‘A very attractive part of Galloway’

SERIES

THE parish of Parton lies on the east side of Loch Ken (in fact a wide part of the course of the river Dee) near the centre of what was historically the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright, now the central part of Dumfries and Galloway Council area. In the mid 19th century its landscapes were considered ‘tame and disagreeable’ presumably because they lacked the grandeur of the Galloway hills to the west.

In the 12th century a timber castle was built on an earthen mound (motte) which still survives close to the present church, and this was the focal point for a parish created as part of the process of feudalisation in Lowland Scotland.

The first parish church, about a mile east-north-east of the present one, was dedicated to St Inan (or Innan), and the parish name was Kilennan. The original (presumably 12th century) church building was replaced in the 16th century (either in 1534 or 1592) by a building whose remains still survive in the graveyard of the present church. The belfry which is the most prominent feature of the old church is dated 1635. The carved oak pulpit from the 16th century church is now in the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh. The road from Castle Douglas to Ayr passes through the village, and there was a ferry across Loch Ken in its vicinity.

Between 1832 and 1834 the present church was built, to a design by Walter Newall, the leading architect in Dumfries in the period from 1820 to the 1850s. It is typical of the period in Galloway, when many older churches were replaced, in being in ‘Heritors’ Gothic’ style.

Newall designed several of these, including the parish churches of Buittle, Kirkmahoe, Anwoth and Kirkpatrick Durham. Parton is a plain example of the type, comparable with the church at Kirkinner, in what was formerly Wigtownshire.

At first, like its predecessors, it was a building serving a rural agricultural area, with a small ‘kirkton’ close by. In 1839 a chapel of ease was built in the village of Corsock, to the east of Parton village. It was given a quoad sacra parish carved out of parts of the parishes of Parton, Balmaclellan and Kirkpatrick Durham. Between 1858 and 1861 the Portpatrick and Wigtownshire Railway was opened through the parish, with an imposing iron viaduct over Loch Ken, close to the church, and a station was provided to serve the parish, and the surrounding area.

The ferry then closed.

In 1901 the then owner of Parton House (Benjamin Rigby Murray) created an estate village, in the then fashionable ‘Arts and Crafts’ style, close to the church. This replaced the old village of Parton. Parton House has gone, but the village survives.

The most celebrated connection of Parton is with James Clerk Maxwell, whose family owned the estate and house of Glenlair, to the east of Parton Village, described in the late 19th century as ‘romantically situated on the right bank of the Urr Water’. Maxwell has been described as the greatest scientist of the 19th century, and is of continuing significance for forecasting the existence of radio waves.

He holidayed regularly at Glenlair, during vacations from the universities of Aberdeen and Cambridge, presumably using Parton’s railway station. There is a memorial to him on the wall of Parton churchyard, in which he is buried.

Rural depopulation led in 1961 to the linking of the congregation of Parton with that of Crossmichael, its neighbour to the south. This was followed in 1989 by a full union, with both churches continuing in use for worship. Despite the strictures of 19th century commentators, today the parish would be considered a very attractive part of Galloway, well worth visiting. ¤

This article appears in the June 2018 Issue of Life and Work

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