About the town » Kirkcowan, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, Great Britain

Kirkcowan is an area about 15 miles in length, and from nearly two to nearly seven miles in breadth, comprising 30,580 acres, of which 7000 are arable, 300 woodland and plantations, and the remainder meadow, pasture in Machars, Wigtownshire, in the District Council Region of Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, with the village of Kirkcowan, bounded on the east by the river Bladnoch, on the west by the river Tarff, and is 6 miles W. by S.W. from Newton Stewart. Kirkcowan with its wide moorlands is one of the larger Wigtownshire areas, and a map of the area/parish can be seen at the National Library of Scotland, on the John Ainslie map AD1782. The principal industry has always been agriculture, although in the 19th century two woollen mills were erected on the River Tarff nearby. The A75 road which goes through Kirkcowan is effectively the London - Belfast road. The road forms part of the international E-road, European route E18. There is a Community Council at Kirkcowan. Kirkcowan is on the medieval pilgrim route to Whithorn Priory, seat of Christianity in Scotland.