River Dee, Kirkcudbrightshire
The River Dee is a river of 38 miles' length, in Kirkcudbrightshire Its source is in Loch Dee amongst the Galloway Hills, and it ends its journey in Kirkcudbright Bay and the Solway Firth.
The Dee has also been known as the Black Water of Dee because of its dark colour in the stretch above Loch Ken. In Ptolemy's 2nd century work Geographia the river is listed as the river Deva.[1]
Course
The waters of the Black Dee spill form Loch Dee in the hills and flow down to Clatteringshaws Loch, and then into Loch Ken, where the Water of Ken joins the Dee. From there, the Dee flows 15 miles southwards to the county town, Kirkcudbright. The river is dammed at Tongland, two miles upriver from Kirkcudbright, a dam built as part of the Galloway hydro-electric power scheme in the 1930s. Also at this site is Tongland Bridge, built in 1806 by Thomas Telford.
At Kirkcudbright the tidal river is broad enough to have allowed the town to flourish on seaborne trade, and here its estuary opens up to become Kirkcudbright Bay, a great sea-funnel from the Solway Firth.
About the river
The Dee is 38 miles long. Together with its tributaries, the Dee's basin area is over 400 square miles.[2]
The ruins of Threave Castle stand on an island on the lower part of the Dee.
Loch Ken and the Dee Marshes were together designated a Ramsar site in 1992.
Tarff Water
The Tarff Water enters the Dee as a right-bank tributary near Tongland in the tidal stretch of the river. The headwater streams of the Tarff drain the tract of country between the villages of Laurieston and Ringford including Loch Mannoch. The river should not be confused with the similarly named Tarf Water, a tributary of the River Bladnoch in the neighbouring shire.
References
- ↑ Henry, Robert; Laing, Malcom (1800). The History of Great Britain: From the First Invasion of it by the Romans. Great Britain: A. Strahan. pp. 397.
- ↑ "Description of river systems in Galloway:". Galloway Fisheries Trust. http://www.gallowayfisheriestrust.org/rivers-dumfries-galloway.asp.
Outside links
- Location map: 54°48’12"N, 4°4’11"W
