Stranraer in the context of "Wigtownshire"

The Rhins (or Rhinns) of Galloway is a double-headed peninsula in southwestern Scotland. It takes the form of a hammerhead projecting into the Irish Sea, terminating in the north at Corsewall and Milleur Points and in the south at the Mull of Galloway (the southernmost point of Scotland). It is connected to the rest of Wigtownshire by an isthmus, washed on the north by Loch Ryan and on the south by Luce Bay. From end to end, the peninsula measures 28 miles (45 kilometres). It takes its name from the Gaelic word rinn, meaning "point".

The principal settlements are Stranraer at the head of Loch Ryan and the small tourist village of Portpatrick on the west coast. Other villages are dotted up and down the peninsula, including Kirkcolm, Leswalt, Lochans, and, in the South Rhins, Stoneykirk, Sandhead, Ardwell, and Drummore.

Dumfries and Galloway (Scots: Dumfries an Gallowa; Scottish Gaelic: Dùn Phrìs is Gall-Ghaidhealaibh) is one of the 32 unitary council areas of Scotland, situated in the western part of the Southern Uplands. It is bordered by East Ayrshire, South Ayrshire, and South Lanarkshire to the north; the Scottish Borders to the northeast; and the English county of Cumbria, the Solway Firth, and the Irish Sea to the south. To the west, it faces the North Channel.

The administrative centre and largest settlement is the town of Dumfries. The second-largest town, Stranraer, lies approximately 76 miles (122 km) west of Dumfries on the North Channel coast.

The Reformed Presbyterian Church of Scotland is a small, Scottish, Presbyterian church denomination. Theologically they are similar to many other Presbyterian denominations in that their office-bearers subscribe to the Westminster Confession of Faith. In practice, they are more theologically conservative than most Scottish Presbyterians and maintain a very traditional form of worship. In 1690, after the Revolution, Alexander Shields joined the Church of Scotland, and was received along with two other ministers. These had previously ministered to a group of dissenters of the United Societies at a time when unlicensed meetings were outlawed. Unlike these ministers, some Presbyterians did not join the reconstituted Church of Scotland. From these roots the Reformed Presbyterian Church of Scotland was formed. It grew until there were congregations in several countries. In 1876 the majority of Reformed Presbyterians, or RPs, joined the Free Church of Scotland, and thus the present-day church, which remained outside this union, is a continuing church. There are currently Scottish RP congregations in Airdrie, Stranraer, Stornoway, Glasgow, and North Edinburgh. Internationally they form part of the Reformed Presbyterian Communion.

Loch Ryan (Scottish Gaelic: Loch Rìoghaine, pronounced [l̪ˠɔx ˈrˠiː.ɛɲə]) is a Scottish sea loch that acts as an important natural harbour for shipping, providing calm waters for ferries operating between Scotland and Northern Ireland. The town of Stranraer is the largest settlement on its shores, with ferries to and from Northern Ireland operating from Cairnryan further north on the loch.

Leswalt (Scottish Gaelic: Lios Uillt) is a village and civil parish in Dumfries and Galloway, south-west Scotland. It lies between Portpatrick and Stranraer in the Rhins of Galloway, part of the traditional county of Wigtownshire. The parish covers around 8 square miles (21 km).

Stoneykirk (Scottish Gaelic: Eaglais Steafain) is an area and a village in the heart of the Rhins of Galloway, Wigtownshire, in the administrative council area of Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland nearly 10 miles (16 km) in length and 3+1⁄2 miles (5.6 km) in breadth, bounded on the east by the bay of Luce, and on the west by the Irish Channel, 5 miles (8 km) south of Stranraer.

The area is about 21,500 acres (8,700 ha), of which 19,000 acres (7,700 ha) are arable, 375 acres (152 ha) woodland and plantations, and the remainder, whereof 1,100 acres (450 ha) might be reclaimed, moorland.

Sandhead is a small village in Dumfries and Galloway, south west Scotland. It overlooks Luce Bay, 7 miles south of Stranraer. The old main road, named "Main Street", runs through the village, but the A716 now bypasses it with a narrow and twisting carriageway. The village developed as a strip village with a smithy and a school by 1850, and the bay was used for landing lime and later coal.

The village school is situated above the village, and a little north of this is Balgreggan Motte which stands above the A716. The Motte was the first in a line of early castles along the eastern shore of the Rhins. The top was used by the Royal Observer Corps during the Second World War as a lookout point, but in earlier times the castle was made of wood and was inevitably burned to the ground by marauding forces. The village is located nearby to RAF West Freugh.

Drummore (drum-ORE; (from Gaelic An Druim Mòr meaning "the great ridge") is the southernmost village in Scotland, located at the southern end of the Rhins of Galloway in Dumfries and Galloway: it has two satellite clachans, called Kirkmaiden and Damnaglaur.

The village lies where the Kildonan Burn runs out to the sea, north of the Mull of Galloway. It is further south than the English cities of Durham and Carlisle. It is historically within the Wigtownshire area and the parish and community of Kirkmaiden. It is 16 miles (26 km) from the nearest major town, the ferry port of Stranraer. In the 2011 census, the population was 534.