Place:Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland

Watchers
NameDumfries and Galloway
Alt namesD & Gsource: BIAB Online (1999-2000) accessed 16 Dec 2002; Gazetteer of Great Britain (1999) xvii
Dùn Phris agus Gall-Ghaidhealaibhsource: Wikipedia
TypeUnitary authority
Coordinates55.017°N 4°W
Located inScotland     (1996 - )
See alsoDumfriesshire, Scotlandcounty making up part of present-day Dumfries and Galloway
Kirkcudbrightshire, Scotlandcounty making up part of present-day Dumfries and Galloway
Wigtownshire, Scotlandcounty making up part of present-day Dumfries and Galloway
Galloway, Scotlandregional administration of same area 1975-1996
Contained Places
Castle
Threave Castle
General region
Galloway ( 1996 - )
source: Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names


the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

Dumfries and Galloway is one of 32 unitary council areas of Scotland and is located in the western Southern Uplands. It comprises the historic counties of Dumfriesshire, Kirkcudbrightshire, and Wigtownshire, the latter two of which are collectively known as Galloway. The administrative centre and largest settlement is the town of Dumfries. The second largest town is Stranraer, 75 miles to the west on the Irish Sea coast.

Following the 1975 reorganisation of local government in Scotland, the three counties were joined to form a single region of Dumfries and Galloway, with four districts within it. Since the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994, however, it has become a unitary local authority. For lieutenancy purposes, the historic counties are largely maintained with its three lieutenancy areas being Dumfries, Wigtown and the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright.

To the north, Dumfries and Galloway borders East Ayrshire, South Ayrshire, and South Lanarkshire; in the east the Borders; and to the south the county of Cumbria in England and the Solway Firth.

Contents

Divisions

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

The Dumfries and Galloway Council region is composed of counties and their sub-areas. From east to west:

The term Dumfries and Galloway has been used since at latest the 19th century – by 1911 the three counties had a united sheriffdom under that name. Dumfries and Galloway covers the majority of the western area of the Southern Uplands, it also hosts Scotland's most Southerly point, at the Mull of Galloway in the west of the region.

Water systems and transport routes through the Southern Uplands

The region has a number of south running water systems which break through the Southern Uplands creating the main road, and rail, arteries north–south through the region and breaking the hills up into a number of ranges.

The A701 branches off the M74 at Beattock, goes through the town of Moffat, climbs to Annanhead above the Devil's Beef Tub (at the source of the River Annan) before passing the source of the River Tweed and carrying on to Edinburgh. Until fairly recent times the ancient route to Edinburgh travelled right up Annandale to the Beef Tub before climbing steeply to Annanhead. The present road ascends northward on a ridge parallel to Annandale but to the west of it which makes for a much easier ascent.

From Moffat the A708 heads north east along the valley of Moffat Water (Moffatdale) on its way to Selkirk. Moffatdale separates the Moffat hills (to the north) from the Ettrick hills to the south.

National scenic areas

There are three National scenic areas within this region.

Governance and place names

The region was created in 1975, by merging the counties of Wigtownshire, Kirkcudbrightshire and Dumfriesshire as a two-tier region with the districts of Wigtownshire, Stewartry, Nithsdale, and Annandale and Eskdale within it. After 1996 the unitary authority became known as Dumfries and Galloway Council still with Wigtownshire, Stewartry, Nithsdale, Annandale and Eskdale within it.

County councils as administrative authorities were created in 1889. The present-day "Dumfries and Galloway Council Area" exists for administrative purposes. The council headquarters is at County Buildings on English Street in Dumfries.

Many of the historic counties of Britain have existed for around 1,000 years or more and are often logical geographical entities in themselves. In Scotland they originated as Sheriffdoms consisting of a group of parishes over which the sheriff had jurisdiction, replacing native "Celtic" forms of government with Norman feudal structures.

Research Tips


This page uses content from the English Wikipedia. The original content was at Dumfries and Galloway. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with WeRelate, the content of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.