Kirkconnel
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A76 entering Kirkconnel | |
Location within Dumfries and Galloway | |
Population | 1,970 (2022) [lower-alpha 1] [1] |
Language | English Scots |
OS grid reference | NS7311 |
• Edinburgh | 50 miles (80 km) NE |
• London | 312 miles (502 km) SSE |
Council area | |
Lieutenancy area | |
Country | Scotland |
Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
Post town | SANQUHAR |
Postcode district | DG4 |
Dialling code | 01659 |
Police | Scotland |
Fire | Scottish |
Ambulance | Scottish |
UK Parliament | |
Scottish Parliament | |
Kirkconnel (Gaelic: Cille Chonbhaill) is a small parish in Dumfries and Galloway, southwestern Scotland. It is located on the A76 near the head of Nithsdale. Principally it has been a sporting community. The name comes from The Church of Saint Conal. In 1850 the village had only a single street. Next to Kirkconnel is a separate village called Kelloholm.
It is also associated with the ballad Helen of Kirkconnel .
The early church and settlement were situated at the foot of Kirkland Hill on the drove road from Ayrshire to Lanarkshire, which followed the steep incline beside the Glenaylmer Burn. Whether Saint Conal was an Irish monk or the son of a local shepherd befriended and educated by Glasgow's Saint Mungo, Christianity came early to this part of Nithsdale. A Celtic cross, erected in 1880 by the Duke of Buccleuch at the instigation of the minister, the Rev. John Donaldson, marks the reputed burial place of Saint Conal. From the neighborhood of the cross, on a clear day, can be seen the churches at Kirkconnel, Sanquhar and Kirkbride, all associated with Saint Conal.
St Conal's Church is one of the oldest church sites in Southern Scotland with archaeological remains dating to the 9th century and the present foundations of a church dating back to the 12th and 13th centuries.
Life changed dramatically for this small town in the 1890s when a coal pit was opened at Fauldheld. Coal had always been mined in the district before, but never in large quantities. From then on coal dominated the life of the little town. The coal industry moved away in recent decades, and with it much of the population.
The A76 road runs through the area. Kirkconnel is served by bus routes 221 and 246. [2]
Kirkconnel is served by Kirkconnel railway station on the Glasgow South Western Line.
Fife is a council area, historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries with Perth and Kinross and Clackmannanshire. By custom it is widely held to have been one of the major Pictish kingdoms, known as Fib, and is still commonly known as the Kingdom of Fife within Scotland. A person from Fife is known as a Fifer. In older documents the county was very occasionally known by the anglicisation Fifeshire.
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.
Sanquhar is a town on the River Nith in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, north of Thornhill and west of Moffat. It is a former Royal Burgh.
Thornhill is a village in the Mid Nithsdale area of Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, south of Sanquhar and north of Dumfries on the main A76 road. Thornhill sits in the Nithsdale valley with the Carsphairn and Scaur range to the west and the Lowther hills to the east. It was initially a small village, planned and built in 1717 on the Queensberry Estate on the road linking Dumfries to Glasgow. The Earl of Queensberry initially named the village 'New Dalgarnock' however the name did not achieve popular approval.
Cumnock is a town and former civil parish located in East Ayrshire, Scotland. The town sits at the confluence of the Glaisnock Water and the Lugar Water. There are three neighbouring housing projects which lie just outside the town boundaries, Craigens, Logan and Netherthird, with the former ironworks settlement of Lugar also just outside the town, contributing to a population of around 13,000 in the immediate locale. A new housing development, Knockroon, was granted planning permission on 9 December 2009 by East Ayrshire Council.
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.
St Anthony's Football Club is a Scottish non-league football club based in Glasgow. Nicknamed the Ants, they play in green-and-white hooped kits and currently operate in the West of Scotland League Second Division.
Burnbank is an area in the town of Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, Scotland. It was formerly a separate mining village before being absorbed into the town.
Shotts is a small town in North Lanarkshire, Scotland. It is located almost halfway between Glasgow and Edinburgh. The town has a population of about 8,840. A local story has Shotts being named after the legendary giant highwayman Bertram de Shotts, though toponymists give the Anglo-Saxon scēots as the real source of the name. Shotts is the home of the world famous Shotts and Dykehead Caledonia Pipe Band, 16-time winners of World Pipe Band Championships.
The A76 is a major trunk road in south west Scotland.
Kirkconnel railway station is a railway station in the town of Kirkconnel, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. The station is unstaffed, owned by Network Rail and managed by ScotRail.
New Cumnock railway station is a railway station serving the town of New Cumnock, East Ayrshire, Scotland. The station is managed by ScotRail and is on the Glasgow South Western Line, 45.5 miles (73.2 km) south west of Glasgow Central.
Muirkirk is a small village in East Ayrshire, southwest Scotland. It is located on the north bank of the River Ayr, between Cumnock and Glenbuck on the A70.
William Copeland Ferguson was a Scottish footballer and manager best known for his time at Chelsea and Dumfries side Queen of the South. His position was usually as a left winger.
The Lowther Hills, also sometimes known as the Lowthers, are an extensive area of hill country in the Southern Uplands of Scotland, though some sub-ranges of hills in this area also go under their own local names - see "Hillwalking" below. They form a roughly rhomboidal or lozenge shape on the map with the acute angles being to north and south. It has river valleys along its boundaries to north east (Clydesdale) and south west (Nithsdale) which carry the two largest arterial routes northwards into the west side of the Central Belt of Scotland. A string of small towns have long since developed along these routes. Most of the Lowther Hills lie in the Administrative County of Dumfries and Galloway, though part in the administrative county of South Lanarkshire moves into them around the village of Leadhills and the Daer Reservoir.
The Carsphairn and Scaur Hills are the western and eastern hills respectively of a hill range in the Southern Uplands of Scotland. Ordnance Survey maps don't have a general name for the hill area as a whole. Also, Ordnance Survey use "Scar" rather than the local spelling of "Scaur" - the word is pronounced as "Scar" however. In their Landranger Series of maps, it requires four separate sheets to cover the area.
Kris Haddow is a Scottish playwright, poet, performer and author, originally from Kirkconnel in Dumfries and Galloway.
Kelloholm is a village in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. It has a primary school, a public house and several shops. Kelloholm lies next to Kirkconnel and the two have begun to merge. Kelloholm was originally constructed to serve the many mines in the area, all of which have now closed.
Events from the year 1923 in Scotland.
Enterkinfoot is a small village or hamlet which lies 6 miles (9.7 km) north of Thornhill on the A76 on the route to Sanquhar, in Dumfriesshire, Durisdeer Parish, in Dumfries and Galloway, south-west Scotland. Its original nucleus was the old mill with associated buildings, the school and the famous Enterkin Pass and path that followed the course of the Enterkin Glen to Wanlockhead and from there to Edinburgh. The site features the A76 that runs through the centre of Enterkinfoot, the River Nith and the Enterkin Burn that once powered the mill before joining the Nith. The area is famous for its association with the Covenanters.