Galloway Forest Park is a

forest park A forest park is a park whose main theme is its forest of trees. Forest parks are found both in the mountains and in the urban environment. Examples Chile * Forest Park, Santiago China *Gongqing Forest Park, Shanghai * Mufushan National Fores ...

operated by

Forestry and Land Scotland Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS) ( gd, Coilltearachd agus Fearann Alba) is responsible for managing and promoting Scotland's national forest estate: land, predominantly covered in forest, owned by the Scottish Government on behalf of the nation. ...

, principally covering woodland in

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 ...

. It is claimed to be the largest forest in the UK. The park was granted

Dark Sky Park A dark-sky preserve (DSP) is an area, usually surrounding a park or observatory, that restricts artificial light pollution. The purpose of the dark-sky movement is generally to promote astronomy. However, astronomy is certainly not the only obje ...

status ("Galloway Forest Dark Sky Park") in November 2009, being the first area in the UK to be so designated. The park, established in 1947, covers and receives over 800,000 visitors per year. The three visitor centres at Glen Trool, Kirroughtree, and Clatteringshaws receive around 150,000 each year. Much of the

Galloway Hills The Galloway Hills are part of the Southern Uplands of Scotland, and form the northern boundary of western Galloway. They lie within the bounds of the Galloway Forest Park, an area of some of largely uninhabited wild land, managed by Forestry an ...

lie within the boundaries of the park and there is good but rough hillwalking and also some rock climbing and ice-climbing within the park. Within or near the boundaries of the park are several well developed mountain bike tracks, forming part of the 7stanes project. As well as catering for recreation, the park includes economically valuable woodland, producing 500,000 tons of timber per year. Galloway Forest Park and the people who visit it and work in it were the subject of a six-part

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, p ...

documentary series aired in early 2018 entitled "The Forest".

Dark sky

In November 2009 the

International Dark-Sky Association The International Dark-Sky Association (IDA) is a United States-based non-profit organization incorporated in 1988 by founders David Crawford, a professional astronomer, and Tim Hunter, a physician/amateur astronomer. The mission of the IDA is " ...

conferred

status on the Galloway Forest Park, the first area in the UK to be so designated. The

Scottish Dark Sky Observatory The Scottish Dark Sky Observatory was an astronomical observatory located near Loch Doon Loch Doon, East Ayrshire, Scotland. It was situated on a hilltop site overlooking the Craigengillan Estate and Dalmellington Dalmellington ( sco, Dawmel ...

, near

Dalmellington Dalmellington ( sco, Dawmellinton, gd, Dail M'Fhaolain) is a market town and civil parish in East Ayrshire, Scotland. In 2001 the village had a population of 1,407. The town owes its origins to the fault line separating the Southern Uplands of ...

, is located within the northern edge of the Galloway Forest Dark Sky Park. The observatory was partly funded by the Scottish Government and opened in 2012. It suffered a devastating fire during the early hours of 23 June 2021, resulting in complete destruction of the observatory. The fire is currently being treated as suspicious.

Alexander Murray

The park is also home to the ruins of the birthplace of Alexander Murray, the son of a shepherd and farm labourer. Murray was self-taught on multiple languages, and eventually went on to become professor of Oriental languages at

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...

. A short distance away, high on a hillside, is Murray's Monument, which was erected in his memory in 1835.

Typhoon crash

On 18 March 1944, 22-year-old Canadian pilot Kenneth Mitchell crashed his

Hawker Typhoon The Hawker Typhoon is a British single-seat fighter-bomber, produced by Hawker Aircraft. It was intended to be a medium-high altitude interceptor, as a replacement for the Hawker Hurricane, but several design problems were encountered and i ...

aircraft in the forest (locatio
here
. The impact killed him instantly. Mitchell was in training in preparation for his squadron's role fighting the German

V-1 flying bomb The V-1 flying bomb (german: Vergeltungswaffe 1 "Vengeance Weapon 1") was an early cruise missile. Its official Ministry of Aviation (Nazi Germany), Reich Aviation Ministry () designation was Fi 103. It was also known to the Allies as the buz ...

s in the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. On 18 March 2009, 65 years to the day since the crash, a

commemorative plaque A commemorative plaque, or simply plaque, or in other places referred to as a historical marker, historic marker, or historic plaque, is a plate of metal, ceramic, stone, wood, or other material, typically attached to a wall, stone, or other ...

was installed on a mortared

cairn A cairn is a man-made pile (or stack) of stones raised for a purpose, usually as a marker or as a burial mound. The word ''cairn'' comes from the gd, càrn (plural ). Cairns have been and are used for a broad variety of purposes. In prehis ...

at the crash site, where pieces of the aircraft still remain. Mitchell was buried in Ayr Cemetery,

Ayr Ayr (; sco, Ayr; gd, Inbhir Àir, "Mouth of the River Ayr") is a town situated on the southwest coast of Scotland. It is the administrative centre of the South Ayrshire Subdivisions of Scotland, council area and the historic Shires of Scotlan ...

.Kenneth Osborne Mitchell
at FindAGrave.com

References

External links

Recreation at Galloway Forest Park
at the Forestry and Land Scotland website
'Activity Tourism'
from the Countryside Recreation Network

Rock and Ice climbing in the Galloway Hills

7 Stanes

{{Authority control Forests and woodlands of Scotland Country parks in Scotland Dark-sky preserves in the United Kingdom Parks in Dumfries and Galloway Forest parks of Scotland

Dark sky

Alexander Murray

Typhoon crash

See also

References

External links