A vision of Britain through time
A vision of Britain from 1801 to now.
Including maps, statistical trends and historical descriptions.
A vision of Britain through time
A vision of Britain from 1801 to now.
Including maps, statistical trends and historical descriptions.
Luce, Old, a coast parish of Wigtownshire, containing the post-office village of Glenluce, with a station on the Portpatrick branch of the Caledonian, 8¾ miles E by S of Stranraer and 14¾ WSW of Newton-Stewart. It is bounded N by New Luce, NE and E by Kirkcowan, SE by Mochrum, S by LuceBay, SW by Stoneykirk, and W by Inch. Its greatest length, from E to W, is 10 miles; its breadth, from N to S, varies between 2 5/8 and 7½ miles; and its area is 33,798 ¼ acres, of which 1995½ are foreshore and 206¾ water. Drumpail Burn runs 2 1/8 miles north-eastward along the eastern part of the northern boundary to Tarf Water, which itself winds 6 ¼ miles south-eastward along all the north-eastern boundary. The Water of Luce first runs 7 furlongs on the boundary with New Luce, and then goes 33/8 miles south-south-eastward across the interior to the head of Luce Bay; and Piltanton Burn runs 4 ¼ miles eastward along the Inch border and through the south-western interior. White Loch (42/3 x 1¾ furl.) and Dernaglar Loch (3½ x 2½ furl.) are the largest of five small featureless lakes in the eastern half of the parish, since Castle Loch (1 ¼ x ½ mile) falls just within the Mochrum boundary. Springs are numerous-perennial, limpid, and extremely cold. The coast, 11½ miles in extent, is mostly fringed by a sandy beach, ½ mile in mean breadth; but at Synniness (Scand. ` Sueuo's headland ') it rises steeply to 231 feet above the sea. Some level lands lie adjacent to that beach and to Luce Water, and the rest of the surface is all tumulated, irregular, or hilly, its chief elevations being Challoch Hill (484 feet), Barlockhart Fell (411), Knock Fell (513), and Craig Fell (538). Greywacke, the predominant rock, has been quarried; and the soil of the seaboard is sand, gravel, or clay, of other low tracts is clay, loan, or moss, and on the higher grounds is mostly light, dry, and stony. Nearly three-fourths of the entire area are in tillage; rather more than 300 acres are under wood; and the rest is either pastoral or waste. Autiquities, other than those noticed under Glenluce, Carsecreugh, Park Place, and Synniess, are remains of cairns and of a crannoge in Barlockhart Loch, and the sites of two pre-Reformation chapels, Our Lady's and Kirk Christ. Mansions, each with a separate article, are Balkail, Craigenveoch, Dunragit, and Genoch; and 4 proprietors hold each an annual value of £500 and upwards, 2 of between £100 and £500, and 12 of from £20 to £50. Old Luce is in the presbytery of Stranraer and the synod of Galloway; the living is worth £213. Three churches are at Glenluce; and three public schools-Drochduil, Glenluce Academy, and Glen of Luce-with respective accommodation for 120, 280, and 100 children, had (1882) an average attendance of 56, 153, and 50, and grants of £49, £148, 0s. 6d., and £60, 5s. Valuation (1860) £12, 934, (1884) £18, 933, 8s. 6d. Pop. (1801) 1221, (1831) 2180, (1861) 2800, (1871) 2449, (1881) 2447.—Ord. Sur., shs. 4, 3, 1857-56.
(F.H. Groome, Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland (1882-4); © 2004 Gazetteer for Scotland)
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| Feature Description: | "a coast parish" (ADL Feature Type: "countries, 4th order divisions") |
| Administrative units: | Wigtownshire ScoCnty |
| Place: | Old Luce |
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