Galloway

 

district, Dumfries and Galloway, SW Scotland. The Rhinns, or Rinns, of Galloway is a rocky double peninsula that juts into the North Channel of the Irish Sea; its southern extremity is called the Mull of Galloway and is the southernmost point in Scotland. The black, hornless Galloway cattle have long been bred in this region. Dairying is the primary industry.

Galloway (Scottish Gaelic, Gall-Ghàidhealaibh or Gallobha, Lowland Scots Gallowa) is an area in southwestern Scotland. It usually refers to the former counties of Wigtown (or historically West Galloway) and Kirkcudbright (or historically East Galloway). It is part of the Dumfries and Galloway council area of Scotland.

Galloway is contained by sea to the west and south, the Galloway Hills to the north, and the River Nith to the east; the border between Kirkcudbright and Wigtownshire is marked by the River Cree.

The definition has, however, fluctuated greatly in size over history. The name is also given to a hardy breed of black, hornless beef cattle native to the region (and also to the more distinctive 'Belted Galloway' or 'Beltie'). Galloway has always been slightly isolated due to having 150 miles of rugged coastline and a vast range of largely uninhabited hills to the North.

Geography and Landform

Galloway comprises that part of Scotland southwards from the Southern Upland watershed and westward from the River Nith. Traditionally it has been described as stretching from "the braes of Glenapp to the Nith". Three main river valleys, the Urr, the Ken/Dee, and the Cree, all running north-south, provide much of the good arable land, although there is also some arable land on the coast. Generally however the landscape is rugged and much of the soil is shallow. The generally south slope and southern coast make for mild and wet climate, and there is a great deal of good pasture.

Historically Galloway has been famous both for horses and for cattle rearing, and milk and beef production are both still major industries. There is also substantial timber production and some fisheries. The combination of hills and high rainfall make Galloway ideal for hydroelectric power production, and the Galloway Hydro Power scheme was begun in 1929. Since then, electricity generation has been a significant industry. More recently wind turbines have been installed at a number of locations on the watershed, and a large offshore wind-power plant is planned, increasing Galloway's 'green energy' production.

The northern part of Galloway is exceedingly rugged and forms the largest remaining wilderness in Britain south of the Highlands. This area is known as the Galloway Hills.

Name

Some scholars have proposed that the name 'Galloway' derives from The Gallgaidhill. Daphne Brooke, a popular author of the history of the region, believed that the name was derived from 'Caleddon', the Brythonic form of the name written in Latin 'Caledonia'. The mutation would have gone 'Caleddon', 'Callewyddon', 'Callewydd', 'Galloway', a mutation pattern which can be traced in other Brythonic placenames.^{[citation needed]}

Alternatively, the name may be one of a collection of Germanic placenames which begin 'Gal' and mean 'strangers' or 'foreigners'.

Prehistory

The Romans named the inhabitants of Galloway the Novantae. According to tradition, before the end of Roman rule in Britain, St. Ninian established a church at Whithorn in Galloway in 397 which remained an important place of pilgrimage until the Reformation. The county is rich in prehistoric monuments and relics, amongst the most notable of which are the Drumtroddan Standing Stones (and cup-and-ring carvings), the Torhousekie Stone Circle, and Cairn Holy (a Neolithic Chambered Cairn). There is also evidence of one of the earliest pit-fall traps in Europe which was discovered near Glenluce.

Rerigonium

In the west, the city of Rerigonium (literally 'very royal place'), shown on Ptolemy's map of the world, later referred to in the Welsh Triads as 'Penryn Rionyt' and remembered as one of the 'three thrones of Britain' was probably the caput of the post Roman kingdom of Rheged. Its exact position is uncertain except that it was 'on Loch Ryan', close to modern day Stranraer; it is possible that it is the modern settlement of Dunragit (Dun Rheged).

Anglians

Galloway remained a Brythonic-speaking region until the late 7th century when it was taken over by the Anglian kingdom of Bernicia. Local historian Daphne Brooke has suggested that the Anglians took over the more fertile land and religious centres like Whithorn, leaving the native inhabitants the less fertile upland areas.

The Gallgaidhill

The Annals of Ulster has entries in the years 856, 857 and 859 describing activities of mercenary warbands referred to as 'Gallgaidhill' (literally, 'foreign gaels'). The Gallgaidhill were a group of Norse-Gaels related to the people of Argyll.

Other sourcesOther sources describe these tribes as Picts, but different from other Picts of the North. They spoke a form of Gaelic but not like other Gaels. Because of this they became known as "stranger Gaels" – Gallgaidhel or Galwydel – from which the word "Galloway" is derived.

No sooner had the Romans departed than Britons from Strathclyde and Ayrshire swarmed into the area, destroying villages and making off with whatever plunder they could. Only the inhabitants of the more strongly defended hill forts or crannogs were safe from these raids. The Galloway tribal chiefs met to discuss how best to defend themselves from these raids, attack seemed out of the question as they were not strong enough to invade the populous and well guarded lands of Ayrshire. They opted to follow the lead of the departed Romans and build a wall. Even if this was not strong enough to completely repel the invaders it could at the very least buy enough time for reinforcements to be rushed to the point of attack.

The dyke was eight feet broad at the base with a deep ditch on the northern side. Stone was used where it was readily available, otherwise a mixture of earth and stone. At regular intervals in the wall forts or watchtowers were constructed, one of these forts was circular in shape and was 192 yards in diameter. Each tribe was allocated a section of wall for which it was responsible, first in construction and then in defence. When the task was completed Galloway was cut off from the rest of Scotland by this great dyke, some 80 miles in length. The wall began at Loch Ryan on the West Coast and ran to the northern ends of Loch Mayberry and Ochiltree. From there it followed the line of the upper Cree Valley, and ran along the North of Minnigaff parish, passing Talnotrie and Craigencallie to Dalry. It then headed through Moniaive and Penpont, passed over the River Nith, and then continued more or less in a straight line to Lochmaben. Finally it headed South to end at the Solway Firth near Annan, opposite Bowness where Hadrian’s wall commenced.

It was around this time that the Irish-Scots began to infiltrate Argyll and Galloway, a migration that was to last for many centuries. As they were a Gaelic-speaking people like the Gallovidians, combined with a joint hatred for the Britons of Strathclyde and Ayrshire, probably meant that these were far more welcome visitors.

In 740 AD Alpín mac Echdach, with a large army of northern Picts and Scots from Dál Riata, broke through the great dyke and invaded Galloway. They were defeated by a combined force of Angles and Gallovidians in the valley of the Dee and were forced to retreat westwards.

Fergus of Galloway

If it had not been for Fergus of Galloway (ruled 1120-1161) who established himself in Galloway, the region would rapidly have been absorbed by Scotland. This did not happen because Fergus, his sons, grandsons and great-grandson Alan, Lord of Galloway shifted their allegiance between Scottish and English kings.

Alan died in 1234. He had three daughters and an illegitimate son Thomas. The 'Community of Galloway' wanted Thomas as their 'king'. Alexander III of Scotland supported the daughters (or rather their husbands) and invaded Galloway.

The Community of Galloway was defeated, and Galloway divided up between Alan's daughters, thus bringing Galloway's independent existence to an end.

Medieval History

Alan's eldest daughter, Derbhorgail, married John de Balliol, and their son (also John) became one of the candidates for the Scottish Crown. Consequently, Scotland's Wars of Independence were disproportionately fought in Galloway. There were a large number of new Gaelic placenames being coined post 1320 (e.g. Balmaclellan), because Galloway retained a substantial Gaelic speaking population for several centuries more.

Following the Wars of Independence, Galloway became the fief of Archibald the Grim, Earl of Douglas and his heirs. Whithorn remained an important cult centre, and all the medieval Kings of Scots made pilgrimage there.

Modern history

Galwegian Gaelic seems to have lasted longer than Gaelic in other parts of Lowland Scotland, and Margaret McMurray (d. 1760) of Carrick (outside modern Galloway) appears to be the last recorded speaker.

In the years subsequent to the Union of the Crowns 1603, Galloway underwent radical change, during the War of the Three Kingdoms and Covenanter rebellion.

In modern times, a major ferry port has been set up at Stranraer, and another at Cairnryan.

Galloway in literature

Galloway has been the setting of a number of novels, including Walter Scott's Guy Mannering.

References

A great deal of the modern work on the early and medieval history of Galloway has been done by Daphne Brooke; her work is published in a number of monographs and in

• Brooke, D: Wild Men and Holy Places: Canongate Press, Edinburgh, 1994: ISBN 0-86241-479-2

• Many of her monographs are available online at http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~daphne/

Her unpublished papers and notes are available in Kirkcudbright Museum.

Also, Dr. Richard Oram "The Lordship of Galloway"

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