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Kirkandrews, Dumfries and Galloway

History of Dumfries and GallowayKirkcudbrightshireVillages in Dumfries and Galloway
Kirkandrews, Memorial Chapel And Burial ground, Kirkcudbright, 1
Kirkandrews, Memorial Chapel And Burial ground, Kirkcudbright, 1

Kirkandrews, sometimes written as Kirkanders in older documents, is a coastal hamlet about 9 kilometres (6 mi) west-southwest of Kirkcudbright in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. It sits in farmland at the head of Kirkandrews Bay, an inlet of Wigtown Bay. The history of Kirkandrews' name is not altogether clear. Some authors have suggested that it was named for a Northumbrian or Irish saint who established a church here in the first millennium; certainly there was an ancient church at the site, but most recent scholarship suggests that both the original church and its name have been lost, and that a new church was built and dedicated to St Andrew, the apostle and patron saint of Scotland, at some point before 1174. Evidence of human habitation at the site dates to the Iron Age, and a Christian church has been there since the early medieval period. Originally an independent parish, it was amalgamated into the parish of Borgue in the 1790s. There was a barony of Kirkandrews, which changed hands many times during its history. By the nineteenth century it had declined to the status of a small hamlet within the grounds of the Knockbrex estate, which was purchased in 1894 by James Brown of Affleck & Brown, who embarked on a series of building works that would put his distinctive, flamboyant architectural stamp on Kirkandrews and its immediate vicinity. There are no shops or commercial businesses in the hamlet, but there are a number of historical sites. These include the ancient churchyard with some surviving stonework from its medieval church, a listed village hall that is used for religious services and private events, and a short distance along the coast there is a dun, built in the Iron Age and reused by Scandinavians, which was renovated in the early 20th century and has since been designated a scheduled monument.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Kirkandrews, Dumfries and Galloway (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Kirkandrews, Dumfries and Galloway

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N 54.809 ° E -4.179 °
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DG6 4UB
Scotland, United Kingdom
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Kirkandrews, Memorial Chapel And Burial ground, Kirkcudbright, 1
Kirkandrews, Memorial Chapel And Burial ground, Kirkcudbright, 1
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Borgue Old House
Borgue Old House

Borgue Old House is a ruined Y-plan house, about 300 metres (0.2 mi) east of Borgue in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. Built in 1680, but probably incorporating the fabric of an older building, its large main block has two projecting wings at either end of its south face; another wing in the middle of the north face probably contained the stairway, but this is no longer present. Each of the two main stories has three interconnecting rooms, on in each of the wings on the south face, and one in the main block. The main block would also have had an attic, but is now roofless. The main entrance, with molded stonework surround, is in the south face of the main block. Also in the south wall is a surviving chimney which rises above the wall level. On the ground floor is a large mantelpiece, with a lintel supported by corbels; architectural historian John Gifford asserts that this fireplace cannot be older than the early seventeenth century, and thus must be part of the older building that the house was built around. There is a single-storey building attached to the south-east wing, which probably formed part of a courtyard when the building was in use, and there is a large garden, probably laid out in the eighteenth century, partially enclosed by rubble walls. Nearby is the current Borgue House, a nineteenth-century mansion, which is still in use. Borgue Old House was the home of Hugh Blair of Borgue, an eccentric laird whose unusual behaviour has led modern scholars to speculate that he may have had autism spectrum disorder. The house was designated a Category A listed building in 1971. As of 2014, the Buildings at Risk Register for Scotland records that the upper parts of the walls and chimneys are precariously balanced, and that the inside is overgrown.

Water of Fleet
Water of Fleet

The Water of Fleet is a river in Scotland flowing into Fleet Bay on the Solway Firth. Its two tributaries are the Big Water of Fleet, which begins around Loch Grannoch, and the Little Water of Fleet. The river flows through Gatehouse of Fleet before meeting the sea. The Water of Fleet rises on the slopes of Cairnsmore of Fleet, a 710 m high hill that is designated as a National Nature Reserve. Lower down, the Fleet Valley contains the best examples of upland oakwood in Kirkcudbrightshire, two of which (Killiegowan Wood and Carstramon Wood) are designated as Special Areas of Conservation. The lower part of the area surrounding the Water of Fleet is designated as the Fleet Valley National Scenic Area, one of forty such areas in Scotland, which have been defined so as to identify areas of exceptional scenery and to ensure its protection from inappropriate development. The Fleet Valley national scenic area (NSA) covers 5854 ha in total, of which 5373 ha is on land, with a further 481 ha being marine (i.e. below low tide level). The coastal part of the NSA covers the shoreline, islands, foreshore and sea area of Fleet Bay between Barlocco Isle and Ringdoo Point. Inland, the NSA includes the town of Gatehouse of Fleet, and land on both sides of River Fleet for about 10 km northwards. The area represents a microcosm of Scotland, with coastal scenery in the south, and a wilder landscape of hills and moors in the north. In between, there is slow transition through farmland and fields, with an abundance of drystane dykes and open woodland. The shoreline of Fleet Bay was a favourite location for artists from the Kirkcudbright Artists' Colony. The Big Water of Fleet is crossed by a twenty span viaduct, which was once a part of the Portpatrick Railway route. Cardoness Castle is a well-preserved 15th-century tower house just below Gatehouse of Fleet, close to the point at which the river begins to widen towards Fleet Bay. It was originally owned by the MacCullochs of Myreton. They abandoned the castle in the late 17th Century, following the execution of Sir Godfrey McCulloch for the murder of a Clan Gordon neighbour. It is now in the care of Historic Environment Scotland, and is a scheduled monument.