Kirkmabreck, a parish of SW Kirkcudbrightshire, containing the seaport town and station of Creetown, and comprising since 1636 the ancient parish of Kirkmabreck, with the greater part of that of Kirkdale. It is bounded NW by Minnigaff, NE by Girthon, E by Anwoth, and SW and W by Wigtown Bay and the estuary of the Cree. Its utmost length, from N to S, is 10 miles; its utmost breadth, from E to W, is 63/8 miles; and its area is 25,011½ acres, of which 1659 are foreshore, 128¾ links, and 192¼ water. From the Palnure's confluence to Creetown ferry, the Cree curves 3 miles south-south-eastward, at the ferry having a high-water width of 5¼ furlongs, which broadens to 3½ miles in sandy Wigtown Bay. Palnure Burn winds 13/8 mile south-south-westward along the Minnigaff border to the Cree; Graddock Burn runs 5 miles south-westward along the same boundary to Palnure Burn; Carrouch Burn and - Big Water of Fleet run 55/8 miles south-south-eastward along the boundary with Girthon; and Skyre Burn runs 2¼ miles south-by-eastward along that with Anwoth; whilst Moneypool Burn, flowing 65/8 miles south-westward to the Cree's estuary at Creetown, is one out of several streams that drain the interior. Chalybeate springs are at Pibble, Muirfad, Cuil, Falbae, Ferryburn, Blackmire, and other places; and that at Pibble has enjoyed some medicinal repute. The coast, with an extent below Creetown of 5¾ miles, is mostly flat and sandy, but towards the south-eastern extremity becomes rocky, bold, high, and precipitous, and there is torn with fissures and pierced with caverns, some of them offering romantic features, and one at Ravenshall Point bearing the name of ` Dirk Hatteraick's Cave.' The immediate seaboard is low and richly embellished; but all the interior is a congeries of hills and mountains, intersected with vales and hollows. Chief elevations, from S to N, are Barholm Hill (1163 feet) and Cairnharrow (1497) on the Anwoth border, Larg Hill (969), Cambret Hill (1150), Cairnsmore of Fleet (2152), and Meikle Multaggart (2000). The uplands, rising in successive ridges, are partly green and partly clothed with a mixture of heath and verdure; present, with their intersecting hollows, a series of interesting landscapes; and, whilst forming a noble horizon to the views from the seaboard, command from their summits extensive and magnificent views over much of Galloway, over part of England, and across to Ireland and the Isle of Man. The rocks are variously granitic, metamorphic, and Silurian. A granite quarry, 1½ mile S by E of Creetown, has been largely worked since 1830 by the Mersey Harbour Company for the construction of the Liverpool docks; a second, at Bagbie, 1¾ mile further SSE, has been worked since 1864 by another Liverpool company; and a third, on Fell farm, near the crown of the hill at whose base is the first, is worked by a Glasgow company, and has connection with a recently erected establishment for polishing granite. Lead ore occurs at Blairwood, Drumore, Glen, and Mark; fine specimens of galena have been found in Moneypool; and a copper mine was opened about 1835 at Craigneuk, but did not succeed. The soil is alluvial along the Cree; and elsewhere is mostly gravelly or moorish, and much encumbered with granite boulders. About 5300 acres are under the plough, and some 900 are meadow. Antiquities other than those noticed under Cairnholy, Glenquicken, Barholm, and Carsluith are Caledonian stone circles, the site of the large tumulus of Cairnywanie, the ivy-clad ruins of Kirkmabreck old church, yestiges of Kirkdale church, and the site of Kilbride chapel. Dr Thomas Brown (1778-1820), professor of moral philosophy in Edinburgh University, was born at the manse; and another native was Samuel Douglas (d. 1799), the founder of Douglas Academy in Newton-Stewart. The Rev. Patrick Peacock, a distinguished sufferer in the cause of the Solemn League and Covenant, was for some time minister; and Major M'Culloch, beheaded at Edinburgh in 1666, was proprietor of the estate of Barholm. Mansions, noticed separately, are Barholm, Cassencarrie, and Kirkdale; and 7 proprietors hold each an annual value of £500 and upwards, 3 of between £100 and £500, 6 of from £50 to £100, and 7 of from £20 to £50. Kirkmabreck is in the presbytery of Wigtown and synod of Galloway; the living is worth £333. The parish church and a U.P. church are noticed under Creetown; and three public schools- Creetown, Kirkdale, and Kirkmabreck- with respective accommodation for 63, 70, and 165 children, had (1881) an average attendance of 53, 44, and 119, and grants of £31, 11s., £33, 11s., and £83, 14s. Valuation (1860) £7563, (1883) £11, 919, 1s. 7d. Pop. (1801) 121v2, (1841) 1854, (1861) 1851, (1871) 1568, (1881) 1834.—Ord. Sur., sh. 4, 1857.
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