Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for Glasserton

Glasserton, a coast parish of SE Wigtownshire, whose church stands 1¼ mile inland, and 2½ miles SW of Whithorn. It is bounded N by Kirkinner, NE by Sorbie, E by Whithorn, SW by Luce Bay, and W by Mochrum. Its utmost length, from NW to SE, is 65/8 miles; its breadth varies between 1½ and 5¼ miles; and its area is 13,889 acres, of which 514½ are foreshore and 90 water. The coast-line, 6¾ miles long, is a chain of green-topped hills, various in height, and rocky, bold, and beetling towards the sea; it rises on Carleton Fell to a maximum altitude of 4 75 feet above sea-level. Many of its hills are abrupt and precipitous, overhanging the shore in projecting cliffs; others slope gently down to the water's edge, and several are pierced to no great depth by caverns. Of these St Ninian's Cave, near Physgill House, is said to have served as an oratory to that early apostle of the Southern Picts; and carved on a panel, 25 feet SW of its entrance, the figure of a cross, 9 inches high, was discovered by a party, which comprised the late Dr John Stuart and Dean Stanley. (See Whithorn.) Monreith Bay, at the boundary with Mochrum, and two or three spots elsewhere, are available for the unloading of sloops in fine weather; but nowhere is there any safe harbourage. The interior exhibits an uneven, broken, and knolly appearance, a constant succession of heights and hollows, with scarcely a level field; and, rising at many points to 200 or 300 feet above sea-level, culminates on the Fell of Barhullion at an altitude of 450 feet. Dowalton Loch now drained, lay at the northern extremity, and has been separately noticed. The rocks are various, but chiefly Silurian; and they yield hard material for roadmetal. The soil, too, varies much, and often, on one and the same ridge, ranges from light dry earth to loam and moss; but rich soil prevails, much interspersed with till. Between 200 and 300 acres are under wood, and more than a fourth of the entire area still is waste, though great improvements have been carried out, especially on the estate (677 acres) of Craiglemine and Appleby, purchased in 1847 by George Guthrie, Esq., who, expending on it £4250, had raised its rental by 1874 from £423 to £1150. He 'found it a wilderness, and left it a garden.' Glasserton House, 3 furlongs SW of the church, stands in the midst of a large, well-wooded park, and is a red stone building, successor to a seat of the Earls of Galloway, which was destroyed by fire in 1730. It and the older mansion of Physgill, 1 mile to the SE, are both the property of Robert Hathorn Johnston-Stewart, Esq. (b. 1824; suc. 1865), who holds 5552 acres in the shire, valued at £7619 pei annum. Another mansion is Ravenstone; and the entire parish is divided among five proprietors. It is in the presbytery of Wigtown and synod of Galloway; the living is worth £246. The church was built in 1732, and, as repaired and enlarged in 1837, contains 400 sittings; whilst two public schools, Glasserton and Ravelstone, with respective accommodation for 94 and 76 children, had (1881) an average attendance of 51 and 50, and grants of £49, 3s. and £55, 18s. Valuation (1860) £10, 333, (1882) £14,056, 13s. 4d. Pop. (1801) 860, (1831) 1194, (1861) 1472, (1871) 1196, (1881) 1203.—Ord. Sur., shs. 2, 4, 1856-57.


(F.H. Groome, Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland (1882-4); © 2004 Gazetteer for Scotland)

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a coast parish"   (ADL Feature Type: "countries, 4th order divisions")
Administrative units: Glasserton ScoP       Wigtownshire ScoCnty
Place: Glasserton

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