Ken, a river of Glenkens district, Kirkcudbrightshire, rising between Lorg and Blacklorg Hills, at a point ¼ mile ESE of the meeting-point of Ayr, Dumfries, and Kirkcudbright shires, and 1870 feet above sea-level. Thence it winds 28½ miles south-by-eastward, till, after a total descent of 1720 feet, it forms a confluence with the Dee, opposite Parton station. Over the last 4½ miles of its course it expands into beautiful Loch Ken, which, with a varying width of 200 and 800 yards, is studded with four wooded islets, and partly fringed with plantations. Its principal affluents are the Black Water, the Water of Deugh, and Pulmaddy, Pulharrow, Earlston, Garpel, and Dullarg Burns; and it separates the parishes of Carsphairn and Kells on its right bank from Dalry, Balmaclellan, and Parton parishes on its left. Its scenery, mountainous in the upper reaches, in the middle and the lower parts is a series of picturesque groupings of hill and vale; and its waters contain salmon, sea-trout, river-trout, pike, and perch. About the middle of last century an enormous pike, 7 feet long and 72 lbs. in weight, was taken in Loch Ken; the skeleton of its head is still preserved in Kenmure Castle.—Ord. Sur., shs. 15, 9, 5, 1857-64.
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