Galloway
(Gaelic: Gall-Ghàidhealaibh)
is a region in southwestern Scotland comprising the historic
counties of Wigtownshire and Kirkcudbrightshire. Spelling
variations of this name include Gallouay,
Galoway,
Gallaway, Gallway,
Gallawaye, and
Galloay. The name Galloway is derived from the
Gallgaidhel, or
Gallwyddel (“Stranger Gaels”), the original Celtic people
of this region, called Novantae by
the Romans. The last “king” of Galloway died in 1234. During the
14th century the Balliols and
Comyns were the chief families,
succeeded about 1369 by the Douglases
(until 1458) and in 1623 by the Stewarts. The 17th-century
Scottish Presbyterians known as the Covenanters found much
support throughout the region.
Galloway’s economy is predominantly pastoral
in the lowlands, based on dairy farming of the indigenous
hornless
Galloway cattle.
Wigtownshire
or the County of Wigtown, which
forms the western portion of the ancient district of Galloway,
appears to have derived its name from the situation of its chief
town on an eminence whose base was washed by the sea. After the
departure of the Romans, the province became part of the
territories of the Northumbrian kings until the ninth century,
when it fell into the power of the Picts who continued to
exercise a kind of sovereign authority, even after the union of
the two kingdoms by Kenneth II. But the original Celtic
inhabitants retained their ancient customs and heroic character
which caused them to be known as the "wild Scots of Galloway."
The county consists of 17 parishes.
Kirkcudbrightshire
forms the eastern portion of the historic province of Galloway.
After the departure of the Romans from Great Britain in the 5th
century ad, the Celtic
Britons of Kirkcudbrightshire faced invasions by Scots, Angles,
Norwegians, and Danes. The Norsemen ruled the region for 300
years after they invaded it about
ad 800. Unlike the rest of Scotland, Galloway retained
its own code of laws until the late 14th century, a circumstance
that vested great power in the region’s feudal barons. In 1245
John de Balliol became overlord of
Kirkcudbrightshire through the inheritance of his wife,
Devorgilla, daughter of Alan, lord
of Galloway. The Balliols, who owned
great estates in England and France, brought the best of Norman
civilization to the county. Kirkcudbrightshire also became the
home of two large Cistercian abbeys, one at Sweetheart
(1273–1605) that was endowed by Devorgilla
and one at Dundrennan (1142–1605),
both of which are now impressive ruins. Kirkcudbrightshire was
the site of bitter religious controversy during the Scottish
Reformation in the mid-16th century. The royal burgh and former
county town of Kirkcudbright, along the estuary of the River
Dee, remains the principal town in the area, along with Castle
Douglas and Dalbeattie. |