County in Scotland
Dumfries and Galloway
Runaway weddings, a Peter Pan origin story, Scotland's first Dark Sky Park and a heart carried for 22 years: south-west Scotland packs in a lot.
Key information
- County
- Dumfries and Galloway
- Nation
- Scotland
- Population
- about 146,000 (2022 Census)
- Area
- about 6,400 sq km, one of Scotland's biggest and emptiest corners
- Known for
- Gretna Green weddings, Robert Burns, Belted Galloway cattle, dark skies, book town Wigtown
- What locals are called
- Gallovidians (Galloway); Doonhamers (Dumfries)
- Famous people
- Robert Burns, J. M. Barrie, John Paul Jones, Kirkpatrick Macmillan
- Football clubs
- Queen of the South, Stranraer, Annan Athletic
About Dumfries and Galloway
The place where Peter Pan found his wings
As a schoolboy at Dumfries Academy, J. M. Barrie played pirates in the garden of Moat Brae, a house beside the River Nith. He later said those games helped inspire Peter Pan and Captain Hook. The house was saved from demolition and reopened in 2019 as Peter Pan's Moat Brae, a national centre for children's literature. Dumfries has an even bigger literary resident. Robert Burns farmed at Ellisland from 1788, then moved into the town to work as an exciseman. He died there in 1796, aged 37. His mausoleum in St Michael's churchyard is one of the town's landmarks, and you can still have a pint in the Globe Inn, one of his regular haunts. Dumfries is nicknamed the Queen of the South, and its football club took the name. Locals are Doonhamers, from the old cry of heading "down home".
Why eloping couples raced for Gretna Green
In 1754 England's Hardwicke's Marriage Act demanded parental consent for anyone under 21 and tightened the rules on how weddings could be held. Scotland wasn't covered by it. Teenagers from England could cross the border and marry almost immediately. Gretna Green was the first village over the line, so it became the capital of runaway weddings. The local blacksmith's forge became the famous setting for ceremonies, and the anvil is still the symbol of the place. Couples still marry there today by the thousand. The whole region has a border-country feel. Ruined castles, old reiving families and lonely hill roads all tell of centuries of cross-border raiding.
A heart in a casket, a castle on an island
Sweetheart Abbey, near New Abbey, got its name from a love story. Lady Devorgilla of Galloway carried the embalmed heart of her husband John Balliol in an ivory casket for about 22 years after his death. She founded the abbey in 1273 and was buried there with the heart clasped to her. Caerlaverock Castle is a rare triangular fortress with a moat, and it stands beside a wetland where barnacle geese arrive in their thousands each winter from Svalbard. Threave Castle, the stronghold of the Black Douglases, stands on an island in the River Dee and can be viewed from the riverbank. The oldest relic of all may be the Ruthwell Cross. This Anglo-Saxon monument carries runes from The Dream of the Rood, one of the earliest known poems in English.
Scotland's first Dark Sky Park, and other superlatives
Galloway Forest Park became Scotland's first Dark Sky Park in 2009. Its remoteness means the Milky Way blazes on clear nights and hardly any lights spoil it. The Mull of Galloway is the southernmost point of Scotland, and on a clear day you can see the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland. Portpatrick, further up the coast, is one of the closest spots to Ireland. In the hills, Wanlockhead is Scotland's highest village, once a lead-mining community. Sanquhar claims the world's oldest continuously operating post office, dating from 1712. Langholm is the ancestral home of the Armstrong clan. When Neil Armstrong visited in 1972, he was given the freedom of the town.
Belted cows, book towns and artists' harbours
The Belted Galloway, or "Belty", is the black cow with a white stripe around its middle, bred here for centuries on the hills. Galloway beef is prized, and the area also produces ice cream such as Cream o' Galloway. Moffat is known for its toffee. Wigtown became Scotland's National Book Town in 1998, with bookshops and an annual book festival. Kirkcudbright, known as the Artists' Town, drew the Glasgow Boys and E. A. Hornel, whose house, Broughton House, still holds his collection. Two famous inventors and adventurers came from here too: John Paul Jones, born at Kirkbean and later a founding hero of the American navy, and Kirkpatrick Macmillan, credited with the first pedal-driven bicycle. Stranraer, a former ferry port, has its own football team, Stranraer FC. Ferries to Northern Ireland now leave from nearby Cairnryan. Annan Athletic holds the line on the English border.
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Robert Burns
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He was days from sailing to Jamaica when his first book sold out and changed his mind. Burns went on to write the song the world sings at midnight on New Year's Eve.
Burns Night
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