Borgue

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.

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Borgue, a village and a coast parish of Kirkcudbrightshire. The village stands 15/8 mile N by W of the head of Bridgehouse Bay, and 5¾ miles SW of Kirkcudbright, its post-town and railway station; at it are a post office,a good hotel, a Free church, and the parish church (1814; 500 sittings), surrounded by fine old trees, and known as the ` visible kirk ' from its conspicuous site.

The parish also contains four hamlets-High Borgue, 2 miles NNE of the village; Low Borgue, 5 furlongs E by N; Chapelton, 4½ furlongs W; and Kirkandrews, 2 miles W by S; and it comprises the ancient parishes of Senwick in the SE and Kirkandrews in the SW, the former annexed in 1618, the latter at an earlier period. It is bounded E by Twynholm and for 3½ miles by Kirkcudbright Bay, SW by the Solway Firth, and NW by Girthon. In shape resembling a triangle, with apex to the N and base to the SW, it has a width across thatbase of 6½ miles, an extreme length from the Old Military Road to Dunrod Point of 7¾ miles, and an area of 15,177¾ acres, of which 72 are water and 1574½ foreshore. The eastern seaboard is broken by the baylets of Goat Well and Senwick, and by Balmangan Bay (6 x 2½ furl.); off it lie Frenchman's Rock and Little Ross island with a lighthouse. Along the south-western coast are the bays of Fallbogue, Bridgehouse (1 x ¼ mile), and Kirkandrews; the islets of Three Brethren,Barlocco, and Ardwall; and the headlands of Slack Heugh, Mull, Dunrod, Borness, Ringdon, Meikle Pinnacle, and Meggerland, immediately behind which headlands rise Meikle Ross (200 feet), the Mull of Ross (200),Borness Bar (225), Muncraig Hill (200), Barn Heugh (196), and Bar Hill (100), commanding wide views to the Wigtownshire coast, the Cumberland mountains, and the Isle of Man. Inland the surface is very uneven, largely consisting of the alluvial bottoms of former lakes, encompassed with rising grounds and hillocks of endless diversity of form; from N to S, it attains 400 feet above sea-level near Gatehill and in Mark Hill, 350 at Minto Cottage, 325 in Boreland Moat, 200 near Pipers Walls, and 261 in Cairny Hill. Streams, with a general south-south-westward course, are numerous rather than important, the chief being Burnyard, Pulwhirrin, and Plunton burns. The prevailing formation is Silurian; and iron-ore of poorish quality exists, but copper has been sought after in vain. A fertile rock soil has made Borgue famous for pasture grounds and cattle; its honey also has a wide repute. -Antiquities are Plunton Castle in the W, a massive square turreted tower, the scene of Scott's Doom of Devorgoil; Balmangan Tower and traces of Manor Castle in the SE; the ruins of Senwick and Kirkandrews churches and of the mansion-house of Borgue, a seat of the Blairs, besides five hill forts and a standing stone. More curious, though, than any of these is the prehistoric cave-dwelling at Borness Point, described in Procs. Soc. Scot. Ants., 1876, pp. 476-507. Measuring 39¼ feet long, 21 to 14 wide, and 23 to 7 high, it has yielded 3586 bones or fragments of bones of oxen, sheep, pigs, red deer, mice, etc., and 123 objects of human art in bone, stone, bronze, iron, and glass. Two well-known natives were John M`Taggart (1791-1830),quaint author of the Gallovidian Encyclopœdia, and William Nicholson (1783-1843), the Galloway pedlar poet. Earlston House, 1¼ mile N of the village and 5 miles SSE of Gatehouse, is a good modern residence, the seat of Lieut. -Col. Sir William Gordon, sixth Bart. since 1706, and one of the heroes of the Balaclava charge.(See Dalry.) Senwick and Borgue, the other chief mansions, are the seats of A. J. Corrie and A. Pringle, Esqs.; and these 3 proprietors respectively own 765, 1062, and 1327 acres in the shire, valued at £1179, £1156, and £1628 per annum, while 5 others hold in Borgue a yearly value of between £500 and £1000, 8 of between £100 and £500, and 3 of from £20 to £100. Anciently held by Dryburgh Abbey, Borgue is now in the presbytery of Kirkcudbright and synod of Galloway; its minister's income is £350. One public school, with accommodation for 178 children, had (1879) an average attendance of 96, and a grant of £95,18s. Valuation (1881) £13,998,7s. 6d. Pop. (1811) 858, (1831) 894, (1861) 1162, (1871) 1087, (1881) 1129. See pp. 79-93 of Harper's Rambles in Galloway (Edinb. 18760.—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

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