Merrick

A prominent summit in Dumfries and Galloway, the Merrick rises to 843m (2764 feet) in the Rhins of Kells, Dumfries and Galloway, meeting the criterion for classification as a Corbett. Its rock-strewn summit is marked by an Ordnance Survey triangulation pillar, installed in 1936 for the re-triangulation of Great Britain. Representing the highest peak in the Southern Uplands, it is one of five summits in the Range of the Awful Hand, a group of peaks that form the shape of a hand in the heart of the Galloway Forest Park. On the southeast face of the Merrick is a rocky outcrop in the shape of a man's face known as the Grey Man of Merrick.

Geologically, Merrick rises within Ordovician greywacke rock, deposited at depth in an ancient ocean 450 million years ago. However, the rocks on Merrick are hardened owing to it lying within the metamorphic aureole of the Loch Doon Igneous Complex, which is located immediately to the east.


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