NEWTON STEWART TOWN WALK

NOTE: This walk was originally scheduled for Saturday 12th but rescheduled to Sunday 13th

Starting from the McMillan Hall the walk is down to the bridge over the Cree (412656), east along the main road, and through the housing scheme. A turn left (north) through the golf course leads along the Military Road from Carlisle to Portpatrick, down into Minnigaff village, and on to Queen Mary Bridge (414669). Turning south, we go into Minnigaff church and the Mote of Minnigaff. After crossing the suspension bridge to the west bank of the Cree we go south to complete the circular walk.

The History of Newton Stewart

NEWTON STEWART is located at a narrowing of the Cree valley, and originated as several settlements. The village of Minnigaff is of great age, having grown up at the meeting-place of hill and lowland with a traditional market. A mote, now wooded, marks the site of the original fortification, but the village grew up to the east on the floodplain of the river and sheltered by its steep bluffs.

Downstream, the river is wider and so shallower at times, and here was the ford used by drovers of cattle on their way to market in England. This crossing was located just downstream of the present Cree Bridge, and on the west bank stood the Fordhouse of Cree.

It was William Stewart of Castle Stewart who in 1677 obtained a charter of burgh of barony for the few houses at the ford and named them Newton-Stewart. The parish church, school and graveyard had been located about four miles to the south at the clachan of Penninghame, but Newton Stewart began to replace it once the first bridge was built over the Cree in 1745. It was destroyed in a flood and replaced by the Rennie bridge in 1813, used by the road from London to Portpatrick.

Another laird, Heron of Kirroughtree, obtained a charter for a burgh of barony in 1698, and this is Creebridge, a planned village at the east end of the Cree Bridge. The three burghs now function as one, and serve as the regional centre for the Machers peninsula and the Cree Basin, that is for Mid-Galloway.

Central Galloway looks to Newton Stewart for secondary school, mart, clinics, postal sorting office (DG8) and main shopping centre. The total population of the three burghs is now 3,700. The buildings are sited on several levels. The lowest one may be related to a raised beach 8m above present sea level, and the river is just a little lower than this at bankfull. The middle level is at about 25m and may correspond to Scotland's main raised beach. The highest level is from 38m and sloping, unlike the almost horizontal lower terraces.

Old Minnigaff and the main street of Newton Stewart are on the lower terrace. Streets wind up onto the second level, with most of the nineteenth buildings - residences, public buildings (hall, church, schools, mart), garages and hotels - and modern housing is found on some of the higher slopes.

Improvements of the A75(T) road have included by-passes of towns along its length, and since 1980 the trunk road from Carlisle to Stranraer has crossed the Cree just south of the town. This spares the residents the ferry traffic of cars and juggernauts.

References "Penninghame, the Story of the Parish"