Colvend, a post-office hamlet and a coast parish of SE Kirkcudbrightshire. The hamlet lies 1½ mile NNE of Urr Waterfoot, and 5¼ miles SSE of its post-town and station Dalbeattie, this being 14½ miles SW of Dumfries.
The parish contains also the hamlets of Rockcliff, Kippford, Barnbarroch, and Southwick; and comprehends the ancient parish of Southwick. It is bounded NW by Kirkgunzeon, NE by New Abbey, E and SE by Kirkbean, S by the Solway Firth (here 14 to 15 miles wide), and W by Buittle. Its greatest length from E to W is 7 miles; its greatest breadth from N to S is 47/8 miles; and its area is 23,472¼ acres, of which 4001½ are foreshore, 13 ½ 'inks,' and 191 water. Urr Water flows 4¼ miles south-south-eastward along all the Buittle boundary to the Solway, near Kippford widening into a roomy estuary, in which Rough Island (2 x 1 furl.) belongs to Colvend; whilst Southwick Water in the E, formed by the Maidenpap, Drumcow, and Boreland Burns, winds 7 miles south-south-eastward and south-westward, traversing. ere it falls into the Firth, the broad expanse of Mersehead Sands. In the south-western and western interior are White, Clonyard, Barean, Auchensheen, and Cloak Lochs, the first and largest of which measures 3 by 2 furlongs. Between Urr Waterfoot and Douglas Hall, a range of reddish lichened copse-clothed cliffs, the haunt of myriads of sea-fowl, rises to 200 feet at Castle Hill of Barcloy, and 400 at White Hill, heights that command a glorious prospect. Along it are Gutchers Isle, Cow Snout, Gillies Craig, Portowarren Bay, the Brandy Cave of some Dick Hatteraick, the Piper's Cove, the Murderer's Well, two natural archways called the Needle's Eye, and Lot's Wife, a pillar of Silurian rock. Inland the rugged surface attains 900 feet on Bainloch Hill, 500 on Banks and Clonyard Hills, 800 on Redbank Hill, 1000 on Maidenpap, 1350 on Cuil Hill, and 1335 on Meikle Hard Hill, the two last culminating right on the New Abbey boundary, within which fall the summits of Boreland Hill (1632 feet) and Criffel (1867). Barren granite hills these, with sour and scanty pasturage, they belong to the Stewartry's third and most easterly group of primary rocks, which commences near the river Nith in the parish of New Abbey, and runs south-westward across Kirkgunzeon and Colvend to the coast. Most of the surface is believed to have anciently been forest; and plantations and natural wood still cover a considerable area. The eastern heights are almost entirely heathy; and many of the others have, at best, a poor shallow soil, and are largely overrun with broom and furze and bramble. Much, however, of the low grounds has naturally a good soil; much of the slopes has been well reclaimed; and many of the farms are in a high state of cultivation. Millstones were formerly quarried; and a copper mine, said to have yielded a rich ore from a tolerably thick seam, was also at one time worked. The Castle Hill of Barcloy is crowned by a fosse and the foundations of a wall; on Fort Hill is a vitrified fort. Barean Loch contains a crannoge or lake-dwelling; a ruined ivy-clad chapel adjoins St Laurence's Well, near Fairgirth House; and the remains of Auchenskeoch Castle stand near the head of Southwick Water. The property is divided among 19 landowners, 6 holding each an annual value of £500 and upwards, 6 of between £100 and £500,1 of from £50 to £100, and 6 of from £20 to £50. Colvend is in the presbytery and synod of Dumfries; the living is worth £285. Its church was built in 1771; whilst Southwick church, which was used as late at least as 1743, is either of Norman or First Pointed origin. A granite shell, 64 by 25 feet, and 14 high, it lies between Clifton Crags and Bainloch Hill; was dedicated to Our Lady of Southwick, to whom Edward I. paid his devotions; and in its kirkyard has many old curious gravestones. Three public schools-Barnbarroch, Colvend, and Southwick-with respective accommodation for 108,81, and 120 children, had (1880) an average attendance of 48,48, and 100, and grants of £43,9s., £43,4s., and £87,7s. Valuation (1881) £12,487,17s. 1d. Pop. (1801) 1106, (1841) 1495, (1861) 1366, (1871) 1318, (1881) 1281.—Ord. Sur., sh. 5,1857. See W. R. M. M'Diarmid's Handbook to the United Parishes of Colvend and Southwick.
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
