Orchardton Castle

Auchencairn ([ɔxən'kʰɛ:(r)n]) is a village in the historical county of Kirkcudbrightshire in the Dumfries and Galloway region of Scotland. It is located on the coast of the Solway Firth at the head of Auchencairn Bay and lies on the A711 road between the town of Dalbeattie to the east and Kirkcudbright to the west.

Urr Water or River Urr (arc. River Orr) is a river in which flows through the counties of Dumfriesshire and Kirkcudbrightshire in southwest Scotland.

Palnackie is a village in the parish of Buittle in the historical county of Kirkcudbrightshire in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. It has a population of approximately 250 and is a working port on the Urr Water. Palnackie is home to the Grande Internationale World Flounder Tramping Championships.

Rough Firth is an inlet on the northern coast of the Solway Firth in the Stewartry area of Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. The firth lies between Almorness Point and Castlehill Point, and contains Rough Island. The village of Kippford stands near the head of the firth where the Urr Water reaches the sea; the only other coastal settlement of any size is Rockcliffe. The area is designated as the East Stewartry Coast National Scenic Area, one of the forty national scenic areas (NSAs) in Scotland.44 ha on the eastern side of the firth is owned by the National Trust for Scotland, forming the Rockcliffe property, which covers a stretch of coastline and several small islands (including Rough Island).

Rockcliffe is a small, coastal village in Kirkcudbrightshire, Dumfries and Galloway in Scotland, with a view of Rough Island, Hestan Island, the Solway Firth and sometimes the Cumbrian coast. Rockcliffe lies on the eastern side of the River Urr estuary, and gives access to Rough Island by way of both firm mud exposed at low tide and a natural, tidal causeway. Road access is from Dalbeattie (six miles or ten kilometres) and Dumfries (twenty miles or thirty kilometres); although Kippford is nearby there is no direct road route. Rockcliffe is also linked to Castle Point (site of a Roman fort), Glenstocken, Portling and Sandyhills by footpath. The village is a combination of both residential and holiday let properties. Local business in Rockcliffe is mainly holiday lets, though the village also has one tea room, a caravan site and the surrounding farming industry. Salmon fishing with nets at Rough Island and cockle fishing are both occasionally based from the beach. The village has a car park and a public toilet, now including a defibrillator, but no other facilities to speak of. An ice cream van can usually be relied upon to be open for business in the bay on even the cloudiest days. The site of the 5th century Dark Ages hill fort called the Mote of Mark adjoins Rockcliffe. Furthermore this site is an example of a vitrified fort. Baron's Craig, is a Victorian country house designed by Alfred Waterhouse in 1879. It was in use for much of the 20th century as an hotel and known as the Baron's Craig Hotel. [1] Hotel extensions were added by architects Sutherland, Dickie and Copland in the early 1970s. The Rockliffe Gallery occupies part of the building and organises a series of annual exhibitions. [2] Small parts of Rockcliffe have been bequeathed to the National Trust for Scotland.

Kippford (/ˈkɪpfəd/; otherwise Scaur) is a small village along the Solway coast, in the historic county of Kirkcudbrightshire in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. Also known as the Solway Riviera and has the most expensive property in Dumfries & Galloway.

"Rough Island" is also used as a translation of "Garbh Eilean", a common Scottish name for islandsRough Island is a 20-acre (8 ha) uninhabited tidal island located in the Rough Firth off the Solway Firth, Scotland, in the historical county of Kirkcudbrightshire, the same region where the River Urr flows into the Solway. The isle of Rough is 79 feet (24 metres) at its highest point.

Hestan Island is a small coastal island at the southern foot of the River Urr estuary in the Solway Firth, in the historical county of Kirkcudbrightshire, Scotland. This small island measures approximately 460 by 270 metres (1,510 by 890 feet) and at its highest elevation sits at just over 50 metres (160 feet) above sea level. The isle of Hestan lies at the mouth of Auchencairn Bay in the region of Dumfries and Galloway in the former county of Kirkcudbrightshire. A lighthouse was built on the eastern side of the island by Alan Stevenson in 1850. At certain conditions of low tide the island is accessible on foot as there is a natural causeway of shingle and mussels from Almorness Point to the northern tip of Hestan. The island can also be reached on foot from Rockcliffe during the time of spring tides, but requires wading (knee to thigh deep) across the lowest parts of the river Urr out on the mudflats. It is a two-mile walk and, unlike other parts of the Solway mudflats and, say, Morecambe Bay, you can walk faster than the incoming tide if you leave Hestan a bit late. At the southern tip of the island is the notably-named "Daft Ann's Steps", a series of pinnacles where, legends say, a girl of lesser intelligence attempted to lay stepping stones ahead of her to reach the Balcary Point and drowned.There are ruins of a manor house built for Edward Balliol near the north of the island. In the 18th century the island was used as a centre of smuggling activity, with goods being stored in the caves on the south west of the island where there was reputed to have been shelves cut into the rock. Samuel Rutherford Crockett made great play with this in his novel The Raiders. Balcary House, on the opposite shore, now Balcary Bay Hotel, was used by a firm of smugglers which used its cellars to conceal their contraband. The island is a popular destination for sea kayakers.Hestan Island is one of 43 tidal islands that can be walked to from the mainland of Great Britain and one of 17 that can be walked to from the Scottish mainland.

Buittle Bridge, also known as Craignair Bridge is a bridge over the Urr Water just outside Dalbeattie in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. Completed in 1797, it replaced and earlier two-span bridge of the same name which was destroyed in a flood a short time after its completion; the remains of this older bridge, comprising the base of its pier and some remnants of its south-west abutment, survive a short distance upstream.Buittle Bridge has a single depressed arch, with a span of approximately 90 feet (27 m), and a humpbacked carriageway. Unusually wide for a single-span stone bridge, its voussoirs, springers and soffit are made of ashlar, and its spandrels and parapet are of rubble. Historic Environment Scotland note that the masonry work on the bridge is unusually fine.The bridge was designated a Category A listed building in 1989. It is still in use, carrying the A711 road south-west out of Dalbeattie towards Castle Douglas and Kirkcudbright, and spanning the boundary between the parishes of Haugh of Urr and Buittle.

Gelston Castle, located near Castle Douglas in Kirkcudbrightshire in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, was built by Sir William Douglas of Castle Douglas, who had acquired the lands of Gelston in 1799. However, Sir William Douglas died without issue in 1809 and his property was divided between various nieces and nephews, with Gelston going to the youngest daughter of his brother James, Mathilda Douglas. In 1813 Mathilda married William Maitland, and their family continued to preside over the estate for most of the 19th Century. Gelston then became the property of the Galliers-Pratts who retained the castle for pheasant shooting, and from whom it was requisitioned during World War II. During this time it served as a home for handicapped boys evacuated from Glasgow, before the roof was removed once this use had ceased.The ancient owners of Gelston were probably monks of Iona. King William, 'The Lion of Scotland', granted Gelston to the monks of Holyrood, sometime between 1165 and 1214.In the Ragman roll of 1296, John of Geneleston (John de Gevelston) was recorded as owner. By 1472, Donald Maclellan of Gelston was owner. A succession of owners followed, including the Maxwell family.The design of Gelston Castle is attributed to architect Richard Crichton, a pupil of Robert Adam, and its construction is said to have been completed by 1805. This important country house in Adam castellated style is now gutted and roofless, but complete to wallhead. A square-plan with round tourelles at each angle, the walls are slightly ramped. The 3 storey advanced centre bays to the front elevation give a tower effect. It has finely tooled droved red sandstone masonwork are of the very highest quality.A mansion of the same name was built near Jordonville, New York in 1836 by Harriet Douglas Cruger, a niece of the owner of the Scottish property, Sir William Douglas of Castle Douglas.

Buittle Castle, also known historically as Botle or Botel Castle, is a Motte and Bailey site in Galloway, south-west Scotland with significant early and medieval history comprising a significant ruined Norman style Motte, and several extant buildings and gardens, including the later residential building in the form of the Tower House, on the historic Bailey. It is located in the valley of the River Urr, 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) west of Dalbeattie. The castle is within the parish of Buittle, in the traditional county of Kirkcudbrightshire and is a scheduled ancient monument.A motte and bailey castle was built either by Uchtred, Lord of Galloway or his son Roland, Lord of Galloway, in the 12th century. The castle passed by marriage to John de Balliol through the heiress of Alan, Lord of Galloway, Dervorguilla of Galloway, who built the Norman castle. Robert de Brus, 5th Lord of Annandale, captured the castle in 1286. The castle was in English hands in 1296. King Robert the Bruce captured the castle in 1308, and it was given to Sir James Douglas, Lord of Douglas. The castle came into Edward Balliol's hands in 1332, before being given to Archibald the Grim, 3rd Earl of Douglas, in 1372. The castle remained in the hands of the Douglasses until 1456, when the castle reverted to the Crown. The castle was later in the hands of the Maxwells and briefly the Gordons of Lochinvar. The Motte was slighted in 1595, leaving the remaining buildings of the Bailey, which, it is believed, had already been taken on by this time as the primary residential buildings. This residential shift from the motte to the bailey of the castle began, in the first place, with the building of a Mansion House dated to AD 1347, likely affixed to the keep of the bailey, built by Edward Balliol, and latterly by the Tower House as the primary residential building of the castle. By this time in Scottish history, the tower house was the prevailing form of castle, or fortified building in Scotland.The castle was in the ownership of the Maxwells of Buittle by the 16th century, but by the mid 18th century, probably due to a combination of Jacobite associations and changing fashion, the family had moved to Munches House, a Neo-Classical mansion a few miles to the west. It was at this time that the historic Motte and Bailey were put to agricultural use, and subsumed into the larger Munches Estate. Francis Grosse shows the Castle in a roofless state in 1798, with agricultural activities being undertaken in the buildings of the courtyard. The Munches Estate was divided and sold in the mid 20th century, but the ruins of the Motte were separately disponed from the bailey and remained in the possession of the Maxwells of Munches until 1984 when they were gifted to Balliol College, Oxford by Peter Maxwell QC of Munches [1] himself a Balliol man. [2]

Dalbeattie High School is a small rural secondary school on the edge of Dalbeattie in the historical county of Kirkcudbrightshire in the local council area of Dumfries and Galloway in Scotland. The school has 380 pupils, with 40 staff.The original school was built between 1950 and 1958 (edit: how can the original school built between 1950 and 1958 if William Murdoch ((an officer who was on the RMS Titanic on April 15th 1912)) has went to that school?) by the Kirkcudbrightshire County architect Archibald Thomson Caldwell and has been replaced by a new build which was officially opened in August 2018. Combined with the relocated primary it forms the Dalbeattie Learning Campus.