Luce Bay

Droughdool Mote (also spelled Droughduil) (grid reference NX 14823 56865) is a Neolithic round mound in the parish of Old Luce, Wigtownshire, Dumfries and Galloway. The mound is oval in plan, measuring 60m by 50m at its base and rises to 10m in height. It is located 400m south of the late neolithic palisaded enclosure at Dunragit. It has been suggested that the mound may have been used as a viewing platform for activities at Dunragit complex of monuments. The most well known parallel the site has is Silbury Hill in Wiltshire, but is closer in size to the less well known sites at Conquer Barrow, Willy Howe and Wold Newton. The mound was originally built with stepped sides on top of a sand dune. Excavation between 1999-2002 revealed a round cairn at the top of the mound, similar to the nearby Mid Gleniron A. The mound was assumed to be a medieval mote for a castle, but is different in structure and location to the motes in the surrounding area. In 2002, excavation and optically stimulated luminescence dating showed that the site was prehistoric, and probably placed within a date bracket associated with the Dunragit complex of monuments to the north. The site is still classified as a "motte (medieval)" on Canmore, the online database of ancient and historical monuments in Scotland. The complex of Neolithic monuments at Dunragit was identified in 1992 by Marilyn Brown of the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland from aerial photographs. When these cropmarks were examined within the wider landscape, it was found that the Droughdool Mote was aligned on the entrance to the middle of three concentric rings at the Dunragit site. While this alignment may be coincidental, other Neolithic flat topped mounds, such as Silbury Hill, Hatfield Barrow and Knowlton in Dorset, are also associated with nearby large enclosures. A feature of these other sites, missing from Droughdool, is a ditch surrounding the mounds which was often filled with water. However, during the Neolithic, the sea level was considerably higher than it is today and at high tide, an area between the mound and the Dunragit enclosure (the Whitecrook Basin) would have been inundated by sea. Thomas proposes that this may have obviated the need for a ditch at this site. Sites linked by water are well known from the Neolithic. The most famous of these is the connection between Durrington Walls and Stonehenge linked by the River Avon. Thomas speculates that: "In the case of Dunragit and Droughduil, passing out of the enclosure along the entrance passage, and walking down into the Whitecrook Basin and then through the water before climbing the mound might have been understood as a journey of transition or transformation." The site is a scheduled monument. It was excavated between 1999 and 2002 by Julian Thomas.

The Water of Luce is a river in Dumfries and Galloway, in south west Scotland. The Main Water of Luce rises in South Ayrshire, flows south to New Luce, where it is joined by the Cross Water of Luce, and flows into the Solway Firth at Luce Bay. The Luce is crossed by the eight-arch Glenluce Viaduct near to Glenluce. This once carried the Portpatrick Railway to Stranraer.

Dunragit (Scottish Gaelic: Dùn Reicheit) is a village on the A75, between Stranraer and Glenluce in Dumfries and Galloway, south-west Scotland. Dunragit is within the parish of Old Luce, in the traditional county of Wigtownshire. The modern village grew up around the west gate of Dunragit House, an 18th-century country house, though there is evidence of Neolithic settlement in the area.

Dunragit railway station served the village of Dunragit, in the historic county of Wigtownshire in the administrative area of Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland from 1861 to 1965 on the Portpatrick and Wigtownshire Joint Railway.

The Castle of Park is a 16th-century L-plan tower house near Glenluce, in the historic county of Wigtownshire in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. It is a category A listed building.

Glenluce Abbey, near to Glenluce, Scotland, was a Cistercian monastery called also Abbey of Luce or Vallis Lucis and founded around 1190 by Rolland or Lochlann, Lord of Galloway and Constable of Scotland. Following the Scottish Reformation in 1560, the abbey fell into disuse.

Old Luce is a civil parish in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. It lies in the Machars peninsula, in the traditional county of Wigtownshire. The parish is around 10 miles (16 km) long and 8 miles (13 km) broad, and contains 40,350 acres (16,330 ha). It was anciently named Glenluce which was divided in 1646 into two parts, the northern one named New Luce, and the southern one named Old Luce. In 1661 the two parishes of Old and New Luce were reunited for a time, and when the 1684 Wigtownshire Parish List was recorded, it listed both Old Luce and New Luce under “Glenluce Parish”. In 1688, after the Glorious Revolution, the separation of Old Luce and New Luce became permanent. Old Luce has a Community Council.

Glenluce (Scottish Gaelic: Clachan Ghlinn Lus) is a small village in the parish of Old Luce in Wigtownshire, Scotland. It contains a village shop, a caravan park and a town hall, as well as the parish church.

Glenluce station was a station open in 1862 on the former Port Road that was constructed on the Portpatrick and Wigtownshire Joint Railway. It served the town of Glenluce and provided a strategic link between London Euston and the West Coast Main Line via Carlisle Citadel along the Castle Douglas and Dumfries Railway followed the Portpatrick and Wigtownshire Railway to the port at Stranraer for the ferries to Larne Harbour. It was closed under the Beeching Axe in 1965.

Mid Gleniron is a prehistoric site in Dumfries and Galloway used in the Neolithic and Bronze Age. The site is a scheduled ancient monument that comprises a group of six burial cairns. Two of the cairns, Mid Gleniron I and Mid Gleniron II are chambered cairns of the Clyde tradition. These are of historical importance because of their multi-stage construction which provides evidence for the development of Clyde cairns at the beginning of the Neolithic period.

MOD West Freugh is located in Wigtownshire, 5 miles (8 km) south east of Stranraer, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, and is operated by defence contractor QinetiQ, on behalf of the Ministry of Defence. It has always been an armaments training school, either for handling or deployment of ordnance. The site was previously a Royal Air Force station as RAF West Freugh, as well as a Royal Aircraft Establishment as RAE West Freugh.

Royal Air Force Castle Kennedy, or more simply RAF Castle Kennedy, is a former Royal Air Force satellite station located in Castle Kennedy, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. The following units were here at some point: No. 2 Squadron RAF No. 2 Torpedo Training Unit RAF (December 1942 - September 1943) No. 3 Air Gunners School RAF (April - December 1942 & November 1943 - June 1945 No. 10 Air Gunners School RAF (July - December 1941) Detachment of No. 17 Service Flying Training School RAF (November - December 1944) No. 104 Storage Sub Unit of No. 57 Maintenance Unit RAF (July 1945 - September 1947) No. 2799 Squadron RAF Regiment Central Gunnery School RAF (June - December 1941)