Newton Stewart ( Gd: ''Baile Ùr nan Stiùbhartach'') is a former

burgh A burgh ( ) is an Autonomy, autonomous municipal corporation in Scotland, usually a city, town, or toun in Scots language, Scots. This type of administrative division existed from the 12th century, when David I of Scotland, King David I created ...

town in the historical county of Wigtownshire in

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 ...

, southwest Scotland. The town is on the

River Cree The River Cree is a river in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland which runs through Newton Stewart and into the Solway Firth. It forms part of the boundary between the counties of Wigtownshire and Kirkcudbrightshire. The tributaries of the Cree are ...

with most of the town to the west of the river, and is sometimes referred to as the "Gateway to the Galloway Hills". The main local industries are agriculture, forestry and tourism. The town hosts a local market, and a number of services to support the farming industry. There are many mountain biking trails in the area. Newton Stewart lies on the southern edge of the

Galloway Forest Park Galloway Forest Park is a forest park operated by Forestry and Land Scotland, principally covering woodland in the historic counties of Kirkcudbrightshire and Wigtownshire in the administrative area of Dumfries and Galloway. It is claimed to ...

, which supplies many jobs to the town. Newton Stewart is from Scotland's book town Wigtown.

History

The town was founded in the mid 17th century by William Stewart, fourth and youngest son of the 2nd Earl of Galloway. The "New Town of Stewart" was granted

status by charter from King Charles II, allowing a weekly market and two annual fairs to be held. It was on a pilgrimage to the shrine of St Ninian at

Whithorn Whithorn (; ), is a royal burgh in the historic county of Wigtownshire in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, about south of Wigtown. The town was the location of the first recorded Christian church in Scotland, "White/Shining House", built by ...

in 1329 that

Robert the Bruce Robert I (11 July 1274 – 7 June 1329), popularly known as Robert the Bruce (), was King of Scots from 1306 until his death in 1329. Robert led Kingdom of Scotland, Scotland during the First War of Scottish Independence against Kingdom of Eng ...

forded the river where the present bridge stands. Designed by

John Rennie the Elder John Rennie (7 June 1761 – 4 October 1821) was a Scottish civil engineer who designed many bridges, canals, docks and warehouses, and a pioneer in the use of structural cast-iron. Early years John Rennie was born near Phantassie in Haddin ...

and built in 1813 the present bridge replaced the old bridge of 1745. The industrialist Sir William Douglas (died 1809), best known for founding the planned town of

Castle Douglas Castle Douglas () is a town in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. It lies in the lieutenancy area of Kirkcudbrightshire, in the eastern part of Galloway, between the towns of Dalbeattie and Gatehouse of Fleet. It is in the ecclesiastical paris ...

, also established cotton mills in Newton Stewart, which was renamed "Newton Douglas" in his honour but soon reverted to Newton Stewart. The main municipal building in the town, the McMillan Hall, was completed in 1885.

Transport

The A75 road runs along the southern edge of the town, and connects the town to

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 ...

in the west and

Dumfries Dumfries ( ; ; from ) is a market town and former royal burgh in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, near the mouth of the River Nith on the Solway Firth, from the Anglo-Scottish border. Dumfries is the county town of the Counties of Scotland, ...

in the east. Public transport in and around the town and to places in South Ayrshire and Dumfries & Galloway is mainly provided by Stagecoach Western. Newton Stewart railway station was on the Portpatrick and Wigtownshire Joint Railway and closed in 1965, as a result of the Beeching Axe. The nearest railway stations are at

and Barrhill which are respectively and from Newton Stewart.

Education

Newton Stewart has three primary schools: * Penninghame * Minnigaff * St Ninian’s RC (shut down) The town has one secondary school, the Douglas Ewart High School.

Media

Local news and television programmes are provided by

BBC Scotland BBC Scotland is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcaster in Scotland. Its headquarters are in Glasgow, employing approximately 1,250 staff as of 2017, to produce 15,000 hours of television and radio programming per year. BBC Scotla ...

and

ITV Border ITV Border, previously Border Television and commonly referred to as simply Border, is the Channel 3 service provided by ITV Broadcasting Limited for the England/Scotland border region, covering most of Cumbria and Dumfries and Galloway, th ...

. Television signals are received from one of the two local relay transmitters (Minnigaff and Cambret Hill). Local radio stations are

BBC Radio Scotland BBC Radio Scotland is a Scottish national radio network owned and operated by BBC Scotland, a division of the BBC. It broadcasts a wide variety of programmes. It replaced the Scottish BBC Radio 4 opt-out service of the same name from 23 N ...

on 93.1 FM and Greatest Hits Radio Dumfries & Galloway on 103.0 FM. The Galloway Gazette and Dumfries & Galloway Standard are the town's local newspapers. The horror film '' The Wicker Man'', set on the fictional privately-owned Scottish island of Summerisle, was filmed almost entirely (some opening scenes filmed in Plockton, Wester Ross also) on location around Newton Stewart, and had its

premiere A premiere, also spelled première, (from , ) is the debut (first public presentation) of a work, i.e. play, film, dance, musical composition, or even a performer in that work. History Raymond F. Betts attributes the introduction of the ...

at its cinema in 1973.

Tourism

There are numerous nature trails nearby as part of

, managed on behalf of the state by Forest Enterprise.

Sport

Newton Stewart FC, nicknamed the "Creesiders", play in the South of Scotland league, their ground is called Blairmount Park.

Notable people

* The artist and musician

Bill Drummond William Ernest Drummond (born 29 April 1953) is a Scottish artist, musician, writer, and record producer. He was a co-founder of the late-1980s avant-garde pop group the KLF and its 1990s media-manipulating successor, the K Foundation, with wh ...

the KLF The KLF (also known as the Justified Ancients of Mu Mu, the JAMs, the Timelords and other names) are a British electronic band who originated in Liverpool and London in the late 1980s. Scottish people, Scottish musician Bill Drummond (alias Ki ...

and

K Foundation The K Foundation was an art foundation set up by Jimmy Cauty and Bill Drummond, formerly of The KLF, in 1993, following their 'retirement' from the music industry. The Foundation served as an artistic outlet for the duo's post-retirement KLF inc ...

grew up in the town. * Scottish Under 23 international footballer Ian Gibson (1943–2016), played for

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ), colloquially known as Boro, is a port town in the Borough of Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England. Lying to the south of the River Tees, Middlesbrough forms part of the Teesside Built up area, built-up area and the Tees Va ...

, Coventry City and Cardiff City amongst others. * Educationalist Prof William Wither McClelland (1889–1968) professor of Education at

St Andrews University The University of St Andrews (, ; abbreviated as St And in post-nominals) is a public university in St Andrews, Scotland. It is the oldest of the four ancient universities of Scotland and, following the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, t ...

. * Lieutenant General Sydney Rigby Wason (1887 – 1969), a senior officer in the Second World War.

References

{{Authority control Towns in Dumfries and Galloway Burghs Wigtownshire