Newton Stewart

Newton Stewart
Scottish Gaelic: *Baile Ùr nan Stiùbhartach*
Newton Stewart Scottish Gaelic: Baile Ùr nan Stiùbhartach;
	; The River Cree with Newton Stewart beyond
	Newton Stewart Location within Dumfries and Galloway
Area	1.94 km2 (0.75 sq mi) [1]
Population	4,092 (2011 Census)
• Density	2,109/km2 (5,460/sq mi)
OS grid reference	NX405655
• Edinburgh	85 mi (137 km)
• London	299 mi (481 km)
Council area	Dumfries and Galloway;
Lieutenancy area	Wigtownshire;
Country	Scotland
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	NEWTON STEWART
Postcode district	DG8
Dialling code	01671
Police	Scotland
Fire	Scottish
Ambulance	Scottish
UK Parliament	Dumfries and Galloway;
Scottish Parliament	Galloway and West Dumfries;

Newton Stewart (Gd: Baile Ùr nan Stiùbhartach) is a former burgh town in the historical county of Wigtownshire in Dumfries and Galloway, southwest Scotland. The town is on the River Cree with most of the town to the west of the river, and is sometimes referred to as the "Gateway to the Galloway Hills".[2]

The main local industries are agriculture, forestry and tourism. The town hosts a local market, and a number of services to support the farming industry. There are many mountain biking trails in the area. Newton Stewart lies on the southern edge of the Galloway Forest Park, which supplies many jobs to the town.

Newton Stewart FC, nicknamed the "Creesiders" play in the South of Scotland league, their ground is called Blairmount Park.

Tourism

There are numerous nature trails nearby as part of Galloway Forest Park, managed on behalf of the state by Forest Enterprise. There is a local museum at St. John's Church, and a doll's house exhibition and a butterfly and tropical plant house nearby. The last two are no longer open for visitors. Newton Stewart is 7 miles (11 km) from Scotland's book town Wigtown.

History

The town was founded in the mid 17th century by William Stewart, fourth and youngest son of the 2nd Earl of Galloway. The "New Town of Stewart" was granted burgh status by charter from King Charles II, allowing a weekly market and two annual fairs to be held.

It was on a pilgrimage to the shrine of St Ninian at Whithorn in 1329 that Robert the Bruce forded the river where the present bridge stands.[3] Designed by John Rennie the Elder and built in 1813 the present bridge replaced the old bridge of 1745 which was destroyed by floods in 1806.

The industrialist Sir William Douglas (died 1809), best known for founding the planned town of Castle Douglas, also established cotton mills in Newton Stewart, which was renamed "Newton Douglas" in his honour but soon reverted to Newton Stewart.

Transport

The A75 road runs along the southern edge of the town, and connects the town to Stranraer in the west and Dumfries in the east. Public transport in and around the town and to places in South Ayrshire and Dumfries & Galloway is mainly provided by Stagecoach Western.[4]

Newton Stewart's railway station was on the Portpatrick and Wigtownshire Joint Railway and closed in 1965, as a result of the Beeching Axe.[5] The nearest railway stations are at Stranraer and Barrhill which are respectively 25 miles (40 km) and 18.5 miles (29.8 km) away from Newton Stewart.

Education

Newton Stewart has three primary schools:

Penninghame
Minnigaff
St Ninian’s RC

The town has one secondary school, the Douglas Ewart High School.

Media

The horror film The Wicker Man, set on the fictional privately-owned Scottish island of Summerisle, was filmed almost entirely (some opening scenes filmed in Plockton, Wester Ross also) on location around Newton Stewart, and had its premiere at its cinema in 1972.[6]

Notable people

The artist and musician Bill Drummond of the KLF and K Foundation grew up in the town.

Scottish Under 23 international footballer Ian Gibson (1943–2016), played for Middlesbrough, Coventry City and Cardiff City amongst others.

Educationalist Prof William Wither McClelland FRSE (1889–1968) professor of Education at St Andrews University.[7]

gollark: Or 0 to 11, if you like zero indexing.

gollark: You could just write 1-12 instead of ridiculous "month names".

gollark: Surely you can just duct-tape some extra page onto the bottom of your page, though.

gollark: I simply store all journal-related things on a computer for trivial reformatting.

gollark: The chemtrail nanobot beams hiding the fake Moon will warm up your scones nicely.

References

"Newton Stewart (Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, United Kingdom) - Population Statistics, Charts, Map, Location, Weather and Web Information". www.citypopulation.de. Retrieved 4 April 2019.
"Newton Stewart, Gateway to the Galloway Hills, Dumfries and Galloway South West Scotland". Newtonstewart.org. Retrieved 28 July 2014.
"Three Trails... One Tale" (PDF). Sulwathconnections.org. Retrieved 28 July 2014.
West Scotland - Home Archived 2008-07-14 at the Wayback Machine
RAILSCOT | Chronology | Portpatrick Railway
"The Wicker Man". British Film Locations. Retrieved 8 February 2020.
Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002 (PDF). The Royal Society of Edinburgh. July 2006. ISBN 0 902 198 84 X. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 19 June 2017.

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[1] "Newton Stewart (Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, United Kingdom) - Population Statistics, Charts, Map, Location, Weather and Web Information". www.citypopulation.de. Retrieved 4 April 2019.

[2] "Newton Stewart, Gateway to the Galloway Hills, Dumfries and Galloway South West Scotland". Newtonstewart.org. Retrieved 28 July 2014.

[3] "Three Trails... One Tale" (PDF). Sulwathconnections.org. Retrieved 28 July 2014.

[4] West Scotland - Home Archived 2008-07-14 at the Wayback Machine

[5] RAILSCOT | Chronology | Portpatrick Railway

[6] "The Wicker Man". British Film Locations. Retrieved 8 February 2020.

[7] Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002 (PDF). The Royal Society of Edinburgh. July 2006. ISBN 0 902 198 84 X. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 19 June 2017.