Crossmichael

Crossmichael Parish Church is an ecclesiastical building in Crossmichael, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. It lies on a knoll, which was probably an ancient site of worship, at the north end of the village. Its tower may date from 1611, but the main block was built in 1749–1751, and there were additions and alterations in the nineteenth century. Its interior is an unusually complete example of Georgian church design. It was designated a Category A listed building in 1971. The church's burial grounds contain tombstones from the seventeenth to the nineteenth centuries. One of its burial enclosures has on its east face an ornately carved memorial for William Gordon of Greenlaw, which is itself independently listed at Category A. As of 2022 the church is still in regular use as a place of worship, and its former hearse house is owned by a community group and used as an information centre.

Crossmichael railway station served the village of Crossmichael, Kirkcudbrightshire, Scotland, from 1861 to 1965 on the Portpatrick and Wigtownshire Joint Railway.

Balmaghie ( bal-mə-GEE), from the Scottish Gaelic Baile Mhic Aoidh, is an ecclesiastical and civil parish in the historical county of Kirkcudbrightshire in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland and was the seat of the McGhee family. It is bordered by the River Dee to the north and east. Threave Castle stands on an island in the river. The River Dee is commonly known as the Black Water of Dee on the northern border, the name changes with the meeting of the Water of Ken to the north west and is then known as Loch Ken along the eastern border. Balmaghie parish borders Girthon to the west and Tongland and Twynholm to the south. The closest market town is Castle Douglas about 6 miles from Balmaghie Kirk. The ecclesiastical parish covers the same area as the civil parish and the two are generally not differentiated between. Balmaghie parish is mainly rural and contains only a handful of small settlements: Laurieston, Bridge of Dee, and Glenlochar as well as number of farms and houses scattered throughout the parish. Farming is the major industry of the area, although there is a large area of commercial forestation operated by the Forestry Commission to the west of Laurieston. Tourists and locals visit the area to watch wild birds at the RSPB Nature Reserve at Duchrae, the Ken-Dee Marshes. A number of red kite have been re-introduced to the area and can be seen near Laurieston at the Bellymack feeding station.The 2008 horror film Outpost and its 2012 sequel Outpost:Black Sun were filmed on the Balmaghie estate.The 2018 mystery novel The Shadow of the Black Earl by Charles E McGarry is set in a fictionalised version of Laurieston Hall and surrounding area.

Glenlochar (Gd: Gleann Lochair) is a hamlet on the western bank of the River Dee in the parish of Balmaghie in the historical county of Kirkcudbrightshire in Dumfries and Galloway. Glenlochar is located one and a half miles south of Balmaghie Kirk and 3 miles (5 km) north of Castle Douglas.

Abbey Yard is a location in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. Abbey Yard is near Glenlochar in the historical county of Kirkcudbrightshire in the Dumfries and Galloway area. The fort was built in 81 AD by the Governor Gnaeus Julius Agricola and enclosed an area roughly 7 acres (28,000 m2). Abbey Yard is the local name for the area containing the fort remains; this reflects the incorrect identification on Ordnance Survey maps prior to the 1940s as the site of an abbey.

Kirkcudbrightshire ( kur-KOO-brish-ər, -⁠eer; Scots: [kərˈku(d)brəʃər]), or the County of Kirkcudbright or the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright is one of the historic counties of Scotland, covering an area in the south-west of the country. Until 1975, Kirkcudbrightshire was an administrative county used for local government. Since 1975, the area has formed part of Dumfries and Galloway for local government purposes. Kirkcudbrightshire continues to be used as a registration county for land registration. A lower-tier district called Stewartry covered the majority of the historic county from 1975 to 1996. The area of Stewartry district is still used as a lieutenancy area. Dumfries and Galloway Council also has a Stewartry area committee. Ultimately meaning "shire of the church of Saint Cuthbert", Kirkcudbrightshire forms the eastern part of the medieval lordship of Galloway, which retained a degree of autonomy until it was fully absorbed by Scotland in the 13th century. In 1369, the part of Galloway east of the River Cree was placed under the control of a steward based in Kirkcudbright and so that area became known as the "Stewartry of Kirkcudbright". The rest of Galloway remained under the authority of a sheriff based in Wigtown, and so became known as Wigtownshire. Kirkcudbrightshire was occasionally referred to as East Galloway. It is bounded on the north by Ayrshire, on the west by Wigtownshire, on the south by the Irish Sea and Solway Firth, and on the east by Dumfriesshire. The county town is Kirkcudbright.

Threave Castle is situated on an island in the River Dee, 2.5 kilometres (1.6 mi) west of Castle Douglas in the historical county of Kirkcudbrightshire in the Dumfries and Galloway region of Scotland. Built in the 1370s by Archibald the Grim, it was a stronghold of the "Black Douglases", Earls of Douglas and Lords of Galloway, until their fall in 1455. For part of this time, the castle and the lordship of Galloway were controlled by Princess Margaret, daughter of King Robert III and widow of the 4th Earl. In 1449 Threave was regained by the 8th earl, Scotland's most powerful magnate, who controlled extensive lands and numerous castles. He fortified Threave with an "artillery house", a sophisticated defence for its time. The excessive power of the Black Douglas lords led to their overthrow by King James II in 1455, after which Threave was besieged and captured by the King's men. It became a royal castle, and in the 16th century hereditary responsibility for Threave was given to the Lords Maxwell. It was briefly held by the English in the 1540s, but did not see serious action until the Bishops' Wars, when in 1640 a royalist garrison was besieged by a force of Covenanters. Partially dismantled, the castle remained largely unused until given into state care in 1913. The ruins, comprising the substantially complete tower house and the L-shaped artillery house, are today maintained by Historic Environment Scotland as a scheduled monument.The castle complex is open to the public.

Bridge of Dee railway station served the settlement of Bridge of Dee, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland from 1864 to 1949 on the Kirkcudbright Railway.

Bridge of Dee, Galloway is a settlement on the River Dee, Galloway. It lies on the A75 just west of Castle Douglas, and north-east of Kirkcudbright. The former Kirkcudbright Railway, linking Kirkcudbright with Castle Douglas, passed through the village. The station is now a house.

Threave Rovers Football Club are a football club from Castle Douglas in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. Formed in October 1953, the club plays its home games at Meadow Park and plays in the West of Scotland League Third Division.

Castle Douglas High School is a comprehensive state school situated in Castle Douglas in the historical county of Kirkcudbrightshire. It has approximately 550 students and provides education from Secondary 1 to Secondary 6. Castle Douglas High School is run in conjunction with Dalry Secondary School by the same management team.

Glenlair, near the village of Corsock in the historical county of Kirkcudbrightshire, in Dumfries and Galloway, was the home of the physicist James Clerk Maxwell (1831–1879). The original structure was designed for Maxwell's father by Walter Newall; Maxwell himself oversaw the construction of an extension in the late 1860s, and further improvements were made by his heir, Andrew Wedderburn-Maxwell. A fire in 1929 left the house gutted, but a project to preserve and stabilise the remains has been undertaken by the Maxwell at Glenlair Trust. [1]