Parish of Kirkinner

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.

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1791-99: Kirkinner
1834-45: Kirkinner

Kirkinner, a post-office village and a coast parish of SE Wigtownshire. The village has a station on the Wigtownshire railway, 2¼ miles S by W of Wigtown. It took its name from St Kenneir, a virgin who suffered martyrdom at Cologne in 450.

The parish, since 1630 comprising the ancient parishes of Kirkinner and Longcastle, is bounded NW by Kirkcowan, N by Wigtown, E by Wigtown Bay, S by Sorbie and Glasserton, and W by Mochrum. Its utmost length, from N to S, is 6½ miles; its utmost breadth, from E to W, exclusive of foreshore, is 57/8 miles; and its area is 17,949¼ acres, of which 2559 are foreshore and 139½ water. Wigtown Bay extends here 2¾ miles south-south-eastward, and, with a breadth at high water of from 23/8 to 3½ miles, at low water of from 1 furlong to 5 furlongs, at the efflux of the tide leaves on the Kirkinner side a belt of dry sands nearly 1¾ mile broad. The Bladenoch winds 65/8 miles east-by-southward along all the northern border to its mouth near the town of Wigtown; and several streamlets traverse the interior to either the Bladenoch or Wigtown Bay. Dowalton Loch (11 x 5¼ furl.), at the meeting point with Sorbie and Mochrum, was drained in 1862-63. a belt of low carse ground, a mile or more in breadth, extends along Wigtown Bay; and all the rest of the land is a congeries of rising grounds, hillocks, and small hills, with intervening hollows. The hills are gently outlined, and mostly covered with rich verdure; some of them are embellished or crowned with plantation; and the higher have elevations of only 200 or 300 feet above sea-level. The predominant rocks are Silurian, greywacke chiefly and greywacke slate; and they yield but little good building material. The soil of the belt of flat land in the E is rich alluvium; of the other lands is mostly-gravelly, by nature thin, light, and unfertile, but so improved bi art, as everywhere now to exhibit a highly cultivated aspect. Tracts that were formerly covered with moss, and encumbered with granite boulders, have all been thoroughly reclaimed; and now not an acre can properly be called waste. Dairy-farming-is a principal industry. The Rev. Andrew Symson, author of A Large Description of Galloway, was minister from 1663 to 1686. Antiquities, other than those of Baldoon and Dowalton, are the site of a Caledonian stone circle, vestiges of two circular camps, and the rude egg-shaped ` Hole-stone ' of Crows. Barnbarroch, also noticed separately, is the only mansion; and 4 proprietors hold each an annual value of more, 5 of less, than £500. Kirkinner is in the presbytery of Wigtown and synod of Galloway; the living is worth £363. The parish church, erected in 1828, is a handsome edifice, with 600 sittings, a square tower, and an ancient four-holed cross. Three public schools-Kirkinner, Longcastle, and Malzie-with respective accommodation for 132, 83, and 58 children, had (1881) an average attendance of 119, 46, and 31, and rants of £96, 14s., £35s, 4s. 9d., and £24, 15s. 11d.Valuation (1860) £13, 588, (1883) £16, 084, 11s. 6d. Pop. (1801) 1160, (1841) 1769, (1861) 1716, (1v871) 1548, (1881) 1597.—Ord. Sur., sh. 4, 1857.

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

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