Minnigaff is a village and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...

in the historic 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 count ...

in Dumfries and Galloway,

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

. Lead was discovered there in 1763 and mined about two miles from the village until 1839.

Etymology

The name ''Minnigaff'' or ''Minigaff'' is of

Brittonic Brittonic or Brythonic may refer to: *Common Brittonic, or Brythonic, the Celtic language anciently spoken in Great Britain *Brittonic languages, a branch of the Celtic languages descended from Common Brittonic *Britons (Celtic people) The Br ...

origin. The generic element is ''mönïδ'', meaning "a prominent hill", while the specific is ''goβ'', meaning "a blacksmith" (c.f. Welsh ''mynydd-gof''). The

Minnigaff Hills The Minnigaff Hills are a range of hills in the Galloway Hills range, part of the Southern Uplands of Scotland. A southerly range, they are perpendicular to the Range of the Awful Hand, Dungeon Hills and Rhinns of Kells to the north. In total, ...

, part of the

Galloway Forest Park Galloway Forest Park is a forest park operated by Forestry and Land Scotland, principally covering woodland in Dumfries and Galloway. It is claimed to be the largest forest in the UK. The park was granted Dark Sky Park status ("Galloway Forest ...

, are located north of the village.

History

Minnigaff was one of two parishes from Kirkcudbrightshire which were included in the Wigtown District which existed from 1975 to 1996, and as such forms part of the Wigtown

lieutenancy area Lieutenancy areas are the separate areas of the United Kingdom appointed a lord-lieutenant – a representative of the British monarch. In many cases they have similar demarcation and naming to, but are not necessarily coterminate with, the coun ...

rather than the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright lieutenancy.

Notable people

Minnigaff is the birthplace of

John M'Millan John M'Millan was the founding Father of the Reformed Presbyterian Church. He was the first minister of the Cameronians after the Revolution Settlement. He was born at Minnigaff, near Newton Stewart in Kirkcudbrightshire, around 1669, and spen ...

, the Cameronian preacher. Sir James Mirrlees, winner of the 1996

Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences The Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, officially the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel ( sv, Sveriges riksbanks pris i ekonomisk vetenskap till Alfred Nobels minne), is an economics award administered ...

was also born there.

Buildings

List of listed buildings in Minnigaff, Dumfries and Galloway This is a list of listed building#Scotland, listed buildings in the civil parishes in Scotland, civil parish of Minnigaff in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. List ...

References

Villages in Dumfries and Galloway Parishes in Dumfries and Galloway {{DumfriesGalloway-geo-stub