a peninsular county situated at the southwest corner of Scotland, is bounded on the west by the Irish Channel, on the north by Ayrshire, on the east by Kirkcudbrightshire and the Solway Firth, and on the south by the Irish Sea. It is the nearest part of Great Britain to Ireland, the ferry between Port-Patrick and Donaghadee being only about 20 miles across. No part of the county is above 13 miles from the sea, which indents it in three great bays, viz., those of Wigtown, Luce, and Lochryan, the latter of which affords a safe harbour of refuge.

The length of the county from east to west is 34 miles; its mean breadth 24. It is divided into three districts, the Machars or low country, lying between Wigtown and Luce Bays; the Rhinns, which comprehends the portion lying west of a line drawn between Luce Bay and Lochryan; and the Moors, which include the remainder, being the uncultivated heaths and sheep-walks forming more than a third of the whole county, but now every year undergoing diminution from the progress of agricultural improvement.

The following list shows the population of the county at different dates—1755, 16,466; 1801, 22,918; 1831, 36,258; 1851, 43,389.

The population has thus nearly doubled within the last fifty years. The number of square miles in the county being 511, there are 85 inhabitants to each square mile. The number of inhabited houses in 1851 was 6902.

Wigtown, being a comparatively isolated county, the native inhabitants can trace their connection with each other's families, and their own descent, through many generations. There are few Galloway families, even among the better class of farmers, who cannot count back to the times of persecution in the seventeenth century. The surnames which prevailed in the county at a very remote period are still common, such as Macdowall, Macculloch, Mackie, Maclellan, Macmillan, Macgill, Macguffie, Macgeoch, Macracken, Adair, Agnew, Stewart, Hannay, Broadfoot, Donnan, Milroy. The family of Stewart, Earl of Galloway, claims the representation of the line of Darnley. One of the oldest families in the county is that of Macdowall Logan, a very remote ancestor of whom is said to have slain a Scottish king of the period. But the proximity of this county to Ireland has naturally led to a considerable influx of Irish settlers of the poorer class, and among the labouring population so large an infusion of that element has taken place that it is now rare to find a peasant family of purely Scottish blood. Very many of the best of the native agricultural labourers have been forced by the competition of Irish labour to emigrate to America, where their industry and frugal habits have found a better recompense than at home.

The climate is salubrious. On the seacoast, and in sheltered situations, the range of the thermometer during the winter months is nearly the same as that of South Devon. The soil rapidly dries after rain, so that, although there is a considerable fall of rain during the year, the air is not relaxing. And as there is never a heavy fall of rain without being followed by a brisk wind, the climate is found to be on the whole clear and bracing. The summer temperature is not in proportion so high as that of winter, but the sheltered shores and bays of this county afford many eligible places of residence for the invalid, milder than almost any other part of Scotland, and very little inferior to the south of England.

The surface of the county does not anywhere rise to a great elevation. The Moors are a range of elevated table-land, sloping towards the streams by which they are drained. From the peninsular character of the county the rivers are not important. The Cree and the Bladenoch, both of which flow into the Bay of Wigtown, are navigable, the former three Wigtown miles, and the latter two. But the county abounds with spacious bays and harbours. The most important harbours are Stranraer and Cairnryan on Lochryan; Port-Patrick on the Irish Channel; Stairhaven, Dromore, and Port-William, on the Bay of Luce; Isle of Whithorn, Garliestown, Wigton, and Carty, on the Bay of Wigtown. These two latter bays form two remarkable promontories, the Borough Head on the south-east, and the Mull of Galloway on the southwest, the two most southerly points in Scotland. Kirkmaiden parish ("frae Maidenkirk to Johnny Groats") extends to the extremity of the Mull of Galloway, and is the southernmost parish of Scotland.

The principal towns in the county are Stranraer, Wigtown, and Whithorn, of which a separate account has been given. Newton-Stewart, though not a royal burgh, is in point of business and population the second in the county. Port-Patrick, whose population has been for some years stationary, is likely to rise into more importance having become the terminus of the railway from Dumfries, which forms the great line of communication, by the shortest sea-passage, between Great Britain and Ireland.

The rapid advance which takes place, under improved systems of agriculture, in the culture of the better kinds of corn is well exemplified in this county. Seventy years ago hardly any wheat was produced in even the most fertile parts of the county, the soil and climate being then considered wholly unsuited for wheat. In 1855 the county produced 174,000 bushels of wheat. In 1791 so rare was a crop of turnips that the worthy minister of Mochrum declares of his parish then, that "the boys set upon the only plot, and carried it off like the apples of an orchard." In 1855 there were upwards of 15,000 acres of turnips in the county; and a like progress is visible in every department of husbandry.

There is much diversity of soil in the county. The Rhinns and Machars are chiefly a hazelly loam, dry and well adapted for turnip husbandry and the dairy. The Moors are chiefly devoted to pasture, and as yet the old black-faced breed of sheep have been found the most useful kind of stock on such land. But the introduction of railway communication, opening up markets, and rendering the conveyance of lime and other manures matter of little difficulty, will make a change of more importance on the Moors than along the seacoast, which has long possessed these advantages. No part of the Moors is at a great elevation, and the greater part does not exceed 450 to 500 feet above sea-level. Agricultural improvement in that district may therefore be expected to make great and rapid progress as soon as facilities for the conveyance of lime are afforded.

The richest district in the county lies along the Bay of Wigtown, from the Burgh Head to Newton-Stewart. It possesses a warm southern aspect, and escapes much of the rain which falls along the opposite range of highlands in Kirkcudbrightshire. The Baldoon estate is a tract of rich alluvial soil, lighter in character but otherwise very similar to the carse-lands of Falkirk, Stirling, and Perth. But owing to the moister western climate, the corn, however bulky it may appear, seldom yields anything like the produce per acre of those drier districts. The most approved systems of husbandry have been introduced into this county, tile-drainage having been early and extensively adopted, and the use of artificial manures and sheep-feeding on turnips very generally practised. A great stimulus has been given not only to the agriculture of this county, but to that of the whole kingdom, by the example of Mr David McCulloch of Auchness, in the Rhinns.

The admirable breed of black polled Galloway cattle have their origin in this and the neighbouring county; but for cheese-making the Ayrshire breed is preferred. Wigtown. Dairy farming is practised extensively. For many years the Dunlop or Ayrshire system of cheese-making was alone followed. In 1845 Mr. Caird introduced the Lancashire fashion on his farm at Baldoon, which proving entirely successful, he a few years afterwards adopted, with similar success, the Cheshire system. It was thus satisfactorily established that the superior quality of English over Scotch cheese was due far more to the mode of manufacture than to any peculiarity of either soil or climate. In the following year the Ayrshire farmers brought down to their county a celebrated Cheddar cheese-maker from Somersetshire, who gave lessons in his process in various parts of the district. Simultaneously with this, a native of Wigtownshire visited the Cheddar district, acquired a knowledge of the process, and carried it out successfully in his own county. The Cheddar system of cheese-making thus came to be introduced simultaneously in Wigtownshire and Ayrshire, and no agricultural improvement of modern times has contributed more immediately to the wealth of the dairy farmers. It is now either adopted altogether, or in part, by every cheese-farmer in the south-western counties, and the annual increase of value obtained in these counties, simply by the adoption of an improved system of cheese-making, cannot be estimated at less than £100,000.

The land of the county is held by little more than a dozen proprietors, being chiefly in large estates which are never subdivided. There are very few properties with a rental under £500, and the bulk of the land in the county belongs to landlords having a rental of from £3000 to £30,000. The average rent of land in 1810 was 8s. 6d. an acre; that of 1860, on an aggregate of £170,000, was 11s. 8d.; so that the gross increase in a period of fifty years is about 34 per cent. Leases generally extend to nineteen years, and the class of farmers in point of general intelligence and professional skill is equal to that of any other district of Scotland.

Wigtownshire has no wealth but that derived from agriculture and live stock. There are no mineral treasures, nor any manufactures of importance. A distillery at Bladenoch, of some celebrity for the quality of its whisky, a woollen manufactory at Kirkcowan, large steam sawmills at Stranraer, three or four potato-starch-mills, with several breweries, comprise the whole of its manufacturing industry. The salmon and white fishery is followed at the mouths of the rivers and along various places on the coast. Ship-building, on a very limited scale, is carried on at Garliestown, Port-William, and Stranraer; but, except for annual cargoes at each of those ports, of North American timber, there are no ocean-going vessels in the district.

The county is distinguished for the antiquity and number of its religious houses. The oldest Christian church built of stone in Scotland was situated at the Isle of Whithorn, and in the twelfth century a monastery was founded at Whithorn by Fergus, Lord of Galloway. The same individual established an abbey at Saulseat, near Stranraer. The abbey of Luce was founded in 1190, and that of Wigton in 1262. At the Reformation, Wigtownshire contained twenty-one parish churches, exclusive of various subsidiary chapels. The number of parishes is now reduced to seventeen. There are likewise fourteen Free Churches, nine United Presbyterian, three Reformed Presbyterian, one Original Seceder, one Congregationalist, and two Roman Catholic chapels in the county.

The history of Wigtownshire, as part of Galloway, is not uninteresting. The aborigines, who were of Celtic origin, were the Novantae. Galloway was invaded by the Romans, and after their retirement in 448 was successively overrun by the Anglo-Saxons of Northumbria, and by the Picts. But their characteristic customs and manners continued to predominate, and some remains of them may even be traced to this day. They were distinguished for daring heroism and intrepidity, insomuch that they were called Wigton, the wild Scots of Galloway, and obtained from the Scottish kings the privilege of forming the van of every battle at which they were present. The province was for a considerable period independent, and governed by its own princes and lords. Alan, who died in 1234, was the last of the ancient lords of Galloway. John Balliol was grandson of Alan, and thus possessed extensive estates in Galloway. The county of Wigtown, with the title of Earl, was conferred (1341) by David II. on Sir Malcolm Fleming, but Fleming in 1372 was obliged to dispose of his estates to Archibald Douglas. From this date the Douglasses reigned supreme till their forfeiture in 1453. The county was then parcelled out among different families, many of whom still remain, and the Agnewes of Lochmaw were created hereditary sheriffs. This office remained in their family till the abolition of hereditary jurisdictions in 1747, with the exception of seventeen years previous to the Revolution when Graham of Claverhouse, and his brother Colonel David Graham, were appointed joint-sheriffs.

Several eminent men were natives of this county, namely, St Ninian, who founded the bishopric of Candida Casa (Whithorn), and who died in the fifth century; Gavin Dunbar, tutor to James V., and afterwards Bishop of Glasgow, and Lord Chancellor of the kingdom; Sir Patrick Vans, ambassador to Denmark in the time of James VI., and a Lord of Session; Andrew M'Dowall, Lord Bankton, author of Institutes of the Law of Scotland. Some distinguished men were connected with the county either by office or the possession of property, such as Archbishop Beaton, prior of Whithorn; Bishop Cowper; Lord Stair, the famous lawyer; his son, the first Earl of Stair; and grandson, Marshal Stair; and, in recent times, John, eighth Earl of Stair, a distinguished agricultural improver.

There are various noblemen and gentlemen's seats in the county, of which the principal are, Galloway House (Earl of Galloway), near Garlieston; Glasserton House (Sir Stewart, Esq.), not far from Whithorn; Monreith (Sir William Maxwell), near Port-William; Darnaguet (Sir James D. Hay), between Glenluce and Stranraer; Culhorn (Earl of Stair), near Stranraer; Lochnaw Castle (Sir A. Agnew), likewise in the neighbourhood of Stranraer; and Danisky (Sir E. Blair), near Port-Patrick.

market-town, royal and parliamentary burgh of Scotland, capital of Wigtownshire, at the mouth of the Bladenoch in Wigtown Bay, 9 miles N. of Whithorn, and 129 S.W. of Edinburgh. It stands on a slight eminence, and contains many well built and handsome houses. The principal street is broad, and has in its centre a square containing a bowling-green. Near this stands a handsome granite cross. The town-hall is an old building, with a spire at one end. A new parish church has recently been built; but the old building is still standing, and in the churchyard there are interesting monuments of several martyrs of the time of Charles II. On a hill to the north-west of the town, a "martyrs' monument" was erected in 1858. The other places of worship belong to the Free Church and to the United Presbyterians. Wigtown has a grammar school, subscription library, assembly rooms, court-house, prison, and custom-house. There are no manufactures here of any importance, except a distillery in the adjacent village of Bladenoch. The harbour, which is in the mouth of the river, is difficult of entrance, and nearly dry at low water. On the 31st December 1858, the number of vessels belonging to the port was 51, tonnage 2813. In that year there entered 577 sailing vessels, tonnage 18,140; and 80 steamers, tonnage 19,349; and there cleared, 390 sailing vessels, tonnage 11,740; and 91 steamers, tonnage 33,434. The burgh is governed by 18 councillors, among whom are a provost and 2 bailies; and it unites with Stranraer, Whithorn, and New Galloway in returning a member to parliament. Pop. (1851) of the parliamentary burgh, 2120; of the royal do., 2232.