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Wigtown
Wigtown ( (both used locally); gd, Baile na h-Ùige) is a town and former royal burgh in Wigtownshire, of which it is the county town, within the Dumfries and Galloway region in Scotland. It lies east of Stranraer and south of Newton Stewart. It is known as "Scotland's National Book Town" with a high concentration of second-hand book shops and an annual book festival. Wigtown is part of the Machars peninsula. History Name origins W.F.H. Nicolaisen offered two explanations for the place-name Wigtown. One theory was that it meant 'dwelling place', from the Old English 'wic-ton'; however, if it is the same as Wigton in Cumbria, which was 'Wiggeton' in 1162 and 'Wigeton' in 1262, it may be 'Wigca's farm'. Other sources have suggested a Norse root with 'Vik' meaning 'bay', giving the origin as a translation of 'The town on the bay'. Neolithic Age The surrounding area (the Machars peninsula) is rich in prehistoric remains, most notably the Torhousekie Standing Stones, a Neol ...
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Wigtown Main Street - Geograph
Wigtown ( (both used locally); gd, Baile na h-Ùige) is a town and former royal burgh in Wigtownshire, of which it is the county town, within the Dumfries and Galloway region in Scotland. It lies east of Stranraer and south of Newton Stewart. It is known as "Scotland's National Book Town" with a high concentration of second-hand book shops and an annual book festival. Wigtown is part of the Machars peninsula. History Name origins W.F.H. Nicolaisen offered two explanations for the place-name Wigtown. One theory was that it meant 'dwelling place', from the Old English 'wic-ton'; however, if it is the same as Wigton in Cumbria, which was 'Wiggeton' in 1162 and 'Wigeton' in 1262, it may be 'Wigca's farm'. Other sources have suggested a Norse root with 'Vik' meaning 'bay', giving the origin as a translation of 'The town on the bay'. Neolithic Age The surrounding area (the Machars peninsula) is rich in prehistoric remains, most notably the Torhousekie Standing Stones, a Neol ...
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Wigtown County Buildings
Wigtown County Buildings, also known as Wigtown County Buildings and Town Hall, is a municipal building in The Square, Wigtown, Scotland. The structure primarily served as the meeting place and town hall for Wigtown Burgh Council, but was also used for some meetings of Wigtownshire County Council. It is a Category B listed building. History The first municipal building in Wigtown was a tolbooth which was completed in the 16th century. Two covenanters, Margaret Maclauchlan and Margaret Wilson, were held in a cell in the tolbooth before being executed by Scottish Episcopalians in 1685 by tying them to stakes on the town's mudflats and allowing them to drown with the rising tide: they are remembered as the Wigtown Martyrs. The tolbooth was replaced by a new town hall which was completed in 1756. In the early 1860s, burgh officials decided to demolish the 18th century town hall and to erect a structure more in keeping with the importance of Wigtown as the administrative centre of t ...
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River Bladnoch
The Bladnoch is a river in Wigtownshire in the Machars of Galloway in southwest Scotland. One of the earliest descriptions of it is given by Sir Andrew Agnew of Lochnaw and Sir David Dunbar in an appendix to Andrew Symson's work "A Large Description of Galloway" written in the 17th century. In this they state that: Course The river Bladnoch rises at Loch Maberry in the parish of Kirkcowan, through which it runs south to Polbae. On its journey south it is joined by Reoch Burn as it passes through Carseriggan Moor. Continuing its journey it passes Isle-na-Gower and becomes a border between the afforested land at Hopeless Howe and the Ring of Barfad. Shortly after this it is met and joined by Black Burn. At this point the river is bordered on its east side by Barnley Plantation. Crossing the river at the stepping stones is a single-track road which links Mark of Shennanton with Little Eldrig. Shortly after this point the river widens briefly at Broad Wheel. Continuing on its journey ...
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Wigtown Castle
Wigtown Castle was a royal castle that was located on the banks of the River Bladnoch, south of Wigtown in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. A castle was built in the 12th century. Robert de Brus, 5th Lord of Annandale captured the castle in 1286. The castle was handed over to King Edward I of England in 1291 by Sir Walter de Corrie, the governor of the castle. Richard Siward became the governor of the castle in 1292, being replaced by Henry de Percy in 1296, and John de Hodlest in 1297. The castle was captured by Sir William Wallace in 1297. Adam Gordon became the governor in 1297. King Robert the Bruce captured the castle after 1313 and it appears to have been demolished. The site became a Scheduled Monument In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change. The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage and d ... in 2004. Citations ...
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Dervorguilla Of Galloway
Dervorguilla of Galloway (c. 1210 – 28 January 1290) was a 'lady of substance' in 13th century Scotland, the wife from 1223 of John, 5th Baron de Balliol, and mother of John I, a future king of Scotland. The name Dervorguilla or Dervorgilla was a Latinisation of the Gaelic Dearbhfhorghaill (alternative spellings, Derborgaill or Dearbhorghil). Family Dervorguilla was one of the three daughters and heiresses of the Gaelic prince Alan, Lord of Galloway. She was born to Alan's second wife Margaret of Huntingdon, who was the eldest daughter of David, Earl of Huntingdon and Matilda (or Maud) of Chester. David in turn was the youngest brother to two Kings of Scotland, Malcolm IV and William the Lion. Thus, through her mother, Dervorguilla was descended from the Kings of Scotland, including David I. Dervorguilla's father died in 1234 without a legitimate son (he had an illegitimate son Thomas). According to both Anglo-Norman feudal laws and to ancient Gaelic customs, Dervorguilla ...
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Dominican Order
The Order of Preachers ( la, Ordo Praedicatorum) abbreviated OP, also known as the Dominicans, is a Catholic mendicant order of Pontifical Right for men founded in Toulouse, France, by the Spanish priest, saint and mystic Dominic of Caleruega. It was approved by Pope Honorius III via the papal bull ''Religiosam vitam'' on 22 December 1216. Members of the order, who are referred to as ''Dominicans'', generally carry the letters ''OP'' after their names, standing for ''Ordinis Praedicatorum'', meaning ''of the Order of Preachers''. Membership in the order includes friars, nuns, active sisters, and lay or secular Dominicans (formerly known as tertiaries). More recently there has been a growing number of associates of the religious sisters who are unrelated to the tertiaries. Founded to preach the Gospel and to oppose heresy, the teaching activity of the order and its scholastic organisation placed the Preachers in the forefront of the intellectual life of the Middle Ag ...
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Blackfriars, Wigtown
The Church of the Friars Preachers of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary at Wigtown, commonly called Blackfriars, was a mendicant friary of the Dominican Order founded in the 13th century at Wigtown, Galloway, Scotland. The ''Chronica Extracta'' said that it was founded by Dervorguilla of Galloway, who died in 1290. Perhaps because of the remoteness of Wigtown, the history of the house is extremely badly documented and obscure. It appears on 7 March 1297, in receipt of money from the fermes of burghs. One of its priors, Ninian Shanks, appears on record on 10 May 1490. The prior along with four friars grant a charter on 21 December 1560, the year of the Scottish Reformation. It was presumably disbanded in the following decade, its revenues probably being granted to the burgh A burgh is an autonomous municipal corporation in Scotland and Northern England, usually a city, town, or toun in Scots. This type of administrative division existed from the 12th century, when Ki ...
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Vennel
A vennel is a passageway between the gables of two buildings which can in effect be a minor street in Scotland and the north east of England, particularly in the old centre of Durham. Etymology In Scotland, the term originated in royal burghs created in the twelfth century, the word deriving from the Old French word ''venelle'' meaning "alley" or "lane". Unlike a tenement entry to private property, known as a "close", a vennel was a public way leading from a typical high street to the open ground beyond the burgage plots. The Latin form is ''venella'', related to the English word "funnel". Names The Scottish burghs established by David I (see Economy section of Scotland in the High Middle Ages) drew upon the burgh model of Newcastle-upon-Tyne and used a number of French or Germanic words for townscape features. Aberdeen City Council refers to vennels having been part of the old town and historical records suggest Arbroath had a vennel. In the City of Durham, like Newcastle, pa ...
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Creetown
Creetown (, sometimes ) is a small seaside town in the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright, in Galloway in the Dumfries and Galloway council area in south-west Scotland. Its population is about 750 people. It is situated near the head of Wigtown Bay, west of Castle Douglas. The town was originally named Ferrytown of Cree (Scottish Gaelic: ''Port Aiseig a' Chrìch'') as it formed one end of a ferry route that took pilgrims across the River Cree estuary to the shrine of St Ninian at Whithorn. This is why the local football team, formed in 1895, are known as "The Ferrytoun". Creetown was formerly served by the Portpatrick and Wigtownshire Railway. The granite quarries in the vicinity constituted the leading industry from about 1830 to 1900, the stone for the Liverpool docks and other public works having been obtained from them. The village dates from 1785, and became a burgh of barony in 1792. Sir Walter Scott laid part of the scene of the novel ''Guy Mannering'' in this neighbourhood. Jo ...
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Ring Cairn
A ring cairn (also correctly termed a ring bank enclosure, but sometimes wrongly described as a ring barrow) is a circular or slightly oval, ring-shaped, low (maximum 0.5 metres high) embankment, several metres wide and from 8 to 20 metres in diameter. It is made of stone and earth and was originally empty in the centre. In several cases the middle of the ring was later used (at Hound Tor, for example, there is a stone cist in the centre). The low profile of these cairns is not always possible to make out without conducting excavations. Distribution These sites date to the Bronze Age and occur in Cornwall, Derbyshire ( Barbrook IV and V and Green Low) in England; and in Scotland, Wales and Ireland. Description The cairns look like flat variants of the significantly higher Clava cairns, which are often called ring cairns by laymen. The situation is rather different on the gritstones of the Eastern Uplands. Here it is more common to find smaller stone circles and rin ...
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Winter Solstice
The winter solstice, also called the hibernal solstice, occurs when either of Earth's poles reaches its maximum tilt away from the Sun. This happens twice yearly, once in each hemisphere ( Northern and Southern). For that hemisphere, the winter solstice is the day with the shortest period of daylight and longest night of the year, when the Sun is at its lowest daily maximum elevation in the sky. Either pole experiences continuous darkness or twilight around its winter solstice. The opposite event is the summer solstice. The winter solstice occurs during the hemisphere's winter. In the Northern Hemisphere, this is the December solstice (usually 21st or 22nd December) and in the Southern Hemisphere, this is the June solstice (usually 20th or 21st of June). Although the winter solstice itself lasts only a moment, the term also refers to the day on which it occurs. The term midwinter is also used synonymously with the winter solstice, although it carries other meanings as we ...
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