Dumfries and Galloway Online

Dumfries and Galloway
This page: updated 27th August 2022

A few surprises about south west Scotland Facts about Dumfries and Galloway Dumfries and Galloway

Records Achieved
Dumfries and Galloway

Dumfries & Galloway Records Achieved

Records achieved in Dumfries and Galloway include: 

  • Shortest street in Scotland Chapel Street Moffat.
  • Narrowest Street in Scotland, Syme Street Moffat.
  • World's most highly valued ram, sold at Newton Stewart.
  • Britain's narrowest hotel, The Star Hotel, Moffat.
  • Britain's highest Post Office, Wanlockhead.
  • Stranraer FC was the last senior football club in Britain to have floodlights installed!
  • World record sale of a Galloway bull for 22,000 gns, sold in Castle Douglas, February 1989.
  • Devorgilia Bridge, Dumfries, dating from the C15th, is the oldest surviving multiple-arched bridge in Scotland.
  • Duchess Bridge (C18th), at Mouswald Grange, is the tallest in Scotland at 13,3m.
  • Orchardton Tower is the only cylindrical tower house in Scotland (C15th).
  • The earliest Christian monument in Scotland is the latinus stone (mid C5th) at Whithorn.
  • The largest diameter stone circle on the Scottish mainland with 11 stones is the, “Twelve Apoltles Stone Circle”, 2000 BC, near Dumfries.
  • Langholm boasts the oldest brass band in Scotland.
  • The Motte of Urr (C12th), near Dalbeattie, is the largest and best preserved Norman motte and bailey earthworks in Britain.
  • Dumfries and Galloway was the location of the last witchcraft trial in Scotland. Elsbeth Rule was branded and banished in 1701.
  • Britain's oldest Douglas Fir (132 ft) and Britain's largest sycamore are both found at Drumlanrig.
  • The last man and woman to be publicly executed in Scotland were Robert Smith in 1868 and Mary Timney in 1862, both at Dumfries.
  • The Theatre Royal, Dumfries, is Scotland's oldest working theatre, dating from 1792.