Wigtown Gaelic - Baile na h-Uige Scots - Wigtoun
Population	987 (2001 Census)
OS grid reference	NX435555
Council area	Dumfries and Galloway
Lieutenancy area	Wigtown
Constituent country	Scotland
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	Newton Stewart
Postcode district	DG8
Dial code	01988
Vehicle code	SA-SJ (Glasgow)
Police	Dumfries and Galloway
Fire	Dumfries and Galloway
Ambulance	Scottish
UK Parliament	Dumfries and Galloway
Scottish Parliament	Galloway and Upper Nithsdale
European Parliament	Scotland
List of places: UK • Scotland

Coordinates: 54°52′13″N 4°26′23″W / 54.87018, -4.43957 Scottish Gaelic (Gàidhlig) is a member of the Goidelic branch of Celtic languages. ... Scots refers to the Anglic varieties spoken in parts of Scotland. ... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 355 × 599 pixel Image in higher resolution (553 × 933 pixel, file size: 178 KB, MIME type: image/png) Template image for Scottish location maps, high resolution (not for use in infobox). ... Image File history File links Red_pog. ... UK Census 2001 logo A nationwide census, commonly known as Census 2001, was conducted in the United Kingdom on Sunday 29 April 2001. ... The British national grid reference system is a system of geographic grid references commonly used in Great Britain, different from using latitude or longitude. ... For local government purposes, Scotland is divided into 32 areas designated as Council Areas of Scotland which are all governed by unitary authorities designated as Councils which have the option under the Local Government (Gaelic Names) (Scotland) Act 1997 (as chosen by Na h-Eileanan an Iar) of being known... Dumfries and Galloway (Dùn Phris agus an Gall-Ghaidhealaibh in Gaelic) is one of 32 council areas of Scotland. ... The Lieutenancy areas of Scotland are the areas used for the ceremonial lords-lieutenant, the monarchs representatives, in Scotland. ... Wigtownshire is a small traditional county in the south west of Scotland. ... Constituent countries is a phrase used, often by official institutions, in contexts in which a number of countries make up a larger entity or grouping; thus the OECD has used the phrase in reference to the former Yugoslavia[1], the Soviet Union and European institutions such as the Council of... Motto (Latin) No one provokes me with impunity Cha togar mfhearg gun dioladh (Scottish Gaelic) Wha daur meddle wi me?(Scots)1 Anthem (Multiple unofficial anthems) Scotlands location in Europe Capital Edinburgh Largest city Glasgow Official languages English, Gaelic and Scots1 Government Constitutional monarchy  -  Monarch Queen Elizabeth II... This is an alphabetical list of the sovereign states of the world, including both de jure and de facto independent states. ... A post town is a required part of all UK postal addresses. ... UK postal codes are known as postcodes. ... The DG postcode area, also known as the Dumfries postcode area[2], is a group of postal districts around Annan, Canonbie, Castle Douglas, Dalbeattie, Dumfries, Gretna, Kirkcudbright, Langholm, Lockerbie, Moffat, Newton Stewart, Sanquhar, Stranraer and Thornhill in Scotland. ... The UK telephone numbering plan, also known as the National Numbering Plan, is regulated by the Office of Communications (Ofcom), which replaced the Office of Telecommunications (Oftel) in 2003. ... In the United Kingdom, all motor-powered road vehicles, including cars (but excepting the official cars of the reigning monarch) have had to carry registration plates (more commonly known as number plates) since 1904. ... The following are the vehicle number plate identifiers used in Great Britain since the 2001 changes to British vehicle number plates. ... Map showing the council areas of Scotland with Dumfries and Galloway highlighted. ... A Fire Appliance belonging to the Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service The fire service in the United Kingdom has undergone dramatic changes since the beginning of the 21st century, a process that has been propelled by a devolution of central government powers, new legislation and a change to operational... Dumfries and Galloway Fire and Rescue Service is the statutory fire and rescue sercvice for the area of Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... Two Mercedes-Benz Sprinter-based ambulances of the Scottish Ambulance Service The Scottish Ambulance Service serves all of Scotland and is a special health board funded directly by the health department of the Scottish Executive. ... The United Kingdom House of Commons is made up of Members of Parliament (MPs). ... Dumfries and Galloway is a constituency of in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. ... For the national legislative body up to 1707, see Parliament of Scotland. ... Galloway and Upper Nithsdale is a constituency of the Scottish Parliament (Holyrood). ... This is a list of Members of the European Parliament for the United Kingdom in the 2004 to 2009 session, ordered by name. ... Scotland constitutes a single constituency of the European Parliament. ... List of burghs in Scotland List of cities in the United Kingdom Lists of places within Scottish regions List of places in Orkney List of places in Shetland List of places in the Borders region of Scotland List of places in the Central region of Scotland List of places in... Map of Earth showing lines of latitude (horizontally) and longitude (vertically), Eckert VI projection; large version (pdf, 1. ...

Wigtown (Gd: Baile na h-Ùige) is a town and former royal burgh in the Machars of Galloway in the south west of Scotland , south of Newton Stewart and east of Stranraer. It has a population of about 1,000. It is well known today as Scotland's National Book Town and is home to a wealth of second-hand book shops. // Scottish Gaelic (Gàidhlig) is a member of the Goidelic branch of Celtic languages. ... A Royal Burgh is a type of Scottish burgh (town or city), used today for ceremonial purposes only. ... It has been suggested that The Machars be merged into this article or section. ... Galloway (Scottish Gaelic, Gall-ghaidhealaibh or Gallobha, Lowland Scots Gallowa) today refers to the former counties of Wigtownshire and the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright in southwest Scotland, but has fluctuated greatly in size over history. ... Motto (Latin) No one provokes me with impunity Cha togar mfhearg gun dioladh (Scottish Gaelic) Wha daur meddle wi me?(Scots)1 Anthem (Multiple unofficial anthems) Scotlands location in Europe Capital Edinburgh Largest city Glasgow Official languages English, Gaelic and Scots1 Government Constitutional monarchy  -  Monarch Queen Elizabeth II... , Newton Stewart (Gd: Baile Ur nan Stiùbhartach) is a burgh in Wigtown (formerly the county of Wigtownshire), Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, on the River Cree. ... Stranraer (An t-Sròn Reamhar in Gaelic) is a town in the south of Scotland in the west of the region of Dumfries and Galloway and in the county of Wigtownshire. ...

Wigtown gives its name to the traditional county of Wigtownshire, and to the former Wigtown district of the Dumfries and Galloway region. The district became a committee area of Dumfries and Galloway Council, called the Wigtown Area, when the region became a unitary council area in 1996. This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ... Wigtownshire is a small traditional county in the south west of Scotland. ... Dumfries and Galloway (Dùn Phris agus an Gall-Ghaidhealaibh in Gaelic) is one of 32 council areas of Scotland. ... The local government regions and districts of Scotland were established under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 as a two-tier system of local government in Scotland. ... Many large local government councils in the United Kingdom have a system of area committees, with responsibility for services in a particular part of the area covered by the council. ... Wigtown Area is a committee area of Dumfries and Galloway Council. ... The council areas of Scotland form the local government areas of Scotland, all of them unitary authorities. ...

Due to the North Atlantic Drift (Gulf Stream) the climate is mild and plants normally associated with the Southern Hemisphere can be successfully grown here. The surrounding area (the Machars peninsula) is rich in pre-historic remains, most notably the Torhousekie Standing Stones, a Neolithic stone circle aligned to the winter solstice. The North Atlantic drift is a powerful warm ocean current that continues the Gulf Stream northeast. ... The Standing Stones of Torhouse On the land of Torhouse, three miles west of Wigtown, is a circle of nineteen granite boulders set on their ends with three larger stones placed in a line in the middle. ...

History

Wigtown was made a royal burgh in 1469 although a settlement here existed long before this. The burgh is mentioned in an indenture of 1292, and the fact that the sheriffdom was in existence at the time of the Largs campaign of 1263 suggests that the burgh may also have been recognised as such during the reign of Alexander III. Events July 26 - Battle of Edgecote Moor October 17 - Prince Ferdinand of Aragon wed princess Isabella of Castile. ... The Battle of Largs took place in Largs, North Ayrshire in 1263 between Scotland and the forces of King Magnus III of Man and the Isles as well as the manxmens ally, King Haakon IV of Norway. ... Coronation of King Alexander on Moot Hill, Scone. ...

Torhousekie Stone Circle

The royal burgh was granted to Sir Malcom Fleming by David II in 1341. Wigtown later passed to the Earls of Douglas and was restored to its former tenure as a royal burgh as a result of the forfeiture of the Douglases in 1455. Its status was formally recognised be a royal charter in 1457 and from then the burgh was firmly fixed by a feud-charter at the old figure of £20 per annum. Wigtown attended Parliament regularly from 1469 and the Convention of Royal Burghs from 1575. Image File history File links Torhousekie. ... David II (March 5, 1324 – February 22, 1371) king of Scotland, son of King Robert the Bruce by his second wife, Elizabeth de Burgh (d. ...

W.F.H. Nicolaisen offered two explanations for the place-name Wigtown. One theory was that is meant ‘dwelling place’, from the Old English wic-ton; however, if it is the same as Wigton in Cumbria, which was Wiggeton in 1162 and Wigeton in 1262, it may be ‘Wigca’s farm’. Other sources have suggested a Norse root with 'Wic' or 'Wig' meaning 'bay' giving the origin as a translation of 'The town on the bay'. Wigton is a town in the county of Cumbria in England. ... Cumbria (IPA: ), is a shire county in the extreme North West of England. ... Old Norse is the Germanic language spoken by the inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlements during the Viking Age, until about 1300. ...

Wigtown in part owed its origins to the sea and its prosperity to trade. The burgh appeared briefly in the customs report for 1330 and 1331, but the amount collected was small and its hey-day as a port was principally in the fifteenth century. Even at the best of times, trade in the south west of Scotland was small in quantity. In 1500-1, for example, only two ships called at Wigtown and Kirkcudbright, and at other times there was no overseas trade at all. Even as late as the reign of James V the bulk of the trade from Scottish ports was centred on Edinburgh, Dundee, Aberdeen and Pittenweem and the five principal west coast ports between them – Ayr , Irvine, Dumbarton, Wigtown and Kirkcudbright – yielded less than five per cent of the crown revenue from the customs. In the fourteenth century west coast trade was an even smaller proportion. Location within the British Isles. ... James V (April 10, 1512 – December 14, 1542) was king of Scotland (September 9, 1513 – December 14, 1542). ... , Edinburgh (() pronounced ; Scottish Gaelic: ) is the capital of Scotland and its second largest city. ... For other uses, see Dundee (disambiguation). ... Aberdeen (IPA: ; Scottish Gaelic: ) is Scotlands third largest city with a population of 202,370. ... The Seal of Pittenweem Pittenweem from the outer harbour wall. ... Ayr (Scottish Gaelic, Inbhir Àir) in the south-west of Scotland is a town and port situated on the Firth of Clyde. ... Irvine is a coastal new town in Ayrshire, Scotland, administered by North Ayrshire council. ... Dumbarton (Dùn Breatainn in Scottish Gaelic) is a burgh in Scotland, lying on the north bank of the River Clyde where the River Leven flows into the Clyde estuary. ...

Wigtown and the Galloway Hills, seen from Kirkinner

Among the five west coast trading ports, Kirkcudbright and Wigtown were the great rivals. In 1471 Wigtown exported £17 10s 0d worth of goods and Kirkcudbright £23 15s 0d. A few years later in Wigtown exported 1,250 hides as opposed to 1,000 for Kirkcudbright. Naturally, the emergence of Wigtown hurt Kirkcudbright as a trading port; however, as Kirkcudbright declined so in time did Wigtown. Part of Wigtown’s decline may be attributed to the fact that she did not get involved in the herring trade, which was the major export for a number of west coast ports such as Ayr and Irvine in the fifteenth century. Moreover, Wigtown was a conservative merchant community, and its exclusive trading privileges granted to them by James II increasingly became threatened by Whithorn. Image File history File links Wigtown_Small. ... Species Clupea alba Clupea bentincki Clupea caspiopontica Clupea chrysotaenia Clupea elongata Clupea halec Clupea harengus Clupea inermis Clupea leachii Clupea lineolata Clupea minima Clupea mirabilis Clupea pallasii Clupea sardinacaroli Clupea sulcata Herrings are small oily fish of the genus Clupea found in the shallow, temperate waters of the North Atlantic... James II of Scotland (October 16, 1430 – August 3, 1460) was king of Scotland from 1437 to 1460. ... Whithorn is a small burgh in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, about ten miles south of Wigtown. ...

From Wigtown’s position on the sent rolls a steady decline is shown in her economic position during the seventeenth century. In 1597, four principal ports of Dumfriesshire and Galloway were taxed by the Convention of Royal Burghs. In that year, Wigtown was set at fifteen shillings, Dumfries paid thirty-six shillings and eight pence, Whithorn, five shillings and Kirkcudbright, eighteen shillings. In 1649, Dumfries had shown a marked increase, but the rest had all declined. Wigtown paid a set rate of fourteen shillings in 1649, and the figure remained the same in 1670, but slumped dramatically to six shillings in 1692. The report to the Convention of Royal Burghs in that same year pessimistically reported that there was no foreign trade and that the town owned no ships or boats. Existing inland trade was ‘very considerable’ and came in from Ayr, Glasgow and Dumfries. Although the town is stated not to have had a weekly market, it did have our yearly fairs. Dumfriesshire (Siorrachd Dhùn Phris in Gaelic) was a county of Scotland. ... The Buccleuch St Bridge Devorgilla Bridge Overlooking Dumfries The Old Bridge House Dumfries ((IPA: ) pronounced dum-freece, not dum-fries) (Dùn Phris in Scottish Gaelic) is a former royal burgh and town with a population of around 31,146 (37,846 including the Locharbriggs and Cargenbridge areas). ... “Glaswegian” redirects here. ...

Throughout the eighteenth century Wigtown remained primarily an agricultural town, serving an intensely rural area. Like other towns in Galloway, Wigtown did not grow to any appreciable size. The population of the parish was 1032 in 1755, while in 1739, it stood at 1350. The reporter in the Statistical Account noted that the population was declining in the rural parish and increasing in the town for two reasons: one, because of the enlargement of the farms which forced farms servants to seek employment of the in the town, and secondly, because of the Irish immigrants. Image File history File links Wigtown_County_Buildings. ... Statistical Accounts of Scotland are indispensable documents for the study of Scotland in the 18th and 19th Centuries. ...

Residents of Wigtown and the surrounding area earned their bread and butter in a variety of ways. One eighteenth-century observer commented that from its ‘peculiar position in relation to the sea’, the county of Wigtown offered ‘many singular advantages to the landing of smuggled goods and smugglers were not slow in taking advantage of smuggled goods and smugglers were not slow in taking advantage of this’. Wigtown town council in July 1774 recognised the ‘pernicious and fatal consequences’ of smuggling all types of prohibited goods, particularly tea, from the Isle of Man. The council further denounced the drinking of tea and brandy as their purchase drained specie from the county which could be more naturally employed in the manufacture of their own wool. Despite this plea, it was only at the end of the century that the town appears to have adopted industry. The reporter in the Statistical Account noted that in Wigtown, as in almost all the other towns in Galloway, there was a want of industry; however, ‘something of a manufacturing spirit has arisen in this part of the county’. Two small wool and cotton manufactures were introduced into the town in the early 1790s, and although the woollen industry was much healthier than the cotton, both exported goods to England. These lollipops, above, were found to contain heroin when inspected by the DEA. Smuggling is illegal transport, in particular across a border. ... A skirmish with smugglers from Finland at the Russian border, 1853, by Vasily Hudiakov. ... Motto (French) God and my right Anthem No official anthem - the United Kingdom anthem God Save the Queen is commonly used England() – on the European continent() – in the United Kingdom() Capital (and largest city) London (de facto) Official languages English (de facto)1 Unified  -  by Athelstan 927 AD  Area  -  Total...

Andrew Symson, a seventeenth century minister of the church at Kirkinner (four miles south of Wigtown) left us a very early description of Wigtown. Writing in 1684 he noted that ‘the parish hath in it a burgh-royal also called Wigtown, which town, as the inhabitants say, of old stood more than a mile eastward, but that place is now covered at every tide’. Thus the first settlement would have stood on low-lying sands between the present-day Wigtown and Creetown, although no remains have ever been found to prove this assertion. Symson continued by describing Wigtown as an indifferently, but well-built town with a large, broad street. Creetown, originally Ferrytown of Cree, is a small seaport town of Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. ...

This large, broad street was the focal point of settlement in the medieval town, but it was greatly altered at the beginning of the main street which in turn terminated in the latter-day Bank Street. High Vennel and low vennel are both early thoroughfares, but Agnew Crescent and Harbour Road were formed subsequent to 1750.

The Square looking West from the County Buildings

Town Council improvements in the early nineteenth century greatly altered the face of Main Street. In 1809 town magistrates resolved to improve the main street at a moderate expense by lifting the pavement and making a gravel road around each side of the street, the outer edge of which was to be forty-four feet from the edge of the houses. A ‘plantation’ was to be left in the centre of the thoroughfare, which was later laid out with shrubs and enclosed by a rail. In 1830, the Wigtown Bowling club obtained a footing in the ‘plantation’ and by the turn of the twentieth century, the square was used largely by bowlers and tennis players. Much of the square was planted up in the mid-twentieth century but in 2002 it was restored to the elegant Georgian open plan fringed by trees. Image File history File links The_Square,_Wigtown. ...

By the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, Wigtown Market does not appear to have been regularly attended. The town council in 1683 was forced to take steps in an effort to encourage attendance at the weekly market and to discourage forestallers and regraters, i.e., those who would sell goods before the official market time, or ones who would later re-sell items at a profit. The legislation seems to have had little effect, for in the following year, Andrew Symson noted that the town was of ‘small trading…. Their market day is Monday; but it is not frequent’. The 1692 report to the Convention of Royal Burghs also made the observation that the town had no weekly Market, but did maintain four yearly fairs. Market facilities also appear to have been poor, for it appears that ‘Wigtown seems not to have had a properly covered market place so that the church was used for that purpose’. In recent years Wigtown has held a market in the square on Saturdays during the summer.

The original Mercat Cross.

The earliest reference to the market cross and tron of Wigtown occurs in the 1457 charter. It appears that the market cross stood in front of the old court house and was removed for a short time in the eighteenth century. While the square was under construction, the market cross was stored in the jail, A second market cross was erected in the main street in 1816, and at some point the original was brought out of its confinement and placed to the west of it. At some time later the older market cross was repaired, re-painted, and re-sited to the east of the second. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (1440x2160, 1154 KB) Summary Old Mercat Cross in Wigtown. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (1440x2160, 1154 KB) Summary Old Mercat Cross in Wigtown. ...

Wigtown had two ports which some writers have asserted were closed at night to form a large cattle enclosure. Andrew Symson referred to the East Port, which stood near NX 4352 5545 (Ordnance Survey Record Cards, NX 45 NW 18), The West Port stood opposite the mouth of the High Vennel and traces of it were still to be seen in the 1930s. The ports of the town were formed by projecting houses stretching across the street from both sides and a gate being placed in the centre. In the late nineteenth century, one of these projecting houses still stood at the site of the West Port, and was a thing, in his opinion, ‘anything but ornamental to the town’. The town council in 1761 decided that the ports were ‘hurtful to the place’ in that they ‘greatly incommode the carrying of corps of the deceased through the same’. Stone from the ports, which were ordered to be pulled down to there their foundations, was ordered to be stored in a most secure manner, so that ‘they may answer the uses of the burgh when they have the occasion’. In 1742 there is a reference to digging a well outside the west Port. This well would probably have been the one known as the White Pump. Another two wells were supposed to have been at the castle and friary respectively.

The 1816 Mercat Cross.

The castle of Wigtown was in existence by 1291. It was located on flat land down by the river Bladnoch, while the town and church were on a hill, ‘an inversion of the usual arrangements’. Nothing remains of the structure although a strong natural site and indication of a large enclosed and defended area seems to point to a castle of the Edwardian type, dating from the ending of the thirteenth century. The site of the castle was excavated after a fashion about 1830, by a Captain Robert M’Kerlie and a team of volunteers. The outlines of a building were clearly traced on this occasion and a ditch, which had been broad, was distinctly seen on the north where there was also a semi-circular ridge of considerable elevation said to be the remains of the castles outer wall. Within a matter of years following the ‘excavation’, the reporter in the New Statistical Account wrote that a fosse was quite discernible, although ‘the foundations of the walls cannot now be traced'. Mortar and ‘other remains indicative of an ancient building’ were still to be observed. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (2160x1440, 1205 KB) Summary 1816 Mercat Cross, Wigtown. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (2160x1440, 1205 KB) Summary 1816 Mercat Cross, Wigtown. ... The Bladnoch is a river in the Machars of Galloway in south west Scotland. ... Statistical Accounts of Scotland are indispensable documents for the study of Scotland in the 18th and 19th Centuries. ...

The castle's history is virtually unknown. Bruce may have issued orders for its demolition. The only known hint of its existence after the period of the Wars of Independent occurs in a charter of 1451 when a turris (tower) of Wigtown is mentioned. Its convenience as a local quarry undoubtedly accounts for its total disappearance.

The parish church of Wigtown was dedicated to an obscure Welsh saint, Machatus. Precisely how old the church is remains a mystery, and although at one time it belonged to the priory of Whithorn, Wigtown parish church was afterwards set up as a free rectory with the king as patron. A church was erected on the site of the medieval parish church in 1730 and almost within a century that church was ruinous for a third parish church was built close by in 1850. Portions of the 1730 church survive, although fragments of this may in-fact be older than that date, for there is a window, on the south side aisle ornamented with trefoiled heads and stone mullions with shields carved on them. Some residents of Wigtown maintain that the ruins date back to the thirteenth century. A Roman Catholic Church was built in the town in 1879. Image File history File links Wigtown_Parish_Church. ... The Welsh are, according to Hastings (1997), an ethnic group and nation associated with Wales and the Welsh language, which is a Celtic language. ...

A Dominican Friary was founded in the town by Devorgilla (who also founded Sweetheart Abbey)in 1267. The site of the friary has not been clearly established although Symson observed that 'on the southeast of this town, there was long since a friary but the ruins there of are almost ruined'. The friary is in fact first mentioned in authentic historical revenues of this house were probably made over to the town at the Reformation, but no record has been found on any such transaction. The friars had been granted the fishings on the south side of the Bladnoch and in 1526 James V gave them those on the north side as well in a thirteen year lease which was subsequently turned into a gift. On this fishing stood the town’s mill. Dervorguilla of Galloway (c. ... Sweetheart Abbey, 8 miles south of Dumfries, near to the Nith in south-west Scotland, was a Cistercian monastery, founded in 1275 by Lady Devorgilla, daughter of Alan, Lord of Galloway, in memory of her husband John de Balliol. ... The Protestant Reformation was a movement which began in the 16th century as a series of attempts to reform the Roman Catholic Church, but ended in division and the establishment of new institutions, most importantly Lutheranism, Reformed churches, and Anabaptists. ... James V (April 10, 1512 - December 14, 1542) was king of Scotland (September 9, 1513 - December 14, 1542). ...

An early reference to a tollbooth in Wigtown occurs in 1591, and it is possible that this structure was blown up by gunpowder in the eighteenth century to make way for the Market (or Court) house mentioned by Bishop Pococke in 1760 and another eighteenth century writer, Samuel Robinson. This municipal building is its turn gave way to the current County Buildings which were erected in 1862, a with its unusual French-style architecture. The county buildings were restored in 2002/2003 following decades of neglect. Richard Pococke (1704 – 1765) was an English prelate and anthropologist. ... Samuel Robinson (1794-1884) was a scholar and industrialist who founded the Dukinfield Village Library in 1833. ...

Wigtown’s grammar school is the oldest in the county, although it is early history is unclear. Up until 1712 the school does not appear to have been conducted in a building set aside for that purpose, and it was in that the council ordered all inhabitants owning horses to bring a draught of timber from a nearby wood to help in the construction of a schoolhouse. Near the end of the century the council noted that the schoolhouse was overcrowded and needed improvement, but because of the poor state of the town’s finances, the magistrates could do little to help at that time. The schoolmaster was urged to find more room in the town at the expense of the ‘stranger scholaris’. A Roman Catholic primary school was built opposite the school but closed in 2004.

The Armorial Bearings of William Douglas, Earl of Wigtown.

One eighteenth-century historian of the county Samuel Robinson noted that ‘the greatest number of houses were of a homely character, thatched and one storey high’. Each house, he continued, had a midden in front of it. Bishop Pococke in 1760 also noted the existence of thatched houses. By the end of the nineteenth century it was said that two houses in the town were hardly the same; some had gable ends, others had large fronts pierced by pigeon-hole windows, while still others had outside stairs. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (480x640, 69 KB) Summary Taken from a History of the House of Douglas, by Sir Herbert Maxwell. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (480x640, 69 KB) Summary Taken from a History of the House of Douglas, by Sir Herbert Maxwell. ...

During "The Killing Times" of the Covenanters in the Seventeenth Century Margaret McLachlan, an elderly woman in her 60's, and Margaret Wilson, a teenager, were sentenced to be tied to stakes on the merse at Wigtown Bay to be drowned by the incoming tide. Margaret McLachlan, was staked further out. The ploy being that the younger Margaret might be persuaded to change her mind. All attempts to persuade her to change her mind failed and despite a tall dragoon being ordered to hold her head up she too was drowned. This barbaric execution was carried out by dragoons under the command of Major Windram in the presence of Sir Robert Grierson of Lag who held the King's Commission to suppress the rebels in the South West. Their story, as told in various sources, tells how the women were betrayed by an informer. After about a month in prison they were tried as rebels and sentenced to death by drowning. Monuments to the 'Wigtown Martyrs' exist in Wigtown and a more elaborate Victorian memorial can be found in Stirling. Andrew McCulloch, author of Galloway, A Land Apart, suggests that although the women were sentenced to death by drowning there is no evidence of the sentence being carried out. The Covenanters, named after the Solemn League and Covenant, were a party that, originating in the Reformation movement, played an important part in the history of Scotland, and to a lesser extent in that of England, during the 17th century. ... (Sir) Robert Grierson of Lag (sometimes Lagg) (born at the farm of Barquhar in (1657) and died on 29 December 1733) was a notorious persecutor of the Covenanters, particularly among the people of Galloway. ... Broad Street at the heart of Stirlings Old Town area (called Top of the Town by locals) Stirling Castle (Southwest aspect) The main courtyard inside Stirling Castle. ...

Another macabre story from Wigtown is set among the ruins of Baldoon Castle, a mile from the town. The ruins themselves, quiet and deserted and with an air of tragedy about them, are haunted by the ghost of Janet Dalrymple who walks here in the small hours, her white garments splashed with blood. In the middle of the seventeenth century Janet, the eldest daughter of Sir James Dalrymple, was forced by her parents to marry David Dunbar, heir of Sir David Dunbar of Baldoon, although she loved the practically penniless Archibald, third Lord Rutherford. Dutifully, and worn down by her parents' persistent objections to Archibald, Janet at last married David Dunbar in the kirk of Old Luce, two miles from Carsecleugh Castle, the old home of the Dalrymples. Her two brothers took her to the church and both declared later that her hands were cold as ice on that hot summer day.

There are three main versions of the events that gave rise to the haunting. In the first version the bride stabs her bridegroom in the bridal chamber and dies insane; in the second version the bridegroom stabs the bride and is found insane; and in the third version the disappointed Archibald conceals himself in the bridal chamber and escapes through the window into the garden after stabbing the bridegroom. Whatever the facts, Sir Walter Scott immortalised the story in The Bride of Lammermoor and describes how the door of the bridal chamber was broken down after hideous shrieks were heard from within and how the bridegroom was found lying across the threshold, dreadfully wounded and streaming with blood, while the bride crouched in a chimney corner, her white night-gown splashed with blood, grinning and muttering and quite insane. She never recovered and died shortly afterwards, on September 12th, 1669. For the first Premier of Saskatchewan see Thomas Walter Scott Sir Walter Scott (August 14, 1771 - September 21, 1832) was a prolific Scottish historical novelist and poet popular throughout Europe. ... The Bride of Lammermoor is an historical novel by Sir Walter Scott, set in Scotland in the reign of Queen Anne. ...

Dunbar is said to have recovered from his wounds but refused to discuss the events of his bridal night. In due course he married a daughter of the seventh Earl of Eglinton and eventually died from a fall from his horse in 1682. Archibald, Janet's true lover, never married and died in 1685. A macabre touch is added to the story by local tradition that it was the Devil who nearly killed Dunbar and who tormented poor Janet until she was demented. Whatever the events of the night, they seem to have left their mark here forever and there are some who claim to have seen the sad and awesome ghost of Janet wandering pathetically among the quiet ruins, most often on the anniversary of her death. The title Earl of Eglinton is a peerage title in the Peerage of Scotland. ...

The Newton Stewart to Whithorn Branch Line Railway stopped at Wigtown Station (the first train ran on 2nd March 1875). The service ceased in 1950. The closure of the railway service led directly to the decline of the town's main industry - the Bladnoch Creamery.

Book Town

Today Wigtown is known as Scotland's "Book town" and compared to Hay-on-Wye in Wales for the same reason. There is a significant difference from Hay-on-Wye: Wigtown's status as a book town was planned, in order to regenerate a very depressed town (the main employers, the creamery and distillery, having closed in the 1990s), although the distillery (Bladnoch) has now re-opened and is distilling its own malt whisky. There was a national search (in Scotland) for a candidate town. Wigtown now has over 20 book-related businesses including bookshops and publishers. The demand for bookshops has exceeded supply of typical premises, leading to bookshops in surrounding villages, in industrial units, and in people's homes. A book town is a small village with a large number of second-hand or antiquarian book shops. ... Second-hand bookshop at Hay-on-Wye Hay-on-Wye (Welsh: Y Gelli Gandryll or Y Gelli), often described as the town of books, is a market town in Brecknockshire, Wales, very close to the border with England, within the Brecon Beacons National Park. ... This article is about the country. ... A book town is a small village with a large number of second-hand or antiquarian book shops. ... For the band, see 1990s (band). ...

Image File history File links Square_comp. ...

Places of interest

Wigtown Church and the Salt Marsh LNR

Wigtown lies less than a mile from the town of Bladnoch, a village with a distillery producing malt whisky of the same name. The river Bladnoch can be fished for salmon and has historically been well known as one of Scotland's finest rivers producing Spring fish. The river Bladnoch meets the river Cree in Wigtown Bay, meandering through a large area of salt marsh which has been designated as a Local Nature Reserve (LNR). Wigtown Bay is the largest LNR in Britain, and is home to a wealth of wildlife (particularly birds). Some people come to admire them from the comfort of the viewing huts situated near the harbour, others come to shoot them. The first pair of Ospreys to return to Galloway in over 100 years arrived in 2004. A live camera link to their nest was created and can be viewed in the County Buildings. Image File history File links Wigtown_Church. ... For other uses, see Cree (disambiguation). ...

The Wigtown and Bladnoch Golf Club has a nine hole golf course on the outskirts of Wigtown.

To the East of Wigtown is The Martyr's Stake, a monument marking the traditional site where the two Margarets were drowned in the Seventeenth Century. Their graves are in the Parish Church cemetery. There is a small cell in the County Buildings in which they were imprisoned prior to their execution. This cell is all that remains of a much older building which was largely destroyed to make way for the County Buildings (built in 1862). A larger monument to the Covenanters stands on Windy Hill in the town. Image File history File links Book_shop. ...

Scotland's National Book Town since 1997, Wigtown has over 20 book shops and book related businesses, including the publisher of the world's smallest book and the largest crime fiction dealer in the UK. The town hosts a literary festival every September which sees a large influx of cultural figures from across the spectrum of media and literature.

Other information

From 1975 Wigtown gave its name to a local government district in the Dumfries and Galloway region of Scotland. From 1996 the area was included in the Dumfries and Galloway unitary area. (See: Subdivisions of Scotland.) The name is retained as a Lieutenancy Area. Year 1975 (MCMLXXV) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... The local government regions and districts of Scotland were established under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 as a two-tier system of local government in Scotland. ... Year 1996 (MCMXCVI) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display full 1996 Gregorian calendar). ... For local government purposes, Scotland is divided into 32 areas designated as Council Areas of Scotland which are all governed by unitary authorities designated as Councils which have the option under the Local Government (Gaelic Names) (Scotland) Act 1997 (as chosen by Na h-Eileanan an Iar) of being known... The Lieutenancy areas of Scotland are the areas used for the ceremonial lords-lieutenant, the monarchs representatives, in Scotland. ...

Wigtown is not to be confused with the Cumbrian town of Wigton.

In present day, Wigtownshire is named from this Historical town but the title of Cpaital/Burgh Center goes to Stranraer lying almost 30 miles east. Wigtown does still however remain the Gatway and main centre of the Machars.

Trivia

• In the Harry Potter universe, The Quidditch team, the Wigtown Wanderers hail from this town.
• Although the actor James Robertson Justice was not (as he claimed) born at Wigtown, he did have ancestral links with the area.

This article is about the Harry Potter series of novels. ... Quidditch Through the Ages In the fictional Harry Potter universe developed by J. K. Rowling and portrayed in the internationally bestselling series of novels and in the film series, Quidditch is an extremely rough but very popular semi-contact sport played by wizards and witches on flying broomsticks using four... James Robertson Justice (15 June 1907 - 2 July 1975) was a popular character actor in British films of the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. ...

External links

• http://www.wigtown-booktown.co.uk