Portpatrick 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. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

in the historical county of

Wigtownshire Wigtownshire or the County of Wigtown (, ) is one of the Counties of Scotland, historic counties of Scotland, covering an area in the south-west of the country. Until 1975, Wigtownshire was an counties of Scotland, administrative county used for ...

Dumfries and Galloway Dumfries and Galloway (; ) is one of the 32 unitary council areas of Scotland, located in the western part of the Southern Uplands. It is bordered by East Ayrshire, South Ayrshire, and South Lanarkshire to the north; Scottish Borders to the no ...

, Scotland. It is located on the west coast of the Rhins of Galloway. The parish is about in length and in breadth, covering .

History

Dating back some 700 years and built adjacent to the ruins of nearby Dunskey Castle, Portpatrick's position on the Rhins of Galloway affords visitors views of the

Northern Irish The people of Northern Ireland are all people born in Northern Ireland and having, at the time of their birth, at least one parent who is a British Nationality Law, British citizen, an Irish nationality law, Irish citizen or is otherwis ...

coast to the west, with cliff-top walks and beaches both north and south. The

Gulf Stream The Gulf Stream is a warm and swift Atlantic ocean current that originates in the Gulf of Mexico and flows through the Straits of Florida and up the eastern coastline of the United States, then veers east near 36°N latitude (North Carolin ...

, flowing in from the north, gives the coastline a pleasant climate, in which subtropical plant life can flourish. Portpatrick has a Community Council, and an annual Life Boat Week, featuring parades, activities, and a firework display. There are bowls clubs, a golf club, many guesthouses and hotels, and rustic public houses. The village is also home to a mini putting course. By the inner harbour is the starting point of the Southern Upland Way, a long-distance walking route to

Cockburnspath Cockburnspath ( ) is a village in Berwickshire in the Scottish Borders. It lies near the North Sea coast between Berwick-upon-Tweed and Dunbar. Cockburnspath is the eastern terminus of the Southern Upland Way as well as the northern terminus of ...

on the east coast. The Portpatrick Hotel, built in 1905 and extended in 1907, sits on the cliffs above this point. The village was used as one of the locations for the 1952 film '' Hunted,'' starring Dirk Bogarde and directed by

Charles Crichton Charles Ainslie Crichton (6 August 1910 – 14 September 1999) was an English film director and film editor, editor. Born in Wallasey, Cheshire, he became best known for directing many comedies produced at Ealing Studios and had a 40-yea ...

. It also featured in the BBC drama '' Two Thousand Acres of Sky'' as a stand-in for Portree.

Features

Harbour

Portpatrick village was founded on fishing, operating from the sandy, crescent-shaped harbour that remains the focal point of the village. It was the principal port for goods and mail traffic to Ireland from the 17th century, but the strong winds across the North Channel made this impractical. In 1770

John Smeaton John Smeaton (8 June 1724 – 28 October 1792) was an English civil engineer responsible for the design of bridges, canals, harbours and lighthouses. He was also a capable mechanical engineer and an eminent scholar, who introduced various ...

constructed the town's first proper harbour. In 1821, John Rennie was appointed to create a new harbour defined by two new piers. The north pier collapsed in 1839, but the south remains standing. The harbour's inner basin was built between 1861 and 1863, but by then, the main goods route to Ireland was via

Stranraer Stranraer ( , in Scotland also ; ), also known as The Toon or The Cleyhole, is a town in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, on Loch Ryan and the northern side of the isthmus joining the Rhins of Galloway to the mainland. Stranraer is Dumfries ...

, and services went into decline.

St Patrick's Church

This ruined church, dating from 1629, may itself stand on the ruins of an earlier church, known as St Patrick's Chapel. The circular tower may date from the 1520s, and originally stood on its own. Its unusual shape (for Scotland) may mean that it was either a lighthouse for the harbour, or heavily influenced by Irish architecture. In the 18th and 19th centuries, when Portpatrick was an important ferry port for passengers, postal mail and freight between Ireland and Scotland, the village was described as the Gretna Green for Ireland. There was a daily packet boat from Donaghadee, and marriages for couples from Ireland were conducted by the Church of Scotland minister in Portpatrick, although according to Brack (1997) he often overlooked the rules about the publication of banns or the required period of residence. It's believed that happy couples could disembark, complete the ceremony, and be back on board within an hour. The graveyard around the church contains memorials to many victims of shipwrecks in nearby waters. Joined to the original chapel was a district by the name of the Black Quarter of Inch. When the church was rebuilt in 1629, the Black Quarter was disjoined from

Inch The inch (symbol: in or prime (symbol), ) is a Units of measurement, unit of length in the imperial units, British Imperial and the United States customary units, United States customary System of measurement, systems of measurement. It is eq ...

and erected as the Parish of Montgomorie. The name of the parish however was changed after only two or three years to that of Portpatrick.

Railway

Portpatrick railway station was completed in 1861. It was the original terminus of the Portpatrick Railway, in order to serve new steam packet services across the North Channel. After a new harbour was built in Stranraer, Portpatrick declined again as a cross-channel port, and the station closed on 6 February 1950. Portpatrick would likely be the eastern terminus of the proposed road and rail Irish Sea Bridge.

Dunskey Castle

south of the village is Dunskey Castle, reached via a steep trail incorporating steps and a narrow bridge. The site has seen at least two castles, though the present ruins date from the

16th century The 16th century began with the Julian calendar, Julian year 1501 (represented by the Roman numerals MDI) and ended with either the Julian or the Gregorian calendar, Gregorian year 1600 (MDC), depending on the reckoning used (the Gregorian calend ...

Cairn Pat (Cairnpot) Hill Fort or settlement

A large fort or walled settlement enclosed an area of , about , within two walls, covered on the west by two ramparts set about and apart, with external ditches. A third rampart thick by high was on the southern approach, outside of which was a low bank about wide. On the west-north-west arc of the second wall there was an entrance gap about wide. On the north a road passed diagonally through the defences from the north-west. From the south-east a natural hollow ran out from the fort, flanked on the west by a face of outcropping rock. At the head of it on the west side within the inner rampart were foundations of a small circular structure measuring internally about and overall .

Portpatrick Navtex transmissions

Portpatrick is the base from which '' Navtex'' transmissions for the seas North and West of the UK are broadcast. For the purpose of extended Shipping forecasts, the Met Office uses Portpatrick as the name of the forecast area covering the sea between South-East Iceland and Lundy, including the waters around Ireland