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Tongland is a small village about north of Kirkcudbright, in the historic county of Kirkcudbrightshire 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 ...
, Scotland. It lies on the west bank of the Dee near its confluence with the Tarff Water.


History

Tongland Abbey Tungland or Tongland Abbey was a Premonstratensians, Premonstratensian monastic community located in Tongland in the historical county of Kirkcudbrightshire in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. It was probably founded circa 1218 by Alan, Lord ...
, a medieval
Premonstratensian The Order of Canons Regular of Prémontré (), also known as the Premonstratensians, the Norbertines and, in Britain and Ireland, as the White Canons (from the colour of their habit), is a religious order of canons regular of the Catholic Church ...
monastic community, existed here during the Middle Ages. The remains of Tongland Abbey are now within the churchyard just south of the main road.
Tongland Church Tongland is a small village about north of Kirkcudbright, in the historic county of Kirkcudbrightshire in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. It lies on the west bank of the Dee near its confluence with the Tarff Water. History Tongland A ...
built in 1813, is now disused and in a state of ruin, although the graveyard is still in use. The Dee is crossed shortly downriver by Tongland Bridge, a stone arch bridge constructed in 1806 by civil engineer Thomas Telford. Telford was assisted in the Works by resident civil engineer, A Blane. There is also an earlier bridge dating to 1761 which is approximately to the north-east. Since the 1930s, Tongland has been the site of a hydro-electric power station, part of the
Galloway Hydro Electric Scheme The Galloway hydro-electric power scheme is a network of dams and hydro-electric power stations in Galloway, south west Scotland. It was built between 1930 and 1936. The generating stations draw water from the River Ken, River Dee and River D ...
. The station used to be open to visitors during the summer months, since 2007 this has no longer been the case. Slightly earlier, between 1921 and 1922 ' Galloway' cars were made in Tongland in a First World War factory staffed mainly by female apprentice engineers. The
Galloway Engineering Company 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 in ...
factory was originally completed in 1917 and was powered by its own hydro-electric scheme on the Dee. Since 2004, there have been several construction projects, with the site of a former garage now home to three new houses. There are also several more houses being constructed. In 2006, street lights were installed along the A711 which passes through the village.


Notable people

* Thomas Brown Tongland minister and Free Church moderator. *Joe Dobson, co-founder of
Interflora Interflora is a flower delivery network, associated with over 58,000 affiliated flower shops in over 140 countries. It is a subsidiary of Teleflora, a subsidiary of The Wonderful Company. History In 1920 a florist, Joe Dobson, of Leighton's ...
was born in Tongland in 1875. * Campbell Cowan Edgar, Egyptologist and Secretary-General of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, was born in Tongland in 1870


See also

* List of listed buildings in Tongland, Dumfries and Galloway


References

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