Dumfries and Galloway is one of the 32 unitary council areas of Scotland, located in the western part of the Southern Uplands. It is bordered by East Ayrshire, South Ayrshire, and South Lanarkshire to the north; Scottish Borders to the north-east; the English county of Cumbria, the Solway Firth, and the Irish Sea to the south, and the North Channel to the west. The administrative centre and largest settlement is the town of Dumfries. The second largest town is Stranraer, located 76 miles (122 km) to the west of Dumfries on the North Channel coast.
Kirkcudbrightshire or the County of Kirkcudbright or the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright is one of the historic counties of Scotland, covering an area in the south-west of the country. Until 1975, Kirkcudbrightshire was an administrative county used for local government. Since 1975, the area has formed part of Dumfries and Galloway for local government purposes. Kirkcudbrightshire continues to be used as a registration county for land registration. A lower-tier district called Stewartry covered the majority of the historic county from 1975 to 1996. The area of Stewartry district is still used as a lieutenancy area. Dumfries and Galloway Council also has a Stewartry area committee.
Langholm, also known colloquially as the "Muckle Toon", is a burgh in Dumfries and Galloway, southern Scotland. Langholm lies between four hills in the valley of the River Esk in the Southern Uplands.
Dumfriesshire or the County of Dumfries or Shire of Dumfries is a historic county and registration county in southern Scotland. The Dumfries lieutenancy area covers a similar area to the historic county.
Gretna is a town in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, originally part of the historic county of Dumfriesshire. It is located close to the A74(M) on the border of Scotland and England and near the mouth of the River Esk.
The River Esk, also known as the Border Esk, is a river that rises in the Scottish region of Dumfries and Galloway before crossing the border to the English county of Cumbria and flowing into the Solway Firth.
Clan Armstrong is a Scottish clan of the Scottish Borders.
The Debatable Lands, also known as debatable ground, batable ground or threip lands, lay between Scotland and England. It was formerly in question as to which it belonged to when they were distinct kingdoms. For most of its existence, the area was a lawless zone controlled by clans of "border reivers" which terrorized the surrounding areas. It became the last part of Britain to be brought under state control in the middle of the 16th century by James V of Scotland, and was eventually divided between Scotland and England.
Johnnie Armstrong or Johnie Armstrong was a Scottish raider and folk-hero. Johnnie Armstrong of Gilnockie was captured and hanged by King James V in July 1530. He is related to the Baird family. Child ballad number 169 tells of his life.
Gilnockie Tower is a 17th-century tower house, located at the hamlet of Hollows, 2.2 km north of Canonbie, in Dumfriesshire, south-west Scotland. The tower is situated on the west bank of the River Esk. It was originally known as Hollows Tower.
Clan Johnstone is a Border Reiver Scottish clan.
The River Sark or Sark Water is a river best known for forming part of the western border between Scotland and England. Most of its short length, however, is entirely in Scotland. It flows into the estuary of the River Esk just to the south of Gretna.
The Lochmaben Stone is a megalith standing in a field, nearly a mile west of the Sark mouth on the Solway Firth, three hundred yards or so above high water mark on the farm of Old Graitney in Dumfries & Galloway in Scotland. The area is also known as Stormont. Together with a smaller stone it is all that is left of a stone circle dating back to around 3000BC.
The Anglo-Scottish border is an internal border of the United Kingdom separating Scotland and England which runs for 96 miles (154 km) between Marshall Meadows Bay on the east coast and the Solway Firth in the west.
The Scots' Dike or dyke is a three and a half mile / 5.25 km long linear earthwork, constructed by the English and the Scots in 1552 to mark the division of the Debatable Lands and thereby settle the exact boundary between the Kingdom of Scotland and the Kingdom of England. The kingdoms were conjoined in 1707.
The Battle of Sark, or the Battle of Lochmaben Stone, was fought between Scotland and England on 23 October 1448 or 1449. It was a decisive Scottish victory, the first since the Battle of Otterburn in 1388, and the last pitched battle to be fought between the two kingdoms during the Medieval period.
Canonbie railway station served the village of Canonbie, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland from 1862 to 1967 on the Border Union Railway.
Castleton is a civil parish in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland, in the former Roxburghshire, in the extreme south of the Borders area. It is bounded by Northumberland (England), Dumfries and Galloway, and the parishes of Hobkirk, Southdean and Teviothead. The village of Castleton was commenced in 1793. It was built as a result of the land clearances in the 1790s when people were forced to move from Old Castleton village. While the parish retained the name Castleton, the village later became identified as New Castleton or Newcastleton. The parish is also known by its older name Liddesdale
Riddings Junction Viaduct is a disused cross-border railway bridge over Liddel Water between Kirkandrews, in Cumbria, north-western England, and Canonbie in Dumfries and Galloway, south-western Scotland. It is a listed building in both countries; the Scottish section is category A listed, and the English section is Grade II*.
