Colvend and Southwick
Colvend and Southwick is a parish in south-eastern Kirkcudbrightshire on the Solway Firth coast. The former of these places is supposed to have derived its name from John de Culwen, its proprietor in the fifteenth century, and the latter from the position of its ancient church, now in ruins, with reference to a small river which flows through the parish into the Firth. After the dilapidation of the church of Southwick, that parish was annexed to Colvend, with which it has been united from the time of the Reformation.
The parish extends for about eight miles from north-east to south-west, and is bounded on the south by the Solway Firth, with the river Urr forming its south-western limit. Surrounding parishes are Urr to the north-west, Kirkgunzeon to the north, New Abbey to the north-east and Kirkbean to the east.
The surface is extremely irregular, and is so broken into detached portions by intervening masses of rock and impenetrable copses of furze and briars, as to render it unpracticable to ascertain, with any degree of correctness, the probable number of acres under cultivation. The ground in some parts rises into numerous hills of moderate height, and in other parts, especially towards the north, into mountainous elevation forming a chain of heights skirting the lofty and conspicuous mountain of Criffel. For nearly two miles along the eastern coast the surface is tolerably level, and divided into several fields of good arable land. The coast is bold and rocky, and in many places rises into lofty and precipitous cliffs, overhanging the Firth, from which, at low water, the sea retires, leaving a broad tract of level sands.
References
This article incorporates text from A topographical dictionary of Scotland, by Samuel Lewis, an 1846 publication now in the public domain.
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Outside links
- Parishes of Kirkcudbright
- Search results for "Colvend", R.C.A.H.M.S. website
- Search results for "Southwick", R.C.A.H.M.S. website
