![Cree Bridge](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/ff/Cree_Bridge.jpg)
The River Cree is a river 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 ...
which runs through
Newton Stewart
Newton Stewart ( Gd: ''Baile Ùr nan Stiùbhartach'') is a former burgh town in the historical county of Wigtownshire in Dumfries and Galloway, southwest Scotland.
The town is on the River Cree with most of the town to the west of the river, and ...
and into the
Solway Firth
The Solway Firth ( gd, Tràchd Romhra) is a firth that forms part of the border between England and Scotland, between Cumbria (including the Solway Plain) and Dumfries and Galloway. It stretches from St Bees Head, just south of Whitehaven ...
. It forms part of the boundary between the counties of
Wigtownshire
Wigtownshire or the County of Wigtown (, ) is one of the historic counties of Scotland, covering an area in the south-west of the country. Until 1975, Wigtownshire was an administrative county used for local government. Since 1975 the area has f ...
and
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 ...
.
The tributaries of the Cree are the
Minnoch,
Trool,
Penkiln and
Palnure which drain from the
Range of the Awful Hand, the labyrinthine range of mountains and lochs, bogs, burns and crags, rising at its highest to The
Merrick, Galloway
The Merrick, or simply Merrick ( gd, A' Mhearag), is a mountain in the Range of the Awful Hand, a sub-range of the Galloway Hills range, part of the Southern Uplands of Scotland. The summit elevation is , making it the highest mountain in the Sout ...
( above sea level), north and visible from Newton Stewart.
The River Cree provided a route from the coast into the forested hinterland. Then it became the boundary between communities living on either side, dividing the County, or Shire, of Wigtownshire from the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright. It also divides the parish of Penninghame from the parish of Minnigaff and the town of Newton Stewart from the villages of Creebridge and
Minnigaff
Minnigaff is a village and Civil parishes in Scotland, civil parish in the historic county of Kirkcudbrightshire in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. Lead was discovered there in 1763 and mined about two miles from the village until 1839.
Etym ...
, thus identifying a variety of administrative entities. There were very few bridges until the 18th century and tolls and local customs duties could be levied at such crossing points. The Cree was also the source of power for the textile mills built in Newton Stewart in the 18th century when water power was a key element in industrial development.
Most of the time, the Cree is fordable and the old site of the main ford, just below the present bridge, is still detectable in the street layout of Newton Stewart. The location of the first, wooden bridge and the boat ferry are still identifiable local landmarks just to the north of the present bridge.
A new steel bridge, the Sparling Bridge, was strung across the river downstream of the Town Bridge in 1998 as part of an attractive riverside walk. This bridge is named after the fish – the
sparling
Sparling is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:
* Chris Sparling (born 1977), American screenwriter, film director and actor
* Gordon Sparling (1900–1994), Canadian film director
*Jack Sparling
John Edmond Sparling (June 21, 19 ...
or smelt (''Osmerus eperlanus'') which still breeds in the
estuary
An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environm ...
, one of only three sites in Scotland. Largely for this reason the Cree estuary "The silty Cree" is a
Site of Special Scientific Interest. The remaining bridge downstream of Newton Stewart is the bridge, built in 1979 as part of the
A75 trunk road bypass.
Before there were proper roads, and before the railway came to Galloway in the 19th century, bulky goods such as coal and fertilisers, gravel and grain, timber and stone, were transported by sea. The Cree has a winding, silty estuary, not good for navigation, but there was a harbour at the Carty Port, a couple of miles south of Newton Stewart, and others further down the estuary at Wigtown and
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, ...
from which coastal cargoes were traded. Regular services linked the Solway ports with Liverpool. Although both of these ports are now almost derelict, there are still active fishing ports further south around the Machars peninsula at
Garlieston, the
Isle of Whithorn and
Port William.
The shore is also home to fishing traditions, wildlife and a large expanse of
salt marsh
A salt marsh or saltmarsh, also known as a coastal salt marsh or a tidal marsh, is a coastal ecosystem in the upper coastal intertidal zone between land and open saltwater or brackish water that is regularly flooded by the tides. It is domin ...
– the "inks".
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 ...
is now a recognised wildlife reserve, where salt marshes are grazed by sheep all year round and by huge flocks of wild geese in winter. The bay is particularly noted for the important numbers of
pink-footed geese (''Anser brachyrhynchus'') that winter on the inks.
Salmon fisheries using stake nets can still be seen in the bay but are no longer common. Other traditional methods of salmon fishing using "haaf nets" have also declined. However, enthusiastic anglers return year after year to the Cree and fine fresh-run salmon are still caught in worthwhile numbers.
The silty Cree
estuary
An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environm ...
is a
Site of Special Scientific Interest, partly due to the sparling that breed there.
References
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Cree