Day 9: New Abbey to Creetown, Dumfries and Galloway

Virtual Walk: Scotland 2021

13th January 2021: 117.12km walked today taking the total to 918.44km/8854km. 6% of 284 entries totalling 1951.99km.

Route1B: Traquair to Stranraer

Following the River Nith southwards, we join New Abbey Road which leads to New Abbey. Just before we reach New Abbey, we pass Shambellie House where the Museum of Costume used to be. Shambellie House was designed in 1856 by David Bryce for the Stewart family. Charles William Stewart amassed a collection of historical costumes and in 1977 he gave the collection to the Royal Scottish Museum and the Shambellie Museum was opened in 1982. The museum was designed to showcase these historic costumes in room settings but unfortunately it was closed in 2013 due to budget cuts and falling visitor numbers. The costumes were moved to Edinburgh and there are now plans to redevelop Shambellie House as a centre for day and residential courses.

Crossing New Abbey Bridge over the New Abbey Pow we enter the village itself. Named for the ‘new abbey’ that was founded here, it is a charming place, home to the late 18th century New Abbey Corn Mill. Run by Historic Environment Scotland along with the Abbey, it is a fully functioning exhibit open to the public, on the site of a mill that was originally founded and run by the monks at Sweetheart Abbey. We purchase a ticket to visit the two sites. Just a short walk down the road brings us to the Abbey, named after a love story which brought about its existence in 1273 and whose red stone walls stand virtually intact. Lady Devorgilla established the Cistercian abbey here in memory of her husband, Lord John Balliol, who died in 1268. An endowment also saw the completion of Balliol College, Oxford, which he started prior to his death; a more enduring memorial to his memory! The abbey’s demise came with the Scottish Reformation, though a more gradual decline than some. Abbot Gilbert continued to live at the Abbey under the protection of Lord Maxwell for a time. He was initially imprisoned at Blackness Castle before returning to the abbey. His belongings were burned in Dumfries in 1608 when he was exiled to France for his remaining years. The site was then quarried by local people before locals decided to preserve what was left in 1779.

We continue south again on the A710 to re-join the Solway Firth coastline at Southerness Point, an expanse of sand and rocky beach with a lighthouse. One of the oldest in Scotland, it was completed in 1749 and improved several times before closing in 1894 for financial reasons. We continue west past RSPB Mersehead, an extensive area of wetland and saltmarsh, a haven for breeding wading birds. We pass Sandyhills Bay to reach Castlehill Viewpoint on the edge of the Rough Firth. We may spot seals, porpoise and dolphins along this coast as they occasionally visit here.

We head north along the coast of the Rough Firth through the village of Rockcliffe, past the Mote of Mark Hillfort. Legend has it that it is named after King Mark of Drumnonina, a character from the tragic romance ‘Tristan and Isolde’; it was active in the 5th-6th centuries AD. The hillfort stood in the kingdom of Rheged but was destroyed by the 7th century AD; earthworks are still visible and are in the care of the National Trust for Scotland. The quality of the discoveries here suggest it was a high-status site. Continuing along the coast, we arrive on the boundary of Kippford where you can walk to Rough Island via a tidal causeway; a nature sanctuary also cared for by the National Trust for Scotland. In the north of Kippford, the Urr Water meets the Rough Firth, but we leave the coast to follow the A710 into Dalbeattie.

The area around Dalbeattie has a long history of settlement with several Bronze Age and Iron Age hillforts, as well as a Roman fort on Buittle Hill. Dalbeattie, as it stands today, was developed by the local lairds in the 1700s who saw the potential in the fast-flowing Dalbeattie Burn to power mills, the accessibility to a harbour on the Urr Water (the Dalbeattie Burn flows into the Urr Water), and the availability of high-quality light grey granite; the latter was used to construct the whole town, which we notice as we walk through. By the 1900s, Dalbeattie was at the height of its granite quarrying. They had shipped the granite out for the development of Liverpool Docks, the Thames Embankment and the construction of lighthouses. Many of the cobbles in London, Manchester and Liverpool streets come from here. One quarry is still active; we pass it on our route out of the town.

We follow country roads for 7.5 kilometres to reach Castle Douglas, a thriving market town. As the name suggests, it was founded in 1792 by William Douglas, who took Carlingwark, as the place was then called, and built streets and developed several industries. William had made his money in America and claimed to be related to the Black Douglas’s of nearby Threave Castle, of which there was no connection. Heading out of town we cross Carlingwark Lane Canal constructed in 1765 to connect the River Dee with Carlingwark Loch, a total of 1.5 kilometres. This enabled commercial traffic to travel between Castle Douglas and New Galloway in the north, a valuable source of transport at the time, which was then abandoned c1840; some stretches of the canal are still visible.

We arrive at Threave Castle, located on an island in the River Dee. It is located within Threave Nature Reserve and we walk the wetlands to spot osprey and otters before catching a wee ferry to the castle itself. If we're lucky the ‘ferryman’ may tell us ghostly tales from its past before we land for our visit!! ‘Good Sir James’ Douglas was a supporter of Robert the Bruce and the family had been rewarded for this. Sir Archibald Douglas, was made 3rd Earl of Douglas in 1369, building the tower to keep his hold on Galloway secure and defend the area from English invasion. Its name comes from Cumbric (Old Welsh), ‘Tref’, meaning ‘homestead’ as the castle wasn’t the first structure to be built here. The Douglas’s came into increasing conflict with King James II who ultimately had the whole branch of the family destroyed in 1455, after which the castle moved into Crown ownership. It was passed to the Maxwell family in 1526, who lived here until 1640 when the family surrendered, having been besieged by Covenanters for 3 months. It was never fully inhabited again and was passed into State care in 1913, today looked after by Historic Environment Scotland.

We make our way now to Threave Gardens passing through more of the Nature Reserve as we do so. The gardens have been created over the years by students from the Trust’s School of Heritage Gardening and are included in the Inventory of Gardens and Designed Landscapes in Scotland list. We enjoy views of the Galloway Hills while we wander the garden ‘rooms’ and take a guided tour of Threave House. The estate was purchased in 1867 and the house built as a summer home by Liverpool businessman, William Gordon in 1872. His grandson passed it to the National Trust for Scotland in 1948. The Nature Reserve, which is part of the estate, stretches as far as Loch Ken and the River Dee Marshes; Threave Castle sits on its north-west side.

Leaving Threave Gardens, we follow the River Dee south for 12 kilometres into the centre of Kirkcudbright, a lively and attractive fishing port. Kirkcudbright takes its name from the ‘Kirk of St Cuthbert’, a monastery which was established here by 1000AD. In the early times, its wealth came from trade, with the export of cloth to as far away as Spain. A town wall was built in the 1540s following an attack in 1507 from Isle of Man pirates, which saw the castle and much of the town destroyed. This also helped the locals protect the town from English invasion in 1560. Following the arrival of the railway in 1864, it became a popular place with artists. It is known as ‘The Artists’ Town’ and continues to enjoy a relationship with artists, having an artists’ collective based in the town along with a few exhibition galleries, plus the Kirkcudbright Arts and Crafts Trail which takes place every summer.

We walk through the town along St Mary Street passing Kirkcudbright Parish Church (1838) standing on the site of the previous Friary Church. The Town Hall (1879) sits opposite this church and reopened as an art gallery in 2018. Further along the street we pass the Stewartry Museum, located here since 1893. Stewartry refers to the old name for the district, ‘The Stewartry of Kirkcudbright’, so the museum tells of the social and natural history of the area. We turn right and walk to the bend of High Street where the Tolbooth and Mercat Cross are located. The Tolbooth was completed in 1629 and housed the council offices, burgh, courts and prison; it is now used as an arts centre.

We continue along High Street to visit the Edwardian Broughton House (1734), which was a studio and home to Scots impressionist artist E.A. Hornel from 1901; one of the ‘Glasgow Boys’. They were a revolutionary group of Scottish artists who brought a freshness and realism to their paintings of Scotland, which went on to influence Scottish art throughout the 20th century. The house is a living museum to Hornel’s life and work run by the National Trust for Scotland. It also boasts a Japanese-inspired garden and one of the largest collections of Robert Burns work.

Leaving the house, we pass the ruin of MacLellan’s Castle on Castle Bank. This castle, more a townhouse, was built by Sir Thomas MacLellan, Provost of Kirkcudbright, on the site of Greyfriars Convent after the Scottish Reformation. Completed in 1582, it was one of the grandest houses in Scotland at the time, built as a demonstration of the owner’s power rather than for defence. By the mid-1600s the family were in financial ruin, which saw the removal of the castle’s internal fittings, contents and roof in 1752! It has been in State care since 1912 and looked after by Historic Environment Scotland. All that remains of the convent is the church chancel across the road from the castle, kept as a burial vault for the MacLellan family.

We pass alongside the harbour area, on the River Dee, before crossing the bridge to head west for 13 kilometres through the Galloway hills to reach Gatehouse of Fleet, situated on the edge of Galloway Forest Park. The town takes its name from the fact it was once a toll gate for travellers across the Waters of Fleet and owes its existence to the construction of nearby Cally House (1763), now a hotel. The town developed into a bustling industrial centre with cotton mills, brass foundry, brewery, brickworks, soap factory, and tanneries: it was known as the ‘Glasgow of the South’. We walk along the riverside to an old cotton mill completed in 1785, now the ‘Mill on the Fleet’ museum and cafe where we stop for a cuppa, before crossing the bridge to head south along the Waters of Fleet. We visit Cardoness Castle, a well-preserved 15th-century tower house built by the notorious McCulloch family, now cared for by Historic Environment Scotland.

We walk through the hills for just over 14 kilometres; we join the Corse of Slakes Road (an old military road whose name means ‘crossing of the passes’) which takes us into Creetown, at the mouth of the River Cree near Wigtown Bay. Originally called Ferrytown of Cree, it was part of the ferry route for pilgrims travelling to Whithorn, south of Wigtown. Whithorn was the location of the first documented Christian church in Scotland built by St Ninian in the 4th century AD. The local football team, Creetown FC, are nicknamed ‘The Ferrytoun’ as a result of this link. The River Cree is fed by tributaries whose source is in the ‘Range of the Awful Hand’ in the Galloway Hills, still part of the Southern Uplands. Good salmon and sea trout fishing can be had in the section of the river at Creetown.