A vision of Britain through time
A vision of Britain from 1801 to now.
Including maps, statistical trends and historical descriptions.
A vision of Britain through time
A vision of Britain from 1801 to now.
Including maps, statistical trends and historical descriptions.
Kirkbean, a village and a coast parish of SE Kirkcudbrightshire. The village, one of the prettiest in the South of Scotland, stands upon Kirkbean Burn, 1 mile W of the estuary of the NITH, 10½ miles E by S of Dalbeattie station, and 12 S of Dumfries, under which it as a post office.
The parish, containing also the villages of Carsethorn, Southerness, and Prestonmill, is bounded N by Newabbey, E by the estuary of the Nith, S by the Solway Firth, and W by Cohend. Its utmost length, from N to S, exclusive of foreshore, is 45/8 miles; its breadth varies between 17/8 and 4 miles; and its area is 19,792 acres, of which 11,227¼ are foreshore, 113 links, and 514¼ water. The great extent of foreshore is due to the peculiar character of the Solway tides, which, flowing with voluminous and prodigious rush, and ebbing with a general recess of their waters, have here less of the high breast-work ` bore ' than in the upper reaches of the firth, yet here have such rapidity and force as occasionally to upset vessels, or to drag a ship's anchor a considerable distance. The coast, with a length of 9½ miles, makes a sudden bend from a southerly to a westerly direction at Southerness Point, where a disused lighthouse forms a conspicuous landmark. On the E side it is slightly indented by Gillfoot and Carse Bays, the latter of which, 1 mile NNE of Kirkbean village, affords safe anchorage to vessels waiting a spring tide to take them up the Nith, or encountering contrary winds when coming down. A sea-wall, 1¼ mile long, and in places 12 feet high, was built in 1866-67 to protect the farm of South Carse from the tide; and mostly the shore is low and sandy, with belts of links, gained slowly from the sea; but in the neighbourhood of Arbigland, midway between Carsethorn and Southerness Point, are precipices of considerable height and some singular rocks, of which the Thirl Stane forms a natural Gothic arch. Kirkbean Burn, rising on the NW border, runs 4 miles east-south-eastward and northward to Carse Bay. Prestonmill Burn, rising near the W border, winds 3½ miles eastward, till it falls into Kirkbean Burn, ½ mile E of the village; several smaller streams rise in the interior and run to the sea; and Southwick Water, over the last 2¼ miles of its course, meanders along the Cohend boundary. The surface has all a north-north-westward ascent towards ` huge Criffel's hoary top, ' attaining 1632 feet above sea-level at Boreland Hill, and 1800 at Douglas's Cairn on the Newabbey border-heights that command magnificent views across the Solway Firth, to the mountains of Cumberland and Westmoreland, to the Isle of Man, and even in clear weather, to North Wales and Ireland. The rocks of the hills are primary-granite and syenite, with veins of porphyry and strata of slate; those of the plains comprise a very coarse sandstone and an inferior kind of limestone, and at Southerness show some indications of coal. The soil over a tract of 1000 acres, called the Merse, is a light and sandy conquest from the sea, nearly all of it arable; in the SE district is a rich and deep clayey loam; and elsewhere, except on the hills, is of various but very productive qualities. Nearly half of all the parish is in tillage, a fair proportion is under wood, and the rest is commonage, pastoral, or waste. Antiquities are ruins of Wreaths Castle, which belonged to the Regent Morton; the site of Cavens Castle; the market-cross, 7 feet high, of the quondam village of East Preston; and remains of the moat and ditch of what is called M `Culloch's Castle. Admiral John Campbell (1719-90), who sailed with the circumnavigator Anson; Dr Edward Milligan (1786-1833), the distinguished lecturer on medical science in Edinburgh; and John Paul, afterwards notorious as Paul Jones (1747-92), were natives. Mansions, noticed separately, are Arbigland and Cavens. Kirkbean is in the presbytery and synod of Dumfries; the living is worth £300. The parish church, built in 1766, has a handsome tower, added in 1840, and is amply commodious. There is also a Free church; and two public schools, Kirkbean and Preston, with respective accommodation for 120 and 62 children, had (1881) an average attendance of 93 and 38, and grants of £83, 5s. and £32, 2s. Valuation (1860) £6864, (1883) £9489, 7s. 10d. Pop. (1801) 696, (1831) 802, (1861) 942, (1871) 825, (1881) 794.—Ord. Sur., shs. 6, 5, 1863-57.
(F.H. Groome, Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland (1882-4); © 2004 Gazetteer for Scotland)
| Linked entities: | |
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| Feature Description: | "a village and a coast parish" (ADL Feature Type: "populated places") |
| Administrative units: | Kirkbean ScoP Kirkcudbrightshire ScoCnty |
| Place: | Kirkbean |
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