Wigtownshire Ramblers - Wigtown Circular March 2012

I've been over the other side of the country in the Kingdom of Fife this last week.( post to follow )

Back now for this week's walk which will be led by the 'Weaver'.

Her report to follow the photographs (thanks to Scoop for her contributions)

It's a circular around the environs of Wigtown.

The County Building Wigtown is our start point....

....and we're off

Our first point of interest is at the local church graveyard to see the graves of the Wigtown Martyrs

The church is dedicated to an obscure British saint known as St Machute

This period was known as 'The Killing Time' in Scottish History

A time of unbelievable savagery

Moving down to Wigtown Bay we're greeted by thousands of geese out on the wetlands

We leave the old railway track at the Old Station House

I don't think the thermometer works

Lot's of birds near the harbour

Now we're following the Bladnoch riverbank.  

Now there's a pretty pair of legs

Nearing Bladnoch Bridge

Bladnoch Distillery

As the 'Weaver' says in her report, it's fortuitous that we bump into the owner

I must remember to re-upload some video I have. 

The 'Weaver' points out her handicraft

I wouldn't have objected if the walk had concluded at this point...

......but it didn't happen and we're on our way again

Lunchtime by an old broken tree 

Now we're on a field trip

A view over to the Galloway Hills

A track leads from Hollybush to Glencarse

The Wigtownshire Ramblers Drum Majorettes 

A view over Kirkland

Passing the old Ferguson tractor brings us to Lovers Walk back into Wigtown

Outside the Wigtown Motor Company

A slice of meringue pie finished the walk for me. Very tasty

Ramblers walk Saturday 3rd March 2012

The promise of wet and misty weather did not put 16 ramblers off their Saturday walk, and their constancy was rewarded with a fairly warm and sunny day.

A circular walk around Wigtown began at the County buildings and proceeded down Bank Street, out through the portals of the old east gate, to the churchyard where many viewed the pre reformation church which was used until the mid-1800s. The inscriptions on the graves of the martyrs, Margaret Lachlane and Margaret Wilson, caused great interest.  They endured a watery death at the stake in 1685, for adhering to their Covenanting faith and refusing to swear allegiance to the king.

Interest on the opposite side of the road was found in a stone carved with a cross in the garden of ‘Croft-an-Righ’. This is thought to be the site of a Dominican monastery, founded in 1247 by the mother of John Baliol, Devorgilla. The only lingering memory of this now is in the names of the surrounding area - Friarland, Monk Hill, and Friar’s well.

Passing to the end of the lane, the walkers took the path by the former harbour, where a stone memorial was erected in 1936 to mark the spot where the martyrs died. This area is no longer subject to regular tides; the river has altered its course and the harbour is now situated further south. The route for the walk went along by the old railway line and past the site of Wigtown castle where eyes were strained to see the remains, in the lumps and bumps of the marsh grass.

Leaving the old railway track by the former station house, it was interesting to see a thermometer above the door; the warm day surely was not one degree above freezing!

A newly flooded piece of wetland provided good bird watching with swans, coots, moorhens and mallards in evidence and a great flock of geese which took to the air as the walkers passed. The path skirted the reeds and arrived at the river Bladnoch , where the high level walk along the bank allowed a good view of the flotsam left by recent tides, a pair of dummy legs seeming to have got stuck in the act of climbing over a fence.

The old Bladnoch railway bridge caused an obstacle in the river walk, but all negotiated it with alacrity, and the distillery was approached with many wishful thoughts of a dram. Although the building was closed, a fortuitous meeting with the owner, well known for his Irish hospitality, provided a warming taste of twenty year old amber liquid.

The company now jollied along a narrow path between the river and the leat which provides water for the distillery. This leat allows sweet water, from above the tidal limit and therefore uncontaminated by the briny sea, to be brought about a mile and a half to the works. It was dug in 1830 by the same navvies who were also paving the streets of Wigtown.

Half way down the leat the ramblers crossed a narrow walkway and Cotland woods were entered. The promises of bluebells were much in evidence, but willow catkins were the only flowers seen here today. Not far from gate where the woods were left, some fallen trees provided a good seat for lunch, with a view back to the distillery and the surrounding countryside, pretty and green in the weak sunshine.

Onwards and upwards the refreshed company strode, with ever expanding views over the water to the hills beyond.  A few days earlier this had been the route for the Junior Cross Country Championships for Dumfries and Galloway, and the way was still just as muddy as the runners had experienced, sometimes with mire oozing right over boots.

Sheep and lambs were a distraction as fields were crossed, past Cotland Loch and over the brow of House Hill until at last the Kirkcowan road was reached, crossed, and a newly cleared lane taken, still deep with mud, skirting Kirvennie Hill and linking with Broadfield farm track over more muddy fields. By Hollybush house, Common Moss Lane was entered, a grassy track which soon brushed some of the mud from the boots.

The streets of Wigtown were found again via Lovers Walk and Kirkland road.  Wigtown Motor Company was the final place of interest to be passed, with its huge pile of spare car parts. This firm was originally begun as Wigtown Engineering Company, by Ronald McCutcheon, known locally as the ‘King of Speed’.  From 1946 onwards he won races on his motor cycle, including the Isle of Man TT races, he developed the ‘Buckler Special’ racing car, and also competed in power boat racing, winning the Daily Express Cup.

Once back at the county buildings and boots changed, a warm welcome was given to the ramblers at the Wigtown House Hotel where the company repaired for tea.

Next week’s walk is a 7 mile coastal delight from Corsewall to Lady Bay. Meet for car sharing at Riverside Newton Stewart, 9am, Breastworks, Stranraer, 9.30am or at the walk start, Corsewall lighthouse (NW 982 726) 10am. If going straight to the start please contact walk leader 01671 403351. All are welcome.

  

Wigtownshire Ramblers Kilsture to Wigtown November 2011

Saturday the 5th 0f November.
We're a group of 24 for today's walk.
It's a glorious morning.This will be the first dry walk for ages.

It's a linear walk and some cars have been left in Wigtown.The start point is the Kilsture forest car park on the Garlieston road.
We'll pass the Osprey's nest on today's walk,but because it's supposed to be a secret location I'll give no more away.

After crossing the main road we take the South Balfern farm road.

Some fine looking horses regard us with interest.

At South Balfern the road turns north.
We next pass through the very popular Drumroamin Farm camping and caravan park.There's not many caravans about today,but when I passed through here in the spring/summer it was packed solid.

Now we pass through a couple of green fields to get to the stone track at Skellarie.
Although sheep graze out here on the Cree and Bladnoch estuaries,there's nothing else apart from the stone track which we'll follow north.(there's a feature on the OS map called Skellarie rock, but I don't recall seeing it).

Here's some interesting information on the area we're walking today.
This is from 'History of the Lands and their Owners in Galloway' by Peter Handyside MacKerlie published in 1906,now out of copyright.
As regards the derivation of the names, Baldoon is from baile-duin, the town of the castle or fort. East of North Balfem there is the site of a camp. In Pontes Map, we also find a place called Castelarwick, near to the point opposite to Wigton, with a burn between it and Baldoon Castle. Balfern has been derived from baile-fearna, the town of the alder tree, or fearn, alder trees. The Gaelic fearna, for the alder tree, has certainly been a useful one to topographers to fill up a want which evidently has been felt. North and South Balfern may be rendered the town of the alder tree or trees. Under Carsphairn in our account of the parish, we have entered on the subject concerning the word fern ; but the position of Balfem does not admit of the same solution. Pont spells it Balfairn, and possibly it may be a corruption of the Gaelic baile-fearain, the prefix for a village, etc., and the suffix used to express land in contradistinction to water. At the period the name was given, the low lands of Baldoon wore probably partly under water, as part of the Bay of Wigton. They are close to Balfern. On the shore near Bal-doon, there was a farm called Skyith by Pont. It is now absorbed, but the name, as mentioned elsewhere, is from the Norse skag, ska, or skagi, a low cape or ness, which applies to the position as it was known. Another farm was named Skel-larlie (spelled Skellary by Pont), but which name has also disappeared. There is a rock, however, called Skellarie off the shore of Wigton Bay, where the land is. The name seems to be from the Norse word skeljar, meaning shells.
On the south side of the mouth of the Bladenoch, on that part of the Baldoon property reclaimed from the sea, are the cockle shell beds which Symson (1684) mentions as furnishing incredible quantities thrown up by the sea, and which then, as now, were used over the whole shire for lime, after being burned.

We continue north passing the remains of what was the 'Tracked Target Range' of the former Wigtown R.A.F camp.

We continue up alongside Baldoon Sands.We see quite a number of geese in the air.A Mumuration,Chattering or Flock of Starlings (take your pick of collective nouns) are performing great aerial feats.

After passing the Crook of Baldoon,we stop for lunch.

Stones are arranged to make comfortable seats.

After lunch we retrace our steps to the Crook of Baldoon.This picture makes me think of our government.

'Sheep leading the blind' .

Even more geese flow over as the sheep leave us to make our own way.

At the Crook of Baldoon we turn inland.

The above map is courtesy of Secret Scotland .

We make our way to the Control Tower.

The main runway points towards Cairnsmore of Fleet.

It's a fun look round the control tower.
Lofty didn't volunteer to show a parachute landing.

Along on the main runway myself and Scoop take some interesting pictures.

Our next target,the ruins of Baldoon Castle seem close as the crow flies........

........but we aren't crows.

Eventually we reach Baldoon.
It's haunted by the ghost of Janet Dalrymple.


Here's an extract from Gazetteer of Scottish and Irish Ghosts by Peter Underwood, Souvenir Press, 1973.


The ruins themselves, quiet and deserted and with an air of tragedy about them, are haunted by the ghost of Janet Dalrymple who walks here in the small hours, her white garments splashed with blood. In the middle of the seventeenth century Janet, the eldest daughter of Sir James Dalrymple, was forced by her parents to marry David Dunbar, heir of Sir David Dunbar of Baldoon, although she loved the practically penniless Archibald, third Lord Rutherford. Dutifully, and worn down by her parents' persistent objections to Archibald, Janet at last married David Dunbar in the kirk of Old Luce, two miles from Carsecleugh Castle, the old home of the Dalrymples. Her two brothers took her to the church and both declared later that her hands were cold as ice on that hot summer day.


There are three main versions of the events that gave rise to the haunting. In the first version the bride stabs her bridegroom in the bridal chamber and dies insane; in the second version the bridegroom stabs the bride and is found insane; and in the third version the disappointed Archibald conceals himself in the bridal chamber and escapes through the window into the garden after stabbing the bridegroom. Whatever the facts, Sir Walter Scott immortalised the story in The Bride of Lammermoor and describes how the door of the bridal chamber was broken down after hideous shrieks were heard from within and how the bridegroom was found lying across the threshold, dreadfully wounded and streaming with blood, while the bride crouched in a chimney corner, her white night-gown splashed with blood, grinning and muttering and quite insane. She never recovered and died shortly afterwards, on September 12th, 1669.


Dunbar is said to have recovered from his wounds but refused to discuss the events of his bridal night. In due course he married a daughter of the seventh Earl of Eglinton and eventually died from a fall from his horse in 1682. Archibald, Janet's true lover, never married and died in 1685. A macabre touch is added to the story by local tradition that it was the Devil who nearly killed Dunbar and who tormented poor Janet until she was demented. Whatever the events of the night, they seem to have left their mark here forever and there are some who claim to have seen the sad and awesome ghost of Janet wandering pathetically among the quiet ruins, most often on the anniversary of her death.

It's too early in the day to catch sight of Janet, but I believe this is a popular venue for ghosthunters.

Leaving Baldoon we pass cows housed for the winter and looking comfortable.

Now we make our way to Bladnoch.The river is very reflective over to the distillery.

After passing through the village we make our way back to the rivers edge to access the railway track.

There's junk along much of the path.Perhaps it isn't junk to the owners !

As we pass Maidland Pond,Wigtown comes into sight.

Emerging onto Harbour road we can see a number of swans on the RSPB ponds.

Now we regain the old railway path taking us past the site of the Martyr's Stake ,a monument to the two women member of the Covenanters who were drowned deliberately here.

A heron ignores our passing.

A short climb up the church brae gets us to the cars and the walk finish.

After reclaiming the vehicles from Kilsture, coffee,tea,scones and other delicacies were enjoyed at the Wigtown House Hotel. 

A very nice walk indeed.