KIRKCUDBRIGHT. 



573 



prepared here is woven by the hand, and engages a 

 great number of individuals. The fabrics pre- 

 pared and woven, are chiefly ticks, dowlas, checks, 

 and sail-cloth. There are four bleachfields con- 

 nected with the town for the whitening of the 

 yarns. Kirkaldy has likewise a rope-work. In 

 the town and environs, there are two breweries and 

 a distillery, likewise two iron foundries, where the 

 machinery employed in the spinning-mills is manu- 

 factured. Salt was once made to a considerable 

 extent, but it is now manufactured on a very small 

 scale. Besides these chief public works, there are 

 many minor establishments incidental to a popu- 

 lous sea-port town. The harbour of Kirkaldy is 

 situated at the east end of the town, and though 

 of large dimensions, with a good stone pier at the 

 east and west sides, it has the misfortune of being 

 dry at low water ; and at such times of the tide 

 the passengers of steam-vessels have to embark by 

 means of small boats. The shipping belonging 

 to the town in 1836, consisted of seven ves- 

 sels connected with the whale fishery, eighteen 

 in the foreign and general trade of the coun- 

 try, two smacks engaged in the London trade, 

 two vessels in the trade to Newcastle, two in 

 the Glasgow trade by the canal, two in the 

 trade to Leith, and one in the Dundee trade: bur- 

 den in whole 6709 tons. The custom-house of 

 Kirkaldy includes all the ports from Aberdour 

 to St Andrews. The town possesses several 

 branch banks, a chamber of commerce, a sub- 

 scription library, a mechanic's library, and two 

 newsrooms. The celebrated Dr Adam Smith was 

 a native of Kirkaldy. The house in which he was 

 born was taken down and rebuilt in 1835. Popu- 

 lation of burgh and parish in 1841, 5275. To the 

 west of the royalty, but within its boundary, as fixed 

 by the act 2 and 3 William IV., are the populous 

 village of Linktown, in the parish of Abbotshill, and 

 the village of Westbridge in the parish of Kinghorn. 

 KIRKCUDBRIGHT; a county of Scotland, 

 or, as it is more commonly called, a stewartry, from 

 its having at one time been crown property, and 

 under the authority of a royal Stewart, is bounded 

 on the south by the Solway Frith, on the north by 

 Ayrshire, on the east by Dumfries-shire, and on 

 the west by Wigtonshire. It extends from south- 

 east to north-west forty-four miles, and its breadth 

 ranges from twenty-one to thirty-one miles. It 

 embraces a superficies of 855 square miles, or 

 547,200 statute acres. It is one of the two coun- 

 ties comprehended under the general name of Gal- 

 loway, Wigtonshire being the other. The general 

 appearance of Kirkcudbright is mountainous, and 

 the high lands are mostly covered with heath, pro- 

 ducing little else than pasturage for cattle and sheep, 

 which are here bred for distant markets, the Eng- 

 lish in particular, and exported in great numbers, 

 together with horses of the noted Galloway breed. 

 A regular and cheap communication with White- 

 haven and Liverpool, by means of steam naviga- 

 tion, affords to agriculturists a convenient out- 

 ht for the disposal of their produce. The soil in 

 the lower grounds is, in many instances, possessed 

 of great natural fertility, and affords plentiful crops. 

 The climate is moist but warm, and in genial sea- 

 sons figs ripen on the open garden-walls. The 

 rocks of the county are argillaceous, granite, or 

 whinstone with some freestone. Some mineral 

 veins of lead, copper, and iron have been found. 

 Coal is extremely scarce, which, along with lime, 

 is brought from Cumberland. The district possesses 



a variety of lakes, but few of them are consider- 

 able. The principal rivers are the Nith, which se- 

 parates the county from Dumfries-shire, the Dee, 

 the Ken, the Cree, and the Urr ; and the smaller 

 streams are the Fleet, the Tarf, the Deugh, and 

 the Cluden. The Solway Frith, in a circular form, 

 washes the coast of the stewartry from the Nith 

 to the Cree, a space of forty-five miles, and along 

 the shore, the coast is bold and rocky, the cliffs 

 sometimes rising to a great height. A range of 

 mountains stretches along the whole northern 

 boundary, and there are also considerable mountains 

 on the southern extremity, such as, Cairnsmore, 

 2597 feet in height, Criffel, 1831 feet, and Cairn- 

 harrow, 1110 feet. The land is almost universally 

 enclosed, chiefly with stone walls, called Galloway 

 Dykes. The enclosing of the land with fences 

 was begun in the year 1724, and the measure was 

 at first looked on with hostility by the country 

 people, who rose to the number of 500, and, under 

 the name of Levellers, proceeded to demolish the 

 fences which had been erected. The insurrection, 

 which originated from some peculiar notions as to 

 the general rights of property, was suppressed by 

 six troops of dragoons. After this, the country 

 advanced in improvement, and when shell marl was 

 first applied as manure in 1740, a great stride was 

 made towards a better condition. The land was 

 now cultivated on a great scale, and after the year 

 1760, considerable exportations began to be made. 

 The important changes which ensued have, with 

 justice, been traced in a great degree to William 

 Craik of Arbigland, who introduced new rotations 

 of cropping, new methods of cultivation, new ma- 

 chinery, and new modes of treating cattle. Since 

 1790 the district has coped with Dumfries-shire 

 and other counties adjacent, in its agricultural im- 

 provements, and in the beginning of the present 

 century, colonel M'Dowal of Logan, accomplished 

 much in reclaiming moss-lands. Much has been 

 effected by judicious planting by several noblemen 

 and gentlemen of the stewartry. In 1814 it pos- 

 sessed 6000 horses, 50,000 cattle, and 178,000 

 sheep, besides swine to a prodigious extent; these 

 animals being now a staple commodity in the usual 

 produce, both for home consumpt and exportation. 

 The real rental of the stewartry in 1811 was 

 83,487 for lands, and 3549 for houses. The 

 manufacture of linen, woollen, and cotton goods 

 engages a number of bands in the towns and the 

 villages. A granite quarry, which employs 300 

 workmen, was opened in this county in 1830 by 

 the Liverpool dock company. The stewartry con- 

 tains two royal burghs Kirkcudbright and New 

 Galloway ; and several considerable villages, as 

 Maxwelltovvn, Castle Douglas, Gatehouse-of- Fleet, 

 Creetown, &c. most of which have been built with- 

 in the last eighty years. It includes twenty-eight 

 parishes. Population in 1821, males 18,506, fe- 

 males 20,397; total 38,903; in 1841, males 18,856; 

 females 22,263; total 41,119. 



KIRKCUDBRIGHT ; the capital town of the 

 above county, is beautifully situated on the left 

 bank of the Dee, about six miles from its entrance 

 into the Solway; distant from Edinburgh one hun- 

 dred miles; from Dumfries, twenty-eight. It is sup- 

 posed to owe its origin and name to St Cuthbert, 

 whose church was erected here as early as the 

 eighth century. The church, some time between 

 1161 and 1174, was granted by Uchtred the son 

 of Fergus, the lord of Galloway, to the monks of 

 Holyrood, who retained it till the Reformation, 



