Views of Galloway - 8

A Living By The Sea :

Since the earliest times, the main settlements in Dumfries and Galloway have been near on on the sea. Clifftop duns and peninsula forts show where people have lived. The sea provided an easier route for travel and trade than the trackless and boggy lowlands. It took until the middle of the eighteenth century for roads to be built between Dumfries and Stranraer, but only in the mid-nineteenth century did rail traffic finally open up the country. The sea was as important to Galloway as it is to Norway. Even now, the ferries to Larne in Ireland sail regularly from Stranraer and Cairnryan.

Fishing, using fixed nets, hand-held haaf nets, nets and lines from boats, lobster pots and shellfish collection, was vital to the local economy. Shrimp and cockle fishing is still important, as shown by the boats that visit Palnackie, Isle of Whithorn and Kirkcudbright.

During the nineteenth century, thousands of Scots left for America from Carsethorn, taking the steam packet south from Carsethorne, Kirkcudbright and Port William to Liverpool. There, they joined the steamers and liners that carried them 'Steerage' to Ellis Island and to New York.

Pleasure sailing is the source of most use of the Solway ports today. The ports of Portpatrick, Garlieston, Stranraer, Port William, Isle of Whithorn, Kirkcudbright, Kippford, Palnackie and Kingholm Quay, have a regular summer tourist use.

Stranraer Harbour	Port Logan	Isle of Whithorn	Garlieston Harbour	Kirkcudbright Harbour

Lighthouses mark the hazards of the coast; some are now abandoned, others are automatic, but the two at either end of the Mull of Galloway, others at Black Head, Isle of Whithorn and Hestan Island, still warn shipping of the nearby reefs. The abandoned Southerness lighthouse stands as a memorial to past trade into Carsethorn, Kingholm and Dumfries.

Carsethorne Pier	Mull Of Galloway	Murdoch Memorial	'Elbe' Memorial	Southerness Lighthouse

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