Not to be confused with DrummuirNot to be confused with Drummore, south ScotlandDrummuir is a small village in Scotland, in the traditional county of Banffshire, and in the Moray council area. It is between Dufftown , Keith and Huntly .Its old name was Botriphnie, and this is the name still sometimes used for the parish...
, north east Scotland
Drummore (from the Gaelic: see below) is a village at the southern end of the
Rhins of GallowayThe Rhins of Galloway is a hammer-head peninsula in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland...
in
ScotlandScotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
: it has two satellite clachans, called Kirkmaiden and Damnaglaur. The village lies where the Kildonan Burn runs out to the sea, a few miles north of the
Mull of GallowayThe Mull of Galloway is the southernmost point of Scotland. It is situated in Wigtownshire, Dumfries and Galloway. Mull means rounded hill or mountain.A lighthouse is positioned at the point...
. It is the most southerly in
ScotlandScotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
, and (unexpectedly) further south than the English cities of
DurhamDurham is a city in the North East of England. It is within the County Durham local government district, and is the county town of the larger ceremonial county....
and
CarlisleThe City of Carlisle , is a local government district of Cumbria, England, with the status of a city and non-metropolitan district. It is named after its largest settlement, Carlisle, but covers a far larger area which includes the towns of Brampton and Longtown, as well as outlying villages...
. It is in the
Dumfries and GallowayDumfries and Galloway is one of 32 council areas of Scotland. To the north, it borders onto South Ayrshire, East Ayrshire and South Lanarkshire; in the east the Borders; and to the south the county of Cumbria in England. It lies to the north of the Solway Firth and to the east of the Irish Sea...
Council area and the parish and community of
KirkmaidenKirkmaiden is a parish in the Rinns of Galloway, the most southerly in Scotland; the present Church of Scotland parish has the same name as and is approximately coterminous with the original pre-Reformation parish....
and is about from the nearest major town, the ferry port of
StranraerStranraer is a town in the south of Scotland in the west of the region of Dumfries and Galloway and in the county of Wigtownshire.Stranraer lies on the shores of Loch Ryan on the northern side of the isthmus joining the Rhins of Galloway to the mainland...
. In 1998 the population was 310.
Drummore shares its name with High Drummore a mile up Glen Lee, and also with Drummore Glen half a mile to the east. The underlying name is clearly the
GaelicScottish Gaelic is a member of the Goidelic branch of Celtic languages, and is distinct from the Brythonic branch of the Celtic languages, which includes Welsh, Cornish, and Breton. Scottish, Manx and Irish Gaelic are all descended from Old Irish...
"druim mor" or "big ridge", and it has been suggested that this reflected the motte associated with the castle of the
AdairsBallymena is a town in County Antrim, Northern Ireland and the seat of Ballymena Borough Council. Ballymena had a population of 28,717 people in the 2001 Census....
of Kinhilt, whose lands were granted in 1602 by
King James VIJames VI & I was King of Scots as James VI from 1567 to 1625, and King of England and Ireland as James I from 1603 to 1625....
. The rather scattered incidence of related names, however, probably makes it more likely that the hill-ridge itself is in question, for all that at 200 rising to it is not all that prominent compared to the Muntloch Fell and Inshanks Fell a mile or two to the west, or even the
Mull of GallowayThe Mull of Galloway is the southernmost point of Scotland. It is situated in Wigtownshire, Dumfries and Galloway. Mull means rounded hill or mountain.A lighthouse is positioned at the point...
itself three miles (5 km) to the south.
A branch line was proposed in 1877 linking to the Portpatrick Railway. It was opposed by the feudal landowner, the Earl of Stair, and finally abandoned after the failure of the
City of Glasgow BankThe City of Glasgow Bank is now largely known for its spectacular collapse in October 1878, ruining all but 254 of its 1,200 shareholders, whose liability was not limited.-General:...
in 1882; aspects of the village's street layout still reflect plans for the railway.
Early history and language
The southern
RhinsThe Rhins of Galloway is a hammer-head peninsula in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland...
was an area of early Christian activity following the missionary work of
NinianSaint Ninian is a Christian saint first mentioned in the eighth century as being an early missionary among the Pictish peoples of what is now Scotland...
across
Luce BayLuce Bay is a large Bay in Wigtownshire in southern Scotland. The bay is 20 miles wide at its mouth and is bounded by the Rhins of Galloway to the west and the Machars to the east....
in the
MacharsThe Machars is a peninsula in Galloway in the south-west of Scotland. The word is derived from the Gaelic word Machair meaning low lying or level land, known as "links" on the east coast of Scotland...
. Shortly before 1860, at Low Curghie less than a mile up the coast north of Drummore, and not far from an extant standing stone, a gravestone was discovered which appeared to date to the 5th or 6th century, with a weathered
LatinLatin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Roman conquest, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe...
inscription in which the name “Ventidius” was legible along with another word which translated as “sub-deacon”. Many place-names testify to
NorseNorsemen is used to refer to the group of people as a whole who speak one of the North Germanic languages as their native language. The meaning of Norseman was "people from the North"...
influence in the southern Rhins, as in many of the west-coast islands and
peninsulaA peninsula is a piece of land that is nearly surrounded by water but connected to mainland via an isthmus. Word origin: Latin paenīnsula : paene, almost + īnsula, island.A peninsula can also be a headland, cape, island promontory, bill, point, or spit....
s, but Drummore's Gaelic name is in tune with the general use of Gaelic in
GallowayGalloway is an area in southwestern Scotland. It usually refers to the former counties of Wigtown and Kirkcudbright...
after the
Dark AgesThe Dark Ages is a term in historiography referring to a perceived period of cultural decline or societal collapse that took place in Western Europe between the fall of Rome and the eventual recovery of learning. Increased understanding of the accomplishments of the Middle Ages in the 19th century...
until it was supplanted by
EnglishEnglish is a West Germanic language that developed in England during the Anglo-Saxon era. As a result of the military, economic, scientific, political, and cultural influence of the British Empire during the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries, and of the United States since the mid 20th century,...
under
PresbyterianThe Church of Scotland , known informally by its Scots language name, The Kirk, is a Presbyterian church, decisively shaped by the Scottish Reformation....
influence in the 17th century.
Ecclesiastical history
Drummore is the largest settlement in the parish of
KirkmaidenKirkmaiden is a parish in the Rinns of Galloway, the most southerly in Scotland; the present Church of Scotland parish has the same name as and is approximately coterminous with the original pre-Reformation parish....
, named after St Maiden or
MedanSaint Medan was a saint, apparently of the early British or Irish period, whose existence and name are inferred from the name Kirkmaiden in Wigtownshire, but who is also associated with Angus and Aberdeenshire.-The occurrence and legend of Medan:...
. The
parish churchA parish church, in Christianity, is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish, the basic administrative unit of episcopal churches....
was originally some five miles (8 km) south of the village, but in 1638 the parishioners, citing the inconvenience of the journey to church, secured the building of a new church known as Kirk Covenant on Core Hill, about a mile west of Drummore. Following the
Disruption of 1843The Disruption of 1843 was a schism within the established Church of Scotland, in which 450 ministers of the Church broke away, over the issue of the Church's relationship with the State, to form the Free Church of Scotland...
, a new church was again built, for worshippers in the
Free Church of ScotlandThe Free Church of Scotland is a Scottish denomination which was formed in 1843 by a large withdrawal from the established Church of Scotland in a division known as the Disruption...
, and this time in the village itself, in the street now known as Stair Street. Early in the 20th century the two congregations were reunited. Now worship is habitually at the church within Drummore, with one service each month in the summer being held at Kirk Covenant.
Drummore Harbour
The harbour, facing north and shielded by the Rhins from the prevailing south-westerly wind, was developed with a jetty in the early 19th century to serve a lime manufacturing industry. For many years in the hands of the
UKThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
's
Ministry of DefenceThe Ministry of Defence is the United Kingdom government department responsible for implementation of government defence policy and is the headquarters of the British Armed Forces....
as part of the management of their
bombing range and weapon development areaRAF West Freugh is a Royal Air Force station located in Wigtownshire, five miles south east of Stranraer, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland....
offshore in
Luce BayLuce Bay is a large Bay in Wigtownshire in southern Scotland. The bay is 20 miles wide at its mouth and is bounded by the Rhins of Galloway to the west and the Machars to the east....
. It was taken over in 2004 for a nominal sum by the Drummore Harbour Trust Ltd, which announced the aim of developing its use for pleasure boats.
This disposal by the
MoDThe Ministry of Defence is the United Kingdom government department responsible for implementation of government defence policy and is the headquarters of the British Armed Forces....
attracted attention in the UK Parliament as a result of disputes over the rights of access to the harbour by fishermen, and a subsequent
Court of SessionThe Court of Session is the supreme civil court of Scotland. It is both a court of first instance and a court of appeal and sits exclusively in Parliament House in Edinburgh.The Sheriff Court is the other Scottish civil court; this sits locally...
judgement confirmed a
VictorianThe Victorian era of the United Kingdom was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from June 1837 until her death on the 22nd of January 1901. The reign was a long period of prosperity for the British people, as profits gained from the overseas British Empire, as well as from industrial improvements...
precedent that no right of harbour existed. Failure of the Drummore Harbour Trust to widen its membership beyond the initial two individual members, or to begin its promised investment programme, caused increasing concern. However, in July 2008 the Dumfries and Galloway Council decided to seek an Empowerment Order under the Harbours Act 1964 which would enable the Council to take over the harbour land and operations, following the pattern of a number of successful harbours along the
Solway-Places:*Solway Firth - the inlet between the north west of England and southern Scotland.*Solway Moss - site of the 1542 Battle of Solway Moss between England and Scotland.*Solway, Minnesota, USA....
coast.
Character and facilities
Older residents recall a time when the main streets were full of shops, including no fewer than three bakers (one on the corner of Stair and Mill Streets). Even recently there have been significant casualties, including on Mill Street the bank, the butcher's (now wholesale only, as a result of over-demanding EU health legislation), and the Harbour Stores (formerly the second general shop, with an additional speciality in fishing supplies).
The village’s facilities still however include the Queen's Hotel, a
post officeA post office is a facility authorised by a postal system for the posting, receipt, sorting, handling, transmission or delivery of mail. Post offices offer mail-related services such as post office boxes, postage and packaging supplies...
, a volunteer tourist office and a general shop on Mill Street; a garage for repairs and fuel; a primary school; a doctor's surgery and pharmacy; the Ship Inn on the shore (refurbished 2007); a bowling club and children’s play park; a number of holiday cottages; and two caravan sites near sandy beaches (one of them associated with another pub). The
KirkmaidenKirkmaiden is a parish in the Rinns of Galloway, the most southerly in Scotland; the present Church of Scotland parish has the same name as and is approximately coterminous with the original pre-Reformation parish....
Community Council meets monthly in Drummore. Housing is mixed, ranging from listed Victorian residential and commercial properties to modern bungalows and
harlHarling is a Scottish term describing an exterior building surfacing technique. The theory of harling is to produce a long-lasting weatherproof shield for a stone building. The pigment is embedded in the harled material, thus obviating the need for repainting. Harling is a technique used to surface...
ed council houses.
Within living memory a number of street names have changed, notably
StairEarl of Stair is a title in the Peerage of Scotland. It was created in 1703 for the lawyer and statesman John Dalrymple, 2nd Viscount of Stair. He actively supported William III's claim to the throne and served as Secretary of State for Scotland. However, he was forced to resign after he authorised...
Street (formerly Church Street), Mill Street (formerly Main Street) and Harbour Road (formerly Quay Road). Following a landslip in the 1960s the former Lower Road, which had brought traffic in along the coast to Shore Street, was barred to traffic; it is now a footpath, set thickly about by
Japanese knotweedJapanese Knotweed is a large, herbaceous perennial plant, native to eastern Asia in Japan, China and Korea...
.