Hill on the eastern border. A considerable aggregate of alluvial land lies along Kirkgunzeon Lane; thence to the NW boundary, and over a medium breadth of fully 1 mile to the SE, the ground is tumulated and hilly; and all the tract on the eastern and the south-eastern border consists of the western declivities of Criffel. Granite predominates in this eastern and south-eastern tract, and is quarried for ornamental steps and gate pillars; and bluish compact greywacke, used for building stone fences, is elsewhere the principal rock. The soil of the alluvial vale is naturally fertile; and that of the other arable lands, by nature either stony or swampy, has been highly improved by art; but the soil of the uplands is healthy and-shallow, fit only for sheep pasturage. Antiquities are vestiges of several round camps, and the mediæval towers or castles of Barclosh, Corrah, and Drumcultran. Maxwell of Terregles is the chief proprietor, 4 others holding each an annual value of between £100 and £500, and 1 of from £20 to £50. Kirkgunzeon is in the presbytery and synod of Dumfries; the living is worth £186. The parish church, at the village, which was originally built towards the close of the 12th century, and rebuilt in 1790, contains 160 sittings; and a public school, with accommodation for 120 children, had (1881) an average attendance of 108, and a grant of £119, 15s. 8d. Valuation (l860) £5378, (1883) £8129, 4s. 9d. Pop. (1v801) 545, (1v831) 652, (1861) 793, (1871) 661, (1881) 656.—Ord. Sur., sh. 5, 1857.
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