Water of Luce

(Main Water of Luce)

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

Luce, a river partly of Ayrshire but chiefly of Wigtown shire. Rising at an altitude of 1300 feet above sea-level on the southern slope of Beneraid (1435 feet), it first runs 3 ¹/₈ miles south-south-eastward through Ballantrae parish to the boundary between Ayrshire and Wigtownshire, and then winds 15 ¹/₈ miles south-south-eastward till it falls into the head of Luce Bay. During the first 12 miles it bears the name of the Main Water of Luce, which at New Luce village, where it receives the Cross Water, it exchanges for that of the Water of Luce. From a point a little way above New Luce village it is followed pretty closely by the Girvan and Portpatrick railway. Its waters yield capital salmon and sea-trout fishing- the best in Wigtownshire, though not so good as formerly.

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