Creetown (, sometimes ) is a small seaside town in the
Stewartry of Kirkcudbright
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 ...
, in
Galloway
Galloway ( ; sco, Gallowa; la, Gallovidia) is a region in southwestern Scotland comprising the historic counties of Wigtownshire and Kirkcudbrightshire. It is administered as part of the council area of Dumfries and Galloway.
A native or i ...
in the
Dumfries and Galloway
Dumfries and Galloway ( sco, Dumfries an Gallowa; gd, Dùn Phrìs is Gall-Ghaidhealaibh) is one of 32 unitary council areas of Scotland and is located in the western Southern Uplands. It covers the counties of Scotland, historic counties of ...
council area {{Unreferenced, date=May 2019, bot=noref (GreenC bot)
A council area is one of the areas defined in Schedule 1 of the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994 and is under the control of one of the local authorities in Scotland created by that Act. ...
in south-west
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 ...
. Its population is about 750 people. It is situated near the head of
Wigtown Bay
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 an ...
, west of
Castle Douglas
Castle Douglas ( gd, Caisteal Dhùghlais) is a town in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. It lies in the lieutenancy area of Kirkcudbrightshire, in the eastern part of Galloway, between the towns of Dalbeattie and Gatehouse of Fleet. It is in th ...
. The town was originally named Ferrytown of Cree (
Scottish Gaelic
Scottish Gaelic ( gd, Gàidhlig ), also known as Scots Gaelic and Gaelic, is a Goidelic language (in the Celtic branch of the Indo-European language family) native to the Gaels of Scotland. As a Goidelic language, Scottish Gaelic, as well as ...
: ''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
Ninian is a Christian saint, first mentioned in the 8th century as being an early missionary among the Pictish peoples of what is now Scotland. For this reason he is known as the Apostle to the Southern Picts, and there are numerous dedication ...
at
Whithorn
Whithorn ( ʍɪthorn 'HWIT-horn'; ''Taigh Mhàrtainn'' in Gaelic), is a royal burgh in the historic county of Wigtownshire in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, about south of Wigtown. The town was the location of the first recorded Christia ...
. 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 Portpatrick and Wigtownshire Joint RailwaysThe final word is in the plural. was a network of railway lines serving sparsely populated areas of south-west Scotland. The title appeared in 1885 when the previously independent Portpatrick Rai ...
. The
granite
Granite () is a coarse-grained ( phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies under ...
quarries in the vicinity constituted the leading industry from about 1830 to 1900, the stone for the
Liverpool docks
The Port of Liverpool is the enclosed dock system that runs from Brunswick Dock in Liverpool to Seaforth Dock, Seaforth, on the east side of the River Mersey and the Birkenhead Docks between Birkenhead and Wallasey on the west side of the r ...
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
Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet, playwright and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European and Scottish literature, notably the novels '' Ivanhoe'', '' Rob Roy' ...
laid part of the scene of the novel ''
Guy Mannering
''Guy Mannering; or, The Astrologer'' is the second of the Waverley novels by Walter Scott, published anonymously in 1815. According to an introduction that Scott wrote in 1829, he had originally intended to write a story of the supernatural, ...
'' in this neighbourhood.
John Knox stayed at
Barholm Castle as guest of the MacCullochs of Barholm in 1566 while on a preaching tour of Galloway.
John Keats and his friend
Charles Armitage Brown
Charles Armitage Brown (14 April 1787 – 5 June 1842) was a close friend of the poet John Keats, as well as a friend of artist Joseph Severn, Leigh Hunt, Thomas Jefferson Hogg, Walter Savage Landor and Edward John Trelawny. He was the fat ...
stayed at an inn here on their walking tour of Scotland in 1818. The clock tower commemorates Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee in 1897. The Ellangowan Hotel was used to portray the interior of the Green Man public house in Robin Hardy's film, ''
The Wicker Man
''The Wicker Man'' is a 1973 British folk horror film directed by Robin Hardy and starring Edward Woodward, Britt Ekland, Diane Cilento, Ingrid Pitt, and Christopher Lee. The screenplay by Anthony Shaffer, inspired by David Pinner's 1967 ...
'' 1973.
Dr
Thomas Brown, the metaphysician (1778–1820), was a native of the parish in which Creetown lies.
James Thompson (1788-1854) pastor was born in Creetown, the son of William Thomson and Janet Burnett, belonging to a family that professed the Presbyterian religion.
Mary Duchess of Bedford, "The Flying Duchess", maintained a permanent landing ground (AA Approved) from about 1926, used when travelling to her home, nearby Cairnsmore House.
![Cairnsmore_House,_Palnure,_Creetown,_Kirkcudbrightshire,_Scotland](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/28/Cairnsmore_House%2C_Palnure%2C_Creetown%2C_Kirkcudbrightshire%2C_Scotland.jpg)
Hideo Furuta (1949-2007) was a Japanese sculptor, born in
Hiroshima
is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture in Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 1,199,391. The gross domestic product (GDP) in Greater Hiroshima, Hiroshima Urban Employment Area, was US$61.3 billion as of 2010. Kazumi Matsui h ...
, who settled at Creetown. He worked the Creetown granite from the disused Kirkmabreck Quarry. His work can be seen in the redesign of Adamson Square.
Creetown Heritage Centre
The Creetown Heritage Museum is a community-based resource detailing and recording the cultural, industrial and natural history of Creetown and the surrounding area. It is run by a small volunteer committee who are constantly seeking to add to the collections of photographs, tools and artifacts from current and past village life.
Another ongoing project is the Oral History Project. Senior members of the community have been invited to relate their memories of Creetown during their lifetimes. The project has become a vital source of information and will be collated and documented for the future as a living reference to Creetown over the last 70 years.
Balloch Wood Community Project
The Balloch Wood Community Project arose from an approach by Forestry Commission Scotland in 2001 to develop Balloch Wood as a community asset. Over the following three years a great deal was achieved. The first of several new paths has been opened, which will eventually lead to a new network of walks extending outwards into the surrounding hills from the village.
The new paths start less than 200m from Kirkmabreck Church and follow the Balloch Burn to the Mid Burn and then back down the centre of the woodland to the entrance. These paths have been added to by a new link path through the ancient woodland to the completed Curling Pond wildlife area. It is planned that a further path along the burnside to the Balloch Bridge will be developed in time to create a circular route.
At the Curling Pond, an all-abilities path has been constructed around and, between the ponds, a small car park has also been completed for the use of the less able.
It is hoped that local schools and other groups will use the ancient woodland as an open classroom to the benefit of the young people of the area. There is also the intention to introduce woodland sculptures and other significant artistic works which anyone can offer to be involved in.
Creetown Football Club
Creetown F.C. is a football club based in Creetown. Formed in 1905 as Creetown Rifle Volunteers Football Club, they adopted their present name in 1920. They originally played their home matches at Barholm Park, which had been the ground of Barholm Rovers, who went out of existence in 1905. They now play their home matches at Castlecary Park.
References
External links
Detailed information on CreetownBalloch Wood Community ProjectCreetown Heritage Centre
{{Authority control
Towns in Dumfries and Galloway
Kirkcudbrightshire