Galloway Forest Park is a

forest park A forest park is a park whose main theme is its forest of trees. Forest parks are found both in the mountains and in the urban environment. Examples Chile * Forest Park, Santiago China * Gongqing Forest Park, Shanghai * Mufushan National Fore ...

operated by

Forestry and Land Scotland Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS) () is an executive agency responsible for managing and promoting Scotland's national forest estate: land, predominantly covered in forest, owned by the Scottish Government on behalf of the nation. It was formed o ...

, principally covering woodland in the historic counties of Kirkcudbrightshire and Wigtownshire in the administrative area of

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 ...

. It is claimed to be the largest forest in the UK. The park was granted Dark Sky Park status ("Galloway Forest Dark Sky Park") in November 2009, being the first area in the UK to be so designated. The park, established in 1947, covers and receives over 800,000 visitors per year. The three visitor centres at

Glen Trool Glentrool () is a glen in the Southern Uplands, Galloway, Scotland. It contains Loch Trool which is fed by several burns and drained by the Water of Trool. North of Glen Trool is Merrick, the highest mountain in the Southern Uplands. The glen ...

, Kirroughtree, and Clatteringshaws receive around 150,000 each year. Much of the

Galloway Hills The Galloway Hills are part of the Southern Uplands of Scotland, and form the northern boundary of western Galloway. They lie within the bounds of the Galloway Forest Park, an area of some of largely uninhabited wild land, managed by Forestry an ...

lie within the boundaries of the park and there is good but rough hillwalking and also some rock climbing and ice-climbing within the park. Within or near the boundaries of the park are several well developed mountain bike tracks, forming part of the 7stanes project. As well as catering for recreation, the park includes economically valuable woodland, producing 500,000 tons of timber per year. Galloway Forest Park and the people who visit it and work in it were the subject of a six-part

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television b ...

documentary series aired in early 2018 entitled "The Forest".

Dark sky

In November 2009 the

International Dark-Sky Association DarkSky International, formerly the International Dark-Sky Association (IDA), is a United States–based nonprofit organization incorporated in 1988 by founders David Crawford, a professional astronomer, and Tim Hunter, a physician and amateu ...

conferred Dark Sky Park status on the Galloway Forest Park, the first area in the UK to be so designated. The

Scottish Dark Sky Observatory The Scottish Dark Sky Observatory (SDSO) was an Observatory#Astronomical observatories, astronomical observatory designed by Glasgow Architects G.D. Lodge located near Loch Doon, East Ayrshire, Scotland. It was situated on a hilltop site near th ...

, near

Dalmellington Dalmellington (, ) is a market town and civil parish in East Ayrshire, Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, co ...

, is located within the northern edge of the Galloway Forest Dark Sky Park. The observatory was partly funded by the

Scottish Government The Scottish Government (, ) is the executive arm of the devolved government of Scotland. It was formed in 1999 as the Scottish Executive following the 1997 referendum on Scottish devolution, and is headquartered at St Andrew's House in ...

and opened in 2012. It suffered a devastating fire during the early hours of 23 June 2021, resulting in complete destruction of the observatory. The fire is currently being treated as suspicious.

Alexander Murray

The park is also home to the ruins of the birthplace of Alexander Murray, the son of a shepherd and farm labourer. Murray was self-taught on multiple languages, and eventually went on to become professor of Oriental languages at

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...

. A short distance away, high on a hillside, is Murray's Monument, which was erected in his memory in 1835.

Typhoon crash

On 18 March 1944, 22-year-old Canadian pilot Kenneth Mitchell crashed his

Hawker Typhoon The Hawker Typhoon was a British single-seat fighter-bomber, produced by Hawker Aircraft. It was intended to be a medium-high altitude interceptor aircraft, interceptor, as a replacement for the Hawker Hurricane, but several design problems we ...

aircraft in the forest. The impact killed him instantly. Mitchell was in training in preparation for his squadron's role fighting the German

V-1 flying bomb The V-1 flying bomb ( "Vengeance Weapon 1") was an early cruise missile. Its official Reich Aviation Ministry () name was Fieseler Fi 103 and its suggestive name was (hellhound). It was also known to the Allies as the buzz bomb or doodlebug a ...

s in the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. On 18 March 2009, 65 years to the day since the crash, a

commemorative plaque A commemorative plaque, or simply plaque, or in other places referred to as a historical marker, historic marker, or historic plaque, is a plate of metal, ceramic, stone, wood, or other material, bearing text or an image in relief, or both, ...

was installed on a mortared

cairn A cairn is a human-made pile (or stack) of stones raised for a purpose, usually as a marker or as a burial mound. The word ''cairn'' comes from the (plural ). Cairns have been and are used for a broad variety of purposes. In prehistory, t ...

at the crash site, where pieces of the aircraft still remain.Loch Skerrow, Typhoon Air Crash
- The Scottish Military Research Group - Commemorations Project

References

External links

Recreation at Galloway Forest Park
at the Forestry and Land Scotland website
'Activity Tourism'
from the Countryside Recreation Network

Rock and Ice climbing in the Galloway Hills

7 Stanes

{{Authority control Forests and woodlands of Scotland Country parks in Scotland Dark-sky preserves in the United Kingdom Parks in Dumfries and Galloway Forest parks of Scotland

Dark sky

Alexander Murray

Typhoon crash

See also

References

External links