KIRCUDBRIGHT, a county in Scotland, situated between 54. 43. and 55. 19. north latitude, and 3. 33. and 4. 34. west longitude from Greenwich, is bounded on the north by the shires of Dumfries and Ayr, on the east and south by the Solway Frith and the Irish Sea, and on the est by the county of Wigtown. It derives its name from Caer, a fort, the Anglo-Saxons having erected a fort in honour of St Cuthbert, near the site of the present Kirkcudbright (originally Caer Cuthbert), the county town. It is in length from east to west about forty-eight miles, it varies in breadth from thirty to seventeen miles, and it contains 882^ square miles, or o64,480 English acres. This district is commonly called the stewartry, not the shire, of Kirkcudbright; and its judge, whose powers and duties are the same as those of a sheriff, is called a steward. The appellation of stewartry had its rise in the ancient tenure by which it was held, and the subsequent forfeiture of its lords; but the distinction between stewartry and sheriffdom is in this case purely nominal. Kirkcudbright is one of the two counties comprehended under the general name of Galloway, Wigtownshire on the west being the other.

About two thirds of the surface is mountainous. A range of mountains stretches along the whole northern boundary, in the form of a vast amphitheatre, embracing nearly half the county; on the boundary with Ayrshire they are not much inferior in height to any in the south of Scotland. There are also some considerable mountains on the southern extremity, such as Criffel, 1831 feet in height; Cairnsmore, 2597; and Cairnharrow, 1110. The high lands are for the most part covered with heath, except on a part of the northern boundary, where a narrow tract of green hills runs out between the counties of Ayr and Dumfries; and many of them are wet and mossy. In the middle of the district, the declivity is so gentle that the river Dee, at thirty miles from its mouth, is only 150 feet above the level of the sea; yet, even in the interior, there is no great extent of level ground, the greater part of the surface being occupied by rocky knolls, steep banks, and hills of a moderate elevation. On the coast, also, hills rise almost everywhere to the height of several hundred feet. The district is studded with a great number of lakes, of which there is one or more in almost every parish, though few of them are considerable. As there is not much full-grown wood, and the plantations are but partial, and for the most part not of many years’ growth, the general appearance of the stewartry is that of a bleak, exposed country, on which labour has been but recently employed, and where its efforts must always be confined to a comparatively small field. Yet it contains many spots of great natural beauty, particularly on the coast, where the sea has in several places formed deep bays, surrounded with high grounds, some of which are fringed with coppice.

The soil of the lower grounds is, for the most part, of a hazel colour, sometimes inclining to red, and seems to be chiefly composed of argillaceous schistus in a state of decomposition. It is seldom of any great depth, and the rock, often rising above the surface, gives a rugged and sterile appearance to much even of the arable land. This soil is, however, in many instances possessed of great natural fertility, not soon injured by wet seasons, and affords plentiful crops and fine natural herbage. Clay is of no great extent, and found chiefly on the banks of the rivers. The smooth round hills accessible to the plough have, for the most part, a close subsoil, here called till, and do not, therefore, admit of being profitably cultivated but after an interval of several years pasturage. Tracts of moss, commonly from four to eight feet deep, extend over a tenth or twelfth part of the whole county.

Much of the mountainous district is composed of granite. According to the Agricultural Survey, there are three several districts of this rock, which occupy nearly a fourth of the surface. Strata of very dissimilar substances, to which Dr Hutton has given the general name of schistus, prevail in the lower parts. Some are of a hard, compact grain, of a blue or grayish-brown colour, for the most part breaking irregularly, but often in parallel plates, of which coarse slates have been made. With these are intermixed layers of a soft argillaceous stone, which readily yields to the weather, and is popularly known by the name of slate band. These rocks, which also occupy a large part of the district, are sometimes traversed by dykes of porphyry, and also by granite. In the neighbourhood of Dumfries the prevailing rock is sandstone. Limestone is found at Kirkbean, on the Nith, theonlyplace in thecounty whereitis wrought; and there are also some promising indications of coal on the estate of Arbigland, near Dumfries. In the parish of Colvend, on the Solway Frith, there is a quarry which affords millstones. Lead mines were wrought in Minnι-gaff, on the western boundary, for many years, but have [7:12:735]been discontinued. Iron ore abounds, but, from the want of coal and wood, it is of little value. On the estate of Mr Murray of Broughton, near Gatehouse, copper has lately been discovered, and is now being wrought by an English company.

The rivers are, the Nith, which separates this county from Dumfriesshire for about nine miles on the northeast; the Urr, which flows south-east by the village of Dalbeattie, and is navigable five or six miles for small vessels; the Dee, the largest river, which enters Loch Ken, a lake almost in the centre of the county, about eight miles in length, and in some places a mile in breadth, and, giving its name to the river which issues from the lake, falls into the Solway Frith about five miles below the town of Kirkcudbright. It is navigable for two miles above this town for vessels of 200 tons. In spring-tides the water rises about thirty feet at Kirkcudbright, where there is a well-sheltered natural harbour, of easy access. For the last seven or eight miles of its course the banks of the Dee are planted. St Mary’s Isle, near Kirkcudbright, is a highly ornamented spot; and the Little Ross, a beautiful island, is situated at its mouth. There are other small islands, as those of Fleet, Knockbrex, and Heston, scattered along the coast. The salmon fishery on this river was rented, some years ago, at L.900. The Fleet is remarkable for the picturesque scenery on its banks; but, as its stream is circuitous, and it often changes its course, a canal of about a mile in length has been cut, at the sole expense of Mr Murray of Broughton, by means of which the navigation to Gatehouse, a village about four miles from the sea, has been rendered easy. The Cree, a more considerable river, separates this county from Wigtonshire, and flows into the bay of Wigton, from whence it is navigable to the small harbour of Carty, a little below Newton-Stewart. The stewartry is everywhere supplied with pure springs and rivulets. Chalybeate springs are also numerous, one of which, Lochenbreck, in the parish of Balmaghie, seven miles from Gatehouse, is said not to be inferior in medicinal virtues to any in the kingdom.

The landed property is not divided into large estates. Out of 1043, their number in 1808, as given in the Agricultural Survey, 972 are stated to have been below L.500 a year. The valued rent, which was taken in 1642, is L.l 14,637. 2s. Scots; the real rent, in 1808, was estimated at L.167,125 sterling, and in 1831 at L.213,308. Many of the smaller proprietors cultivate their own estates. According to the work just referred to, almost half the county is held under deeds of entail, many of which have been executed very lately. “The condition of the peasantry, at a period not very remote, seems to have been much depressed, and the state of husbandry rude and barbarous in the extreme.” (Smith’s Survey .) Referring to the year 1720, John Maxwell of Munshes observes that “the tenants in general lived very meanly, on kail, groats, milk, graddon ground in querns turned by the hand, and the grain dried in a pot, together with a crock ewe now and then about Martinmas. They were clothed very plainly, and their habitations were most uncomfortable. Their general wear was of cloth made of waulked plaiding, black and white wool mixed, very coarse, and the cloth rarely dyed. Their hose were made of white plaiding cloth, sewed together, with single-soled shoes, and a black or blue bonnet, none having hats but the lairds In

1725 potatoes were first introduced into this stewartry by William Hyland, from Ireland, who carried them on horses’ backs to Edinburgh, where he sold them by pounds and ounces. During these times, when potatoes were not generally used in this country, there was for the most part a great want of food, bordering on famine; for, in the stewartry of Kirkcudbright, there was not as much victual produced as was necessary for supplying the inhabitants. The pròduce of the country in general was gray corn; and you might have travelled from Dumfries to Kirkcudbright, which is twenty-seven miles, without seeing any other grain, except in a gentleman’s croft, which in general produced bear or big for one third part, another third in white oats, and the remaining third in gray oats. At that period there was no wheat raised in the country; what was used was brought from Teviot, and it was believed that the soil would not produce wheat. In the year 1735 there was no mill for grinding that sort of grain; and the first flour mill that was constructed within these bounds was built at Clouden, in the parish of Irongray, some years after that date.” (Murray’s Literary History of Galloway, 2d edition, 1832, pp. 337-9.) Yet it was in this county that the improvements of modern husbandry were adopted, at a time .when they were entirely unknown in the greater part of the kingdom. As early as the year 1750, Mr Craik of Arbigland practised the drilling and horse-hoeing of the celebrated Tull, which he ever afterwards continued to follow in the culture of beans and turnips. He enclosed and drained his estate, cleaned his fields by fallowing, applied calcareous manures, introduced sown grasses into his course of crops, and worked his plough with two horses. A few of the other proprietors followed in his steps, but their efforts were not seconded by the tenantry at large. It is only since the end of last century that modern husbandry has made any considerable progress, but it is now quite general. The chief crops arc oats and barley, with wheat on the better soils.

A great impetus has lately been communicated to agriculture in this county, by the regular and cheap communication with Liverpool by means of steam-navigation. The farmers have thus a ready outlet for their disposable produce, corn, cattle, and sheep, and receive cash payments. Instead of being, as formerly, far from a market, and forced in consequence to sell to corn-dealers, a class of men with whom bankruptcy was any thing but uncommon, the farmers are now, as it were, placed in the very vicinity of the best market, and are freed from all risk of non-payment. By these favourable circumstances, a spirit of improvement and enterprise has been roused, which promises, ere long, to change the face and character of the county. Nothing, indeed, has ever effected so important a change in the circumstances of this county, as the introduction of steamnavigation. The first steam-boat seen on its shores was in 1830 fc ; and there are now three that ply regularly between it and the English coast, particularly Whitehaven and‘Liverpool. Their decks are covered with sheep and black cattle, whilst their holds are filled with corn. Nor is this all. These vessels have opened up channels of industry before quite unknown. Poultry, eggs, and butter, by being sent to the ready market of England, form a new and pretty productive source of income. Salmon, instead of being sent as formerly round to England by the expensive mail-carriage, is now transmitted thither byģ steam more directly, and at much less expense; whilst commodities required from England are obtained under the most favourable circumstances.

Unlike other hilly tracts in Scotland, the land is almost universally enclosed, chiefly with stone walls, called Galloway Dykes. These dykes are built close, or double as it is called, for part of their height, and afterwards single, the stones in the latter part being laid in such a manner as to allow the passage of the light through the wall. But it is now becoming a common practice to build the whole of the wall double, and, after laying a course of stones that project a little beyond its breadth on both sides, it is completed by a coping of stones laid on edge, and closely pinned.

This county is chiefly celebrated for its cattle, which form by far the most important part of its agricultural produce[7:12:736]. They are known in every part of Britain by the name of Galloway cattle. (See Agriculture.) Sheep are confined to the mountainous districts, where they are kept in great numbers. They are’ of the heath or blackfaced variety, with coarse wool, and yield a very small return for the extent of their pastures, which, however, are in general 'of the very worst description in the south of Scotland, some large tracts being rented so low as 6d. an acre, or even lower. It is now becoming the practice to combine the rearing and fattening of ⅛heep with the culture of arable land, by which the light soils of the other border counties have been rendered so productive. A small, hardy, and active race of horses, called Galloways, was formerly reared here and in Wigtonshire, the other division of Galloway; but a larger breed being required for the labours of modern husbandry, especially since two-horse ploughs have become general, the old race is very rarely to be found in a pure state. The name, however, is frequently applied to horses below full size, wherever they may have been reared.

The first road act for the stewartry of Kirkcudbright was obtained in 1779. At that period there was scarcely any thing that deserved the name of a road, except the military road from Dumfries to Portpatrick, which had been made about fifteen years before; but at present very few districts are better provided in this respect. The first good roads were made on the estate of the Earl of Selkirk, under the direction of his son Basil William Lord Daer, to whom this county owes many other improvements. In 1796, by another act of parliament, the assessments were allowed to be increased, and tolls erected; and soon afterwards a new road was made from Dumfries to Castle-Douglas, a distance of eighteen miles, through a hilly, broken country, with so much attention to preserve the level, that it has seldom a rise of more than one foot in forty, and much of it is nearly a perfect level. All the principal roads made since have been done with equal judgment. The turnpike roads, in 1834, extended to 216 miles; and the annual income obtained from tolls amounted to L.2557. The district is also well accommodated with bridges, of which the most considerable is one over the Dee at Tongland, about two miles above Kirkcudbright, which has aa arch of 110 feet span. It is built of sandstone, brought partly from Annan in Dumfriesshire, and partly from the Isle of Arran. It was finished in 1808, and cost upwards of L.7000.

Kirkcudbright, the county town, which was erected into a royal burgh in 1455, contained, in 1831, a population of 3511. It is pleasantly situated on the Dee, and is noted for the information and urbanity of its inhabitants. Societies have been formed here for a purpose rather unusual, namely, the building of houses, not for sale, but for the use of the members who compose them. Every member makes a small monthly payment into a general fund, which is employed in erecting the houses, and these, as they are finished, are assigned to the members by lot, those to whom they fall paying five per cent, on the money which their houses have cost, in addition to their monthly payments; and this arrangement continues till all the members are supplied, and the societies dissolved. New Galloway, which was erected into a royal burgh in 1633, is situated at the head of Loch Ken, and contains onlv about 400 inhabitants. The principal villages are Creetown, at the mouth of the river Cree, on the bay of Wigtown; Gatehouse, twelve miles east from the former, on the river Fleet; and Castle-Douglas, formerly called Carlinwark, an inland place, about nine miles north-east of Kirkcudbright. The Galloway Bank, now discontinued, was established at Castle-Douglas in June 1806. A branch of the Bank of Scotland had been introduced into the burgh of Kirkcudbright about twenty years previously. These three villages seem to be in a thriving state; the houses are for the most part of two stories, and, in other respects, they are superior to villages of the same extent in many other parts of Scotland. The others are Dalbeattie on the river Urr; Keltonhill, noted for its great cattle fairs in June and November; and Maxwellton, on the Nith,which, though in this county, belongs by its situation to the town of Dumfries, from which it is separated only by the bridge over that river. By the reform act, indeed, it is included within the parliamentary boundaries of that town.

There are no regular assessments for the poor in the country parishes, but the ordinary kirk-session funds have been much augmented in some parishes by charitable donations. In some instances voluntary assessments upon the part of the heritors take place, particularly in unfavourable seasons.

The inhabitants of the stewartry have few traits of character peculiar to themselves. Living remote from the capital, or any large town, they are a simple, unsophisticated people, feudal and superstitious in their sentiments. A belief in witchcraft, and in the more popular superstitions, still obtains. They think no character superior to the minister or the laird. These peculiarities, however, are beginning to give way. Education has attained a most respectable footing; and the collision of sentiment which the people experience by the intercourse now opened up by the facilities of communication with strangers has had a most salutary and liberalizing influence. They are an enterprising people. They send, on an average of the last ten years, about forty young men to the university yearly; and the number of those who annually cross over to England to push their fortune, or emigrate either to our own colonies or to foreign states, is extremely great. Of these, not a few, after experiencing success in life, return to their native country with a respectable competency; and thus, by their example, stimulate others to follow their steps. Of the extent to which emigration from this county is carried, a correct estimate may be formed from the fact that, though the number of males born is about five per cent, above that of females, the latter in the stewartry exceed the former by 2642. A great number of Irish, of the lowest grade, are settled here.

Education, as mentioned above, is in a respectable state. Some of the schools are excellent; few of them are bad; and when a vacancy now takes place, the utmost pains are taken to get the best teacher to fill it. Several sums have been bequeathed by individuals for the support of schools, particularly in the parishes of Balmaclellan, Dairy, and Borgue. In addition to the parish schools, there are many voluntary seminaries, which are in a highly respectable and efficient state.

It has already been mentioned that the people are distinguished for their religious character. The reformation began here at a peculiarly early date, namely, the begin-ing of the fifteenth century {Literary History of Galloway, p. 61), and some of the most eminent reformers and covenanters were connected with this cop .ty. The persecution in the times of Charles I. and his son Charles II. raged most hotly here. The graves of martyrs are to be found, not only in almost every churchyard, but even in many of the wildest moors. Presbyterianism still continues predominant. In addition to the twenty-eight parish churches, there are one chapel of Ease at Maxwellton; one church of the Cameronian persuasion at Urr; and six of the United Associate Synod at Urr, Castle-Douglas, Dairy, Kirkcudbright, Creetown, and House of the Hill. There is no Episcopalian chapel, but there are two belonging to the Roman Catholics, one at New Abbey and another at Dalbeattie; and one Independent meeting-house at Gatehouse.

The stewartry could boast of a greater number of monasteries[7:12:737] than any other county in Scotland. These were, Dundrennan, St Mary’s Isle, and Tongland, founded in the twelfth century, by Fergus, lord of Galloway; Lincluden, by his son Uchtred; and Sweetheart, or New Abbey, founded in the thirteenth century, by Dervorgille, daughter of Alan, last lord of Galloway, and mother of John Baliol, the competitor for the throne. Of the three first of these buildings, the remains are comparatively entire; of the other two, all vestiges have disappeared.

The bishopric of Galloway, both in Catholic and in Protestant times, comprehended the stewartry and Wigtonshire. It formed the most ancient see in Scotland; and in dignity was inferior only to the archbishopric of St Andrews and Glasgow, till in 1633, when Edinburgh was erected into a bishopric, and obtained the preference over Galloway. The bishops of Galloway were ex officio deans of the chapel royal of Stirling.

Some very eminent men have been connected with the stewartry as monks or bishops, such as David Panther of St Mary’s Isle, afterwards bishop of Ross; William Melville of Tongland, afterwards a lord of session, under the title of Lord Tongland; Gilbert Brown of Sweetheart, well known as the author of a small but learned work against the famous John Welsh, minister of Kirkcudbright; and the following bishops of Galloway, Alexander Gordon (known in history as archbishop of Athens); William Cowper, an eminent and learned theological writer; and Thomas Sydscrff. Nor in more modern times has this county been less distinguished for eminent literary characters. Robert Maxwell, author of The Practical Husbandman, and several other excellent works on agriculture; Thomas Gordon, the translator of Tacitus, and author of The Independent Whig, and other works; Robert Heron, author of a History of Scotland in six volumes, and numerous other publications; Dr Alexander Murray, the celebrated linguist; Dr Thomas Brown; Thomas earl of Selkirk, author of an able work on emigration; not to mention many others, such as John Welshand Samuel Rutherford, who were connected with this district by office and residence. In 1835 a monument to the memory of the late Dr Alexander Murray was erected near the place of his birth, in the parish of Minnigarf. The funds (L.450) were raised by subscription; the height of the pillar is eighty feet.

The occupations of the people, according to the population returns in 1831, were as follows:

Occupiers of land employing labourers...., 871

Occupiers of land not employing labourers 490

Labourers employed in agriculture 2648

Employed in manufactures 529

Employed in retail trade and handicraft 2299

Capitalists, bankers, &c 44θ

Labourers not agricultural 1076

Other males twenty years of age 805

Male servants ∏)8

Female servants 2378

The county, as is evident from this table, is not remarkable for manufactures; but it contains a larger number of men employed as weavers than home consumption would require. They weave to a limited extent for the Glasgow, Paisley, and Kilmarnock markets. The number of weavers was altogether above 500. But since 1831 the cotton mills at Gatehouse have been revived under the best management, and in this way perhaps 200 more are added to the manufacturing class. There are also stocking-makers, doggers, and nailers. The chief exports of the county are the produce of the soil; grain, black cattle, sheep, and wool; the chief imports are coals, lime, groceries, timber, iron, and slate.

It has already been stated, that the mountainous districts of the stewartry are composed of granite. A granite quarry was opened in 1830, on the estate of Cas-sencarrie, in the parish of Kirkmabreck, by the Liverpool Dock Company. This is at present the most important work of the kind carried on in Scotland. About 300 workmen are daily employed in it; machinery of a kind previously unknown in Galloway has been introduced:; a railway has been constructed connecting the quarry with Wigton Bay, a distance of about half a mile; and a new harbour has been built at the expense of the company, the vessels belonging to which transport the stone from thence to Liverpool. Besides defraying surface damage for the line of the railway, the company pay to the landlord a sum proportional to the produce of the quarry; and thus a piece of land, which was previously covered with rock and heath, and literally worth nothing, certainly not twenty shillings, now realizes an annual rent of about L.400.
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The stewartry sends one member to parliament, the constituency in 1835 amounting to 1166. In the election for the burghs, Kirkcudbright (which contains 111 electors) joins with Dumfries, Sanquhar, Annan, and Lochmaben; and New Galloway (which contains sixteen electors) with Wigton, Stranraer, and Whithorn. It is divided into twenty-eight parishes, of which sixteen belong to the presbytery of Kirkcudbright, and two to that of Wigton, both in the synod of Galloway, and ten to the presbytery and synod of Dumfries.

See Bauties of Scotland ; Murray’s Literary History of Galloway, 2d edition, 1832; Smith’s Agricultural Survey, 1810; The General Report of Scotland; Playfair’s Account of Scotland ; and Chalmers’s Caledonia. But the greater part of this article is derived from personal knowledge and private documents.