Not a land you will see on a modern map, it is instead defined by its long and storied History.

It is a land of mist and shadow, with a murky past steeped in legend.  So much forgotten, so much hidden, so much lost forever to time. 

There are many places that hold dark secrets across this land. Caves along its coastline.  Ancient abbeys and Kirks in its hills.  Castles in its Glens. Mansions and houses among the dark trees of its forests.  Lonely monuments on its summits. 

There have been trials, injustice and courage. There have been burnings, raids and riots.   There have been murders, battles and treachery. The fates of Nations have been decided within its borders.

Law breakers, Law makers, Poets, Prophets, Lords, Ladies, Kings and Queens.  All manner of folk have passed through.  All manner of folk have settled.

Six thousand years of settlement, six thousand years of human strife and endeavour. Six thousand years of story. 

In the deep past, before the Pyramids were built at Giza,the first settlers built Cairn Holy, where they buried their dead with a view back across the Solway.  

Then the Romans came and went, the Britons, the Gaels and the Vikings too, leaving behind names and traces in the land and Galloway’s myths and histories.  

Many names, great and worthy, have graced this land.  Douglas, Gordon,  McLellan, Stewart, Maxwell, Herries and countless others. They scrawled their names in the History Books of Scotland, sometimes in blood.   St Ninian, St Margaret, Bruce, and Mary Queen of Scots left their mark here too, as they moved their way through the pages of history. 

The Reformation came, driving out the sound of Gaelic from the Glens and forever changing Galloway’s people.   Covenanters fought for freedom here, witches faced the fires of persecution and armies were raised against Cromwell and for the Jacobite cause.  

Rogue Captains made every beach along the coast a port for smuggled goods while the Exciseman took a dram with the De’il.  Up in the hills, the locals hid illicit stills, and the Traveller King held court. 

The machines of Modernity rested here a while, brought factories and bustling new towns.  Folk from far and wide came to work, live and be before those machines moved on again, looking for a tamer land to reside in.  

Progress continued. Farming life began to change, sheep dotted the hills and the heather began to disappear. The Glens grew empty as Galloway folk left for America, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, looking for life and work elsewhere as it faded here. 

Ruins, overgrown tracks, lost villages  and dwindling population threaten to leave its stories languishing between the dusty pages of old books on Library shelves, or lost when the memories die with their last keeper.

Let Galloway flourish, not slip away into the mists of time.  Let its stories come alive on our voices, mouths and tongues

This is Galloway.

Let us show you its spirit, its beauty and its character.
Angela Miller
Galloway Distillery Storyteller

Image credit: David McCreadie