River Cree

Last updated April 12, 2024

The River Cree is a river in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland which runs through Newton Stewart and into the Solway Firth. It forms part of the boundary between the counties of Wigtownshire and Kirkcudbrightshire. The tributaries of the Cree are the Minnoch, Trool, Penkiln and Palnure which drain from the Range of the Awful Hand, the labyrinthine range of mountains and lochs, bogs, burns and crags, rising at its highest to The Merrick, Galloway (2,764 ft or 842 m above sea level), 12 miles (19 kilometres) north and visible from Newton Stewart.

The Battle of the River Dee may have been fought at this river or at River Dee, Galloway in 1308, during the Scottish Wars of Independence.^[1]

The River Cree provided a route from the coast into the forested hinterland. Then it became the boundary between communities living on either side, dividing the County, or Shire, of Wigtownshire from the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright. It also divides the parish of Penninghame from the parish of Minnigaff and the town of Newton Stewart from the villages of Creebridge and Minnigaff, thus identifying a variety of administrative entities. There were very few bridges until the 18th century and tolls and local customs duties could be levied at such crossing points. The Cree was also the source of power for the textile mills built in Newton Stewart in the 18th century when water power was a key element in industrial development.

Most of the time, the Cree is fordable and the old site of the main ford, just below the present bridge, is still detectable in the street layout of Newton Stewart. The location of the first, wooden bridge and the boat ferry are still identifiable local landmarks just to the north of the present bridge.

A new steel bridge, the Sparling Bridge, was strung across the river downstream of the Town Bridge in 1998 as part of an attractive riverside walk. This bridge is named after the fish – the sparling or smelt (Osmerus eperlanus) which still breeds in the estuary, one of only three sites in Scotland. Largely for this reason the Cree estuary "The silty Cree" is a Site of Special Scientific Interest. The remaining bridge downstream of Newton Stewart is the bridge, built in 1979 as part of the A75 trunk road bypass.

Before there were proper roads, and before the railway came to Galloway in the 19th century, bulky goods such as coal and fertilisers, gravel and grain, timber and stone, were transported by sea. The Cree has a winding, silty estuary, not good for navigation, but there was a harbour at the Carty Port, a couple of miles south of Newton Stewart, and others further down the estuary at Wigtown and Creetown from which coastal cargoes were traded. Regular services linked the Solway ports with Liverpool. Although both of these ports are now almost derelict, there are still active fishing ports further south around the Machars peninsula at Garlieston, the Isle of Whithorn and Port William.

The shore is also home to fishing traditions, wildlife and a large expanse of salt marsh – the "inks". Wigtown Bay is now a recognised wildlife reserve, where salt marshes are grazed by sheep all year round and by huge flocks of wild geese in winter. The bay is particularly noted for the important numbers of pink-footed geese (Anser brachyrhynchus) that winter on the inks.

Salmon fisheries using stake nets can still be seen in the bay but are no longer common. Other traditional methods of salmon fishing using "haaf nets" have also declined. However, enthusiastic anglers return year after year to the Cree and fine fresh-run salmon are still caught in worthwhile numbers.

The silty Cree estuary is a Site of Special Scientific Interest, partly due to the sparling that breed there.

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Wigtownshire or the County of Wigtown is one of the historic counties of Scotland, covering an area in the south-west of the country. Until 1975, Wigtownshire was an administrative county used for local government. Since 1975 the area has formed part of Dumfries and Galloway for local government purposes. Wigtownshire continues to be used as a territory for land registration, being a registration county. The historic county is all within the slightly larger Wigtown Area, which is one of the lieutenancy areas of Scotland and was used in local government as the Wigtown District from 1975 to 1996.

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Blaidzenoch which floweth from the mountnous parts of Penninghame, and runs from the north to the south. It runneth through Lochmabary, and by the way it receaveth into several waters; the most considerable is the water of Tarfe, which hath its rise from Airtfeeld, in the Muirs of Luce, and falleth into Blaidzenoch, under the house of Craighlaw. The Blaidzenoch turns to the east, and after it heth fra its source run twenty miles (32 km), it falleth into the Bay of Wigtown, near above the place of Baldone.

Before the South of Scotland Football League was formed in 1946, there had been previous attempts to introduce league competitions in the Dumfries and Galloway region of Scotland since the 1890s. These early attempts invariably foundered because of the very small townships in the area and a tendency for the clubs to concentrate on the myriad of cup competitions that were in operation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wigtown Area</span> Scottish lieutenancy area and former local government district

Wigtown is a lieutenancy area in south-west Scotland and a committee area of Dumfries and Galloway Council. From 1975 until 1996 it was also a local government district. It closely resembles the historic county of Wigtownshire, covering the whole area of that county but also including the two parishes of Kirkmabreck and Minnigaff from the historic county of Kirkcudbrightshire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Newton Stewart F.C.</span> Football club

Newton Stewart Football Club are a football club from the town of Newton Stewart in the Dumfries and Galloway area of Scotland. Formed in 1880, as Newton Stewart Athletic but after a further two name changes they became Newton Stewart Football Club in 1902. They are nicknamed the Creesiders, because the town stands on the banks of the River Cree.

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Wigtown Bay is a large inlet of the Irish Sea on the coast of Galloway in southwest Scotland. Its coastline falls entirely within the modern administrative area of Dumfries and Galloway and shared between the historical counties of Wigtownshire and Kirkcudbrightshire.

Penninghame in Wigtownshire, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, is a civil parish area, 8 miles from Wigtown. The area is approx 16 miles in length, and from 5 to 6 miles' width, bounded on the north and east by the River Cree, and on the west by the Bladnoch; comprising nearly 38,000 acres, of which 12,000 were arable, 600 woodland and plantations, 1600 meadow, and the remainder hill pasture, moorland, moss, etc.

Bladnoch is a small village on the River Bladnoch in Wigtownshire, Scotland, located just outside the county town of Wigtown.

Wigtown Harbour or Wigtown Quay was relocated in 1818 to serve the town of Wigtown and its hinterland in Wigtownshire, Dumfries and Galloway, following the silting up of the original natural harbour that was originally located near to St Machute's church. This relocation occurred following centuries of silting and then the alteration of the course of the River Bladnoch that runs into Wigtown Bay where it joins the River Cree.

Palnure railway station (NX450634) was a railway station on the Portpatrick and Wigtownshire Joint Railway close to Newton Stewart and the junction for the branch to Whithorn via Wigtown. It served the small village of Palnure in a rural area of the old county of Kirkcudbrightshire, Parish of Minnigaff, Dumfries And Galloway.

Mains of Penninghame Platform railway station (NX410617) was a halt on the Wigtownshire Railway branch line, from Newton Stewart to Whithorn, of the Portpatrick and Wigtownshire Joint Railway. It served a rural area of farms, including the large Mains of Penninghame and the nearby Clachan and old Kirk of Penninghame in the Parish of Penninghame, old Wigtownshire.

References

"River Cree, Newton Stewart". Newtonstewart,Gateway to the Galloway Hills. Dumfries & Galloway Council. Retrieved 12 March 2009.

↑ Nicholson, Ranald (1974). Scotland: the later Middle Ages. Barnes & Noble. p. 78. ISBN 978-0-06-495147-0.

54°51′N4°24′W / 54.850°N 4.400°W / 54.850; -4.400

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[:02-1] Nicholson, Ranald (1974). Scotland: the later Middle Ages. Barnes & Noble. p. 78. ISBN 978-0-06-495147-0.

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