Parish of Rerrick

A historical perspective, drawn from the Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland: A Survey of Scottish Topography, Statistical, Biographical and Historical, edited by Francis H. Groome and originally published in parts by Thomas C. Jack, Grange Publishing Works, Edinburgh between 1882 and 1885.

This edition is copyright © The Editors of the Gazetteer for Scotland, 2002-2022.

It has taken much time and money to make the six-volumes of Groome's text freely accessible. Please help us continue and develop by making a donation. If only one out of every ten people who view this page gave £5 or $10, the project would be self-sustaining. Sadly less than one in thirty-thousand contribute, so please give what you can.

Use the tabs on the right of this page to see other parts of this entry Arrow

Links to the Historical Statistical Accounts of Scotland are also available:
(Click on the link to the right, scroll to the bottom of the page and click "Browse scanned pages")

1791-99: Rerrick
1834-45: Rerrick

Rerrick or Rerwick, a coast parish of S Kirkcudbrightshire, containing the villages of Dundrennan and Auchencairn, 5 miles ESE and 10 E by N of Kirkcudbright. Its ancient name was Dundrennan; and letters are still received by the minister, addressed Dundrennan, Old Abbey, and Monkland. It is bounded NW and N by Kelton, E by Buittle, SE and S by the Solway Firth, and W by Kirkcudbright. Its utmost length, from N to S, is 7¼ miles; its utmost breadth from E to W, is 6¾ miles; and its area is 21,724¾ acres, of which 1692¾ are foreshore. The coast, extending from Balcary Point, at the western side of the mouth of Auchencairn Bay, 9 miles west-south-westward to the mouth of Dunrod Burn, is mostly bold and iron-bound, and exhibits a series of abrupt headlands, 100 to 352 feet high, slightly intersected by the baylets of Rascarrel, Barlocco, Orroland, Portmary, Burnfoot, and Mullock. It abounds in craigs, fissures, tortuous ravines, and other features of romantic scenery; is believed to have contributed much of its landscape to Sir Walter Scott's descriptions of coast scenery in Guy Mannering; and commands, from nearly all its summits and salient points, very brilliant views, both inland and towards the sea. The Balcary lifeboat was launched, 18 Dec. 1884. The interior is variously champaign, undulated, rolling, and hilly; declines to vale and plain in the E, around and above Auchencairn Bay; contains vales or hollows in the centre, formerly mossy or otherwise waste, but now charmingly luxuriant; and is nearly filled throughout the N, to the extent of about one-fourth of its entire area, by hills that almost attain the dignity of mountains. Chief elevations, from S to N, are Walls Hill (352 feet), Brown Hill (515), a nameless summit to the NE of the parish church (535), the Heughs of Airds (335), Newlaw Hill (595), Suie Hill (790), Bentuther Hill (900), and Bengairn or Bencairn (1280). The drainage, with slight exception, is all carried southward or south-south-eastward by indigenous brooks, chiefly Troudale, Collin, Rascarrel, Henmuir, and Abbey Burns. Granitic rocks prevail in the uplands, and Devonian rocks on the low grounds and the coast. Sandstone, of excellent quality for building, is found on the coast; iron and copper ore have been mined in considerable quantities; barytes mines were worked extensively at Barlocco some years ago; jasper of fine quality occurs in coves of the coast; and rock-crystal, of a pale purple colour and of perfect prismatic form, abounds in a burn on Screel Hill. The soil in most parts is naturally wet and spongy, but has been worked by draining and cultivation into a good fertile mould. Nearly two-thirds of the entire area have been subjected to the plough, about 550 acres are under wood, and the rest of the parish is either pastoral or waste. The chief antiquities are a great barrow on the summit of Bengairn, remains of two Caledonian stone circles, vestiges of twelve camps, variously Roman, Danish, and Saxon, and the ruins of Dundrennan Abbey. Mansions, noticed separately, are Auchencairn House, Balcary, Collin, Hazlefiei.d, Netherlaw, Orchardton, and Portmary; and 8 proprietors hold each an annual value of £500 and upwards, 14 of between £100 and £500. In the presbytery of Kirkcudbright and the synod of Galloway, this parish is divided ecclesiastically into Rerrick proper and Auchencairn quoad sacra parish, the former a living worth £434 (22 chalders, with £8, 6s. 8d. for communion elements). Part of the old parish church of Rerrick may still be seen, 9 furlongs SE of Dundrennan village; and a stone of it bears the inscription-'This Church, originally a Chapel, was enlarged in 1743, taken down in 1865.' The present parish church, in the centre of Dundrennan village, is a Gothic edifice of 1865-66, with a beautiful rose window, a tower and spire 68 feet high, and about 400 sittings. Two public schools, Auchencairn and Dundrennan, with respective accommodation for 260 and 190 children, had (1884) an average attendance of 151 and 92, and grants of £158, 19s. 6d. and £95, 7s. Valuation (1860) £12, 603, (1884) £19,230. Pop. (1801) 1166, (1831) 1635, (1861) 1738, (1871) 1911, (1881) 1807, of whom 770 were in Rerrick ecclesiastical parish.—Ord. Sur., sh. 5, 1857.

An accompanying 19th C. Ordnance Survey map is available, or use the map tab to the right of this page.

Note: This text has been made available using a process of scanning and optical character recognition. Despite manual checking, some typographical errors may remain. Please remember this description dates from the 1880s; names may have changed, administrative divisions will certainly be different and there are known to be occasional errors of fact in the original text, which we have not corrected because we wish to maintain its integrity. This information is provided subject to our standard disclaimer

If you have found this information useful please consider making
a donation to help maintain and improve this resource. More info...

By using our site you agree to accept cookies, which help us serve you better