Dumfries and Galloway is a council area in the far south-west of Scotland, running 100 miles along the Solway Firth from the English border to the Irish Sea. It had a population of 145,895 at the 2022 census and covers 6,426 square kilometres (2,481 sq mi), the third largest council area in Scotland by land area.
Dumfries is the largest town and the seat of the council. The area brings together three historic counties: Dumfriesshire in the east, Kirkcudbrightshire, known as the Stewartry, in the centre, and Wigtownshire in the west.
| Country | Scotland, United Kingdom |
|---|---|
| Status | Council area |
| Area | 6,426 km2 (2,481 sq mi) |
| Population (2022) | 145,895 |
| Population (2011) | 151,324 |
| Density | 23 people per km2 |
| Largest town | Dumfries |
| Council | Dumfries and Galloway Council, English Street, Dumfries |
| Historic counties | Dumfriesshire, Kirkcudbrightshire, Wigtownshire |
| Postcode area | DG |
Towns and Villages in Dumfries and Galloway
Dumfries and Galloway has 324 named towns, villages and hamlets. Dumfries holds about 46,500 people, roughly a third of the total; after it come Stranraer, Annan, Dalbeattie, Lockerbie, Castle Douglas, Newton Stewart and Kirkcudbright, none above 11,000. The list runs alphabetically, from Ae to Woodside.
- Ae
- Aird
- Amisfield Town
- Annan
- Anwoth
- Applegarth Town
- Ardwell
- Artfield
- Auchencairn
- Auchenmalg
- Auchmantle
- Auldgirth
- Bailliewhir
- Balmaclellan
- Balmae
- Balminnoch
- Bankend
- Bankhead
- Bankshill
- Bargrennan
- Barnbarroch
- Barrachan
- Barraer
- Battlehill
- Beattock
- Beeswing
- Bentpath
- Berryscaur
- Birkhill
- Blackacre
- Blackshaw
- Blackwood
- Bladnoch
- Boreland
- Borgue
- Brae
- Braehead
- Bridge of Dee
- Broomholm
- Broughton Mains
- Browhouses
- Brydekirk
- Burnfoot
- Burnhead
- Byreburnfoot
- Cadgill
- Cairngarroch
- Cairnryan
- Cample
- Camrie
- Canonbie
- Cargenbridge
- Carleton
- Carrick Shore
- Carronbridge
- Carrutherstown
- Carsethorn
- Carslae
- Carsluith
- Carsphairn
- Carty Port
- Castle Douglas
- Castle Kennedy
- Castle O’er
- Castlewigg
- Caulkerbush
- Caulside
- Causeway End
- Challoch
- Chapelknowe
- Clachanmore
- Clanyard
- Clarebrand
- Clarencefield
- Claygate
- Closeburn
- Colfin
- Collin
- Colvend
- Corrie Common
- Corsock
- Courance
- Craigdarroch
- Craigengillan
- Craignarget
- Crawick
- Creca
- Creebridge
- Creetown
- Crocketford
- Crossmichael
- Cummertrees
- Dalbeattie
- Dalry
- Dalswinton
- Dalton
- Damnaglaur
- Davington
- Dinduff
- Dinwoodie Mains
- Dornock
- Dromore
- Drummore
- Drumpark
- Drumwhirn
- Dumfries
- Duncan Park
- Duncow
- Dundeugh
- Dundrennan
- Dunragit
- Dunscore
- Durisdeer
- Durisdeermill
- Eaglesfield
- East Barcloy
- East Cluden
- East Freugh
- Eastriggs
- Ecclefechan
- Eldrig Village
- Eliock
- Elrig
- Enoch
- Enterkinfoot
- Ervie
- Eskdalemuir
- Evertown
- Ewes
- Fairgirth
- Flosh
- Garlieston
- Gatehouse of Fleet
- Gatelawbridge
- Gateside
- Gelston
- Gillespie
- Girthon
- Glasserton
- Glencaple
- Glenlochar
- Glenluce
- Glenmidge
- Glenstockdale
- Glentrool Village
- Glenwhilly
- Greenhill
- Greenlea
- Gretna
- Gretna Green
- Halleaths
- Hardgate
- Haugh of Urr
- Heathhall
- Heck
- High Glasnick
- Hightae
- Hoddomcross
- Hollee
- Hollows
- Holm
- Holmhead
- Holy Croft
- Holywood
- Howes
- Inch
- Innermessan
- Irvington
- Isle of Whithorn
- Islesteps
- Johnstonebridge
- Keir Mill
- Kelhead
- Kelton
- Kelton Hill
- Kendoon
- Kettleholm
- Killywhan
- Kingholm Quay
- Kippford
- Kirkandrews
- Kirkbean
- Kirkchrist
- Kirkcolm
- Kirkconnel
- Kirkconnell
- Kirkcowan
- Kirkcudbright
- Kirkdale
- Kirkgunzeon
- Kirkinner
- Kirkland
- Kirkmaiden
- Kirkmichael
- Kirkpatrick
- Kirkpatrick Durham
- Kirkpatrick-Fleming
- Kirkton
- Kirtlebridge
- Kirtleton
- Knockbrex
- Knowe
- Lamachan View
- Langholm
- Laurieston
- Leswalt
- Lime Kiln
- Loch Head
- Lochanhead
- Lochans
- Locharbriggs
- Lochfoot
- Lochmaben
- Lochwood Mains
- Lockerbie
- Mainsriddle
- Mansegate
- Mark
- Maxwelltown
- Maxwelton
- Mennock
- Mid Kelton
- Middlebie
- Middleshaw
- Millhall
- Millhousebridge
- Milltown
- Milton
- Minnigaff
- Mochrum
- Moffat
- Moniaive
- Monreith
- Mossdale
- Mouswald
- Mull of Galloway
- Mutehill
- Nether Hutton
- Nethermill
- New Abbey
- New Galloway
- New Luce
- Newbie
- Newbridge
- Newton
- Newton Stewart
- North Balfern
- Old Bridge of Urr
- Overton
- Palnackie
- Palnure
- Park
- Parkgate
- Parton
- Penkiln Mews
- Penninghame
- Penpont
- Port Logan
- Port William
- Port o’ Warren Bay
- Portling
- Portpatrick
- Portyerrock
- Powfoot
- Prestonmill
- Prestrie
- Racks
- Rerrick High Row
- Rigg
- Ringford
- Rockcliffe
- Roucan
- Roundstonefoot
- Rowanburn
- Ruthwell
- Sandgreen
- Sandhead
- Sandyford
- Sandyhills
- Sanquhar
- Sawmill Cottages
- Shawhead
- Shearington
- Shieldhill
- Sibbaldbie
- Sorbie
- Southerness
- Spittal
- Springfield
- Springholm
- Squarepoint
- St Ann’s
- St Mary’s Isle
- Stairhaven
- Stanshielrig
- Stoneykirk
- Stranraer
- Stronord
- Talnotry
- Templand
- Terregles
- Terreglestown
- The Lake
- Thornhill
- Throughgate
- Tinwald
- Tongland
- Torthorwald
- Townhead
- Townhead of Greenlaw
- Trailflat
- Twynholm
- Tynron
- Wallaceton
- Wanlockhead
- Waterbeck
- Wath
- West Barcloy
- Whauphill
- Whithorn
- Wierston
- Wigtown
- Woodlands
- Woodside
Geography
Dumfries and Galloway borders South Ayrshire and East Ayrshire to the north and Scottish Borders to the north-east. Its south-eastern boundary at the River Sark is the western end of the border with England. The Solway Firth and the Irish Sea lie to the south and west.
The Southern Uplands fill the interior, rising to the Merrick at 843 metres, the highest hill in southern Scotland. The Galloway Hills carry Galloway Forest Park, at 300 square miles the largest forest park in Britain and the UK’s first Dark Sky Park.
Four rivers run south to the Solway: the Esk, the Annan, the Nith through Dumfries, and the Cree at Newton Stewart. In the far west the Rhins of Galloway forms a hammerhead peninsula ending at the Mull of Galloway, the southernmost point of Scotland and 21 miles from the Irish coast.
Demographics
The 2022 census counted 145,895 residents, a fall of 5,429 on 2011. That is one of the sharpest proportional declines in Scotland, and the area has one of the oldest age profiles of any Scottish council area.
Density is about 23 people per square kilometre. Roughly half the population lives in the ten largest towns; the rest is spread through farm villages and forestry settlements across a very large rural area.
The population is concentrated in the coastal belt and the Nith valley. The Wigtownshire west, served by Stranraer, is the most remote part and has lost people fastest since the ferry terminal moved from Stranraer to Cairnryan in 2011.
Economy and Local Life
Dairy farming dominates the Stewartry and Wigtownshire, and Galloway beef cattle take their name from the area. Forestry is the other large land use: Galloway Forest and the Newton Stewart and Lockerbie sawmills form one of the biggest timber-processing clusters in Britain.
Cairnryan on Loch Ryan is the main freight and passenger link to Northern Ireland, with Stena Line and P&O sailings to Belfast and Larne. Chapelcross, a Magnox nuclear station near Annan, closed in 2004 and is being decommissioned; the site remains a significant employer.
Tourism runs on the Solway coast, the Galloway hills and literary connections. Wigtown has been Scotland’s National Book Town since 1998 and holds a ten-day book festival each autumn. Kirkcudbright has been an artists’ colony since the 1880s, and Gretna Green still trades on runaway marriages, which were legal there for couples under English age limits from 1754.
History
Whithorn in Wigtownshire is the oldest recorded Christian site in Scotland: Ninian founded a church there, the Candida Casa, around AD 400, and it drew pilgrims for a thousand years. Galloway was a semi-independent lordship under Gaelic-Norse rulers into the twelfth century, and kept its own laws longer than most of Scotland.
The border country east of the Nith was reiver territory, fought over between Scotland and England for three centuries; the peel towers at Langholm, Annan and Hoddom date from that period. Robert the Bruce killed the Red Comyn in Dumfries in 1306, weeks before taking the throne.
Robert Burns farmed at Ellisland near Auldgirth and died in Dumfries in 1796; his house and mausoleum are in the town. On 21 December 1988 Pan Am Flight 103 was destroyed by a bomb over Lockerbie, killing 270 people, 11 of them on the ground.
Getting There
The A74(M) and M74 run north-south through the east of the area, past Gretna, Lockerbie and Moffat, linking Glasgow to Carlisle. The A75 crosses west from Gretna through Dumfries, Castle Douglas and Newton Stewart to the Cairnryan ferry terminals; the A76 follows the Nith north towards Kilmarnock, and the A77 comes down the Ayrshire coast into Stranraer.
The Glasgow South Western Line serves Sanquhar, Dumfries and Annan, with a branch through Barrhill to Stranraer. The West Coast Main Line stops at Lockerbie and Gretna Green. The nearest airports are Prestwick, about an hour from Stranraer, and Glasgow or Newcastle for the eastern towns.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the population of Dumfries and Galloway?
145,895 at the 2022 census, down 5,429 since 2011.
What is the largest town in Dumfries and Galloway?
Dumfries, with about 46,500 residents. Stranraer is second with roughly 10,500.
How many villages are in Dumfries and Galloway?
There are 324 named settlements across the three historic counties.
Which counties make up Dumfries and Galloway?
Dumfriesshire in the east, Kirkcudbrightshire, called the Stewartry, in the centre, and Wigtownshire in the west.
Where do the ferries to Northern Ireland leave from?
Cairnryan on Loch Ryan, six miles north of Stranraer, with crossings to Belfast and Larne.
What is the postcode for Dumfries and Galloway?
DG throughout, running from DG1 in Dumfries to DG9 at Stranraer and DG16 at Gretna.