Beeswing is a small village in the historical county of

Kirkcudbrightshire 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 ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

Etymology

Before Beeswing became known as Beeswing, it was named West Park of Loch Arthur (shown in the census in 1841 and 1851) because the first house built by the local blacksmith was built on the land called West Park. As more houses were built, the village later became known as “Sclate Row” which means a row of houses with slate roofs. This row of houses is shown as Beeswing on the first edition of the six inch to the mile Ordnance Survey published in 1854. The village was named Beeswing in 1847 to honour Beeswing (1833–1854), a 19th-century British

Thoroughbred The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word ''thoroughbred'' is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed. Thoroughbreds are c ...

racehorse from the north of England. Beeswing was hailed as the greatest mare in Britain and one of the greatest of all time. Entering 63 events, she won 51 times; of the 57 races she finished, she placed lower than second only once. Her most notable victory was in the

Ascot Gold Cup The Gold Cup is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to horses aged four years or older. It is run at Ascot over a distance of 2 miles 3 furlongs and 210 yards (4,014 ...

of 1842. She won the Newcastle Cup six times, and was retired after winning the

Doncaster Cup The Doncaster Cup is a Group 2 flat horse race in Great Britain open to horses aged three years or older. It is run at Doncaster over a distance of 2 miles 1 furlong and 197 yards (3,600 metr ...

for the fourth time. A local public house in the nearby parish of

New Abbey New Abbey ( gd, An Abaid Ùr) is a village in the historical county of Kirkcudbrightshire in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. It is south of Dumfries. The summit of the prominent hill Criffel is to the south. History The village has a wealth ...

was named Beeswing in the 1840s, though the association between racehorse and settlement has been known for as long as it has been called Beeswing. The entry in the ''

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Object Name Book'', written in 1847, states:

A row of houses in good repair having a garden attached to each. The property of Jas. McLeod of Drumjohn. The name originates from one of the houses being used as a public house and having for its sign board the likeness of a famed racehorse called the Beeswing.

There was no church showing in Beeswing on the 1854 edition, but it is shown on the 1895 Ordnance Survey. The Church in Beeswing was named Lochend Church because it previously operated from a barn at Lochend Farm. The village of Beeswing was never named Lochend, as some sources suggest; the Ordnance Surveys show, the name Lochend was only for the church, not the village.

Killywhan railway station Killywhan railway station served the hamlet of Killywhan, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland from 1859 to 1959 on the Castle Douglas and Dumfries Railway The Castle Douglas and Dumfries Railway was a railway in south west Scotland which link ...

nearby was open from 1859 to 1959 on the

Castle Douglas and Dumfries Railway The Castle Douglas and Dumfries Railway was a railway in south west Scotland which linked Castle Douglas in Kirkcudbrightshire to Dumfries. It opened in 1859. Other companies' lines extended westwards and southwards, and the CD&D line formed ...

Loch Arthur Community

The Loch Arthur Community at Beeswing, run by the Camphill Village Trust, is a working farm with dairy, gardens and supported accommodation where people with learning disabilities live alongside volunteers in a way that "recognises the dignity and uniqueness of each human being and does not distinguish between those who are called disabled and those who are not".

References

{{Coord, 55, 00, 25, N, 03, 43, 39, W, display=title Villages in Dumfries and Galloway