WIGTOWNSHIRE, a maritime county on the south-west extremity of Scotland, situated between and north latitude, and between and west longitude. This, with the stewarty of Kirkcudbright, now forms the province of Galloway, which was once more extensive. It is bounded by the stewarty of Kirkcudbright on the east; by the Irish Sea on the south and west, and by Ayrshire on the north, containing 485 square miles, or about 310,000 English acres, and is divided into seventeen parishes. About a third of the land is productive or cultivated, and the rest is in its natural state, and comparatively of little value.
Extent.
The district is of a very irregular form, the western side being almost cut off from the rest by two arms of the sea, Luce Bay on the south, and Lochryan on the north; while Wigtown Bay, which separates it from Kirkcudbright, penetrates it on the east. It is popularly divided into the Rhins, the Machers, and the Moors. The Rhins, which signifies points or promontories, consists principally of the peninsula lying west of Lochryan and the bay of Luce, being the nearest land in Britain to Ireland, and terminating on the south in the Mull of Galloway, the most southerly land in Scotland; from whence may be seen, in a fine day, the Isle of Man and the shores of England and Ireland. It is connected with the rest of Wigtownshire by an isthmus about six miles broad, which seems to have been at one time overflowed by the sea. The Machers is a large promontory, none of it much elevated, which runs out to the south-east between the bays of Wigtown and Luce; and the Moors are spread over the rest of the county, but chiefly on its northern side, where it is bounded by Ayrshire.
Surface.
The surface of this county, except in the northern quarter, where the hills rise to 1000 feet and upwards, is very little elevated above the sea; but, exclusive of a narrow tract of alluvial land near the bottom of the bay of Wigtown, there is very little that is flat or level. It consists, for the most part, of a great many low hills and gently undulating grounds, often broken by detached rocks which rise a few feet above the surface, and interspersed with considerable tracts of mossy and moorish soils, even in the lower and more cultivated parts; being similar in this respect to the stewarty of Kirkcudbright, the other division of Galloway. (See KIRKCUDBRIGHT in this Supplement.)
Climate.
The climate, though moist, is mild and salubrious, especially in the low grounds, the prevailing winds being from the south-west. In the Rhins rains are more frequent than in the Machers on the south-east; but
the winters on this coast are every where milder than on the eastern coast of Scotland; and no part of the county is more than ten or twelve miles from the sea. In summer, however, there is also less sunshine, and, for this reason, the crops of wheat and barley, particularly the former, are commonly inferior in quality to those raised on the eastern side of the island.
The soil of the arable land is, for the most part, soil of a hazel colour and shallow, but dry and not unfertile, and well adapted to turnip husbandry. On the bay of Wigtown, there is a tract of rich alluvial land, fit for the growth of wheat and beans, similar to the Carse lands of Gowrie, and other tracts on the Forth and Tay; but this and every other description of clay land forms but a very small proportion of the whole. On the western side, between the bay of Luce and Lochryan, the soil is chiefly a deposition of sea sand, interspersed with considerable tracts of flow moss. In this quarter, near Glenluc, there is an extensive rabbit-warren, said to yield about L.400 a year. Much of the higher grounds, or the Moors, is wet, spongy, and sterile, producing herbage very inferior to that of the hills on the south-east of Scotland, and depastured by a small kind of coarse-woolled heath-sheep, and an inferior variety of the native cattle.
The rivers are, the Cree, the Bladenoch, and the Rivers. Luce, with a number of smaller streams. The Cree, which rises among the mountains of Carrick in Ayrshire, enters this county from the north, and, flowing along the boundary with Kirkcudbright, falls into the bay of Wigtown a little above the town of that name; and it is navigable upwards to the Carty a little below Newton-Stewart. The Bladenoch, after a circuitous course of about twenty-four miles, also enters the bay of Wigtown, and, by means of the tide, admits small vessels a little above its mouth. The Luce, the only other stream of any size, after a northern course, falls into Luce Bay at the town of Glenluc. These streams are frequented by salmon, of which there are one or two considerable fisheries on the bay of Wigtown. There are several lakes, but none of them worthy of particular notice. Lochryan, though it has all the appearance of a lake, is an arm of the sea, and is of great importance as affording a safe and commodious harbour, with an inland navigation for eight or ten miles, and occasionally a productive herring-fishery.
The valued rent of Wigtownshire, as taken in Valuation 1642, is L. 67,641, 17s. Scots, and the real rent of the lands and houses, in 1812, was L. 131,778, 12s. 10d. Sterling; the land rent being about 8s. an English acre. This is divided among a few great proprietors, one of whom has a rental of upwards of L. 30,000, and several others have from L. 5000 to L. 10,000 and upwards. More than half the county is held under entail. The territory is further divided into farms. of a moderate size, on the arable lands seldom exceeding 200 or 300 acres, which are held on leases for 19 or 21 years, as in other parts of Scotland. It was formerly the practice to add the life of the tenant; and some of these leases still subsist, but few are now granted but for a term of years certain. In no part of Scotland, perhaps, have rents risen more than in Agriculture. "A variety of instances," says the
Wigtown-shire. author of the Agricultural Survey, "might be adduced where the present rents of farms are equal to the prices paid for them in the memory of persons still living." Yet an improved system of agriculture has not kept pace with this advance of rent, which has been chiefly occasioned by the increased demand of the English markets for their cattle, which are much esteemed in every part of the island. (See AGRICULTURE in this Supplement.) The management of the arable land, though improved within these few years, is still very much inferior to that which prevails in the eastern and other lowland counties of Scotland. The principal corn crops are oats and barley, or rather bear; the potatoe, which occupies a considerable portion of every farm, is still a much greater favourite than the turnip; and where turnips are raised they are, with few exceptions, carried off the ground, instead of being consumed on it by sheep, according to the practice of the eastern counties. It is, therefore, to their cattle principally that the farmers trust for payment of their rents, and a great portion of even the best arable land is still appropriated to grazing. On the western side, the dairy has been introduced within these few years by farmers from Ayrshire, and found to answer better, it is said, than the system common in other parts of the county. One of the largest dairies in Scotland is in this quarter. Almost all the land, even the higher grounds, is enclosed chiefly with stone fences, well known by the name of Galloway dykes; and of late, a considerable improvement has taken place in the farm-houses and offices, many of which have been constructed in a substantial manner. There is very little natural wood; but considerable plantations have been formed by some of the principal proprietors. Among the trees found most able to endure the sea spray, and resist the westerly winds, are the pinaster and the Huntington willow, which thrive almost on the sea beach. On many parts of the coast large banks of shells have been formed, which are used as manure, in place of lime, and in others sea-weeds are used for the same purpose; lime as well as coal must be imported from Cumberland and the west of Scotland, there being none of either in the county. From the want of coal, the principal article of fuel used in the interior is peat and turf.
Towns. Wigtownshire has three royal burghs; Wigtown, the county town, situated at the bottom of the bay of that name; Whithorn, near the south-eastern point of the Machers division; and Stranraer, at the bottom of Lochryan. In the elections for the Scottish burghs, these, with New Galloway in the stewardry of Kirkcudbright, send one member to Parliament; the county, in which there are about sixty freeholders, being also represented by one. None of these towns, however, are extensive or populous. The villages are Newton Stewart on the Cree, Garlieston, a small sea-port on the bay of Wigtown, New Luce, an inland village a few miles east from Stranraer, Glenluce, at the bottom of Luce Bay, and Portpatrick, on the west side of the Rhinns division, on the great thoroughfare between Britain and Ireland; the Channel, between Portpatrick and Donaghadee on the Irish coast, being only about twenty miles broad. There are no manufactures of any consequence, and no other
trade but what is carried on in small vessels with the nearest ports of England and Ireland and the west of Scotland, for the export of their raw produce, and the import of coal, lime, and other articles required for consumption. In the weights and measures used here, there is now less variety than in most other parts of Scotland, the Winchester bushel and the avoirdupois weight being in general use. By the former, all the corn, potatoes, &c. are measured, and the prices stated; the weight of the corn, however, being attended to, in estimating its value, as well as the measure. Thus, a bushel of wheat weighing 60 lbs. is worth more than the same measure, of which the weight is only 56 lbs. It is to be wished that this practice were general in other parts of Scotland, where the great diversity of weights and measures, sometimes even in the same county, occasions so much inconvenience.
Wigtownshire is not rich in antiquities. The most noted ruins are those of Dunskey Castle, situated on the verge of a precipice, a little to the south of Portpatrick; Castle Kennedy, the ancient seat of the family of Cassillis, in the parish of Insch; and the abbey of Glenluce. But the most interesting remains of this kind, perhaps, are what are called the Standing Stones of Torrhouse, in the parish of Wigtown; consisting of 19 erect pieces of granite, within a circle of 218 feet, and several large stones standing singly at a little distance to the south and east. There are also two cairns or barrows in the same quarter.
The population, according to the census of 1801, was 22,918; in 1811 it had increased to 26,891; and in 1821 to 33,240; of which 15,837 were males, and 17,403 were females. The families employed in agriculture were 3525; in trade and manufactures 2089, in all other occupations 1160. The increase of population from 1811 to 1821 was 6349.
See Smith's Survey of Galloway, and the general works quoted under the former Scottish counties.