Kippford (; otherwise Scaur)
Gazetteer for Scotland is a small village along the Solway coast, 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 ...

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 historic counties of Dumfriesshire, Kirkc ...

, Scotland. Also known as the Solway Riviera and has the most expensive property in Dumfries & Galloway.

History

Between Kippford and Rockcliffe lies the

Mote of Mark A mote is a small bit of substance, such as a fleck or particle. Mote may also refer to: Art and entertainment * The Motes, a Canadian indie-rock band active in the 1990s * "Mote", a song by Sonic Youth from their 1990 album '' Goo'' * "Mote", a ...

, a

hill fort A hillfort is a type of earthwork used as a fortified refuge or defended settlement, located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typically European and of the Bronze Age or Iron Age. Some were used in the post-Roma ...

. Victorian Kippford had interests in 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 un ...

quarrying industry; the pier used now by the Solway Yacht Club being a former handling yard for a small railway line running into the hill to the East where a quarry was located.

Geography

Kippford stretches along the banks of the Urr estuary and in places is only one house-wide, being hemmed in between the forested Mark hill (locally known as the ''Muckle'') and the sea. Kippford can only be accessed by car by a road from Barnbarroch which passes by Craigieknowes Golf Course and two campsites. Kippford is also linked to Rockcliffe, which is away, by a scenic track known as the ''Jubilee Path''. The path passes parallel to the coast (and the village of Kippford) but at a higher elevation. The path can be used to access Mark hill and the

, a 5th-century

. Visitors may cross the sands to a small island called Rough Island when the tide allows. Views from Kippford include the

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in North West England, bordering Scotland. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local government, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. ...

n coast across the Solway Firth to the South. To the West can be seen Glen Isle and Screel in the background.

Marine Activities

Kippford is a popular sailing village, with many small yachts moored in the tidal estuary of the

River Urr Urr Water or River Urr ('' arc. River Orr'') is a river in which flows through the counties of Dumfriesshire and Kirkcudbrightshire in southwest Scotland. Course Entirely within Dumfries and Galloway, the Urr Water originates at Loch Urr and flo ...

, and events organised by the ''Solway Yacht Club''. The

RNLI The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) is the largest charity that saves lives at sea around the coasts of the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland, the Channel Islands, and the Isle of Man, as well as on some inland waterways. It i ...

has maintained a station, now fitted with a D class lifeboat, in Kippford for the past 40 years. The lifeboat service share use of the village's public

slipway A slipway, also known as boat ramp or launch or boat deployer, is a ramp on the shore by which ships or boats can be moved to and from the water. They are used for building and repairing ships and boats, and for launching and retrieving small ...

. Kippford was also involved in the shipbuilding industry, albeit on a very small scale. Kippford is also known as the Solway Riviera and has the most expensive property in Dumfries & Galloway Region.

References

External links

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