Wigtown

Wigtown in Machars, Wigtownshire, in the Dumfries and Galloway council region, is an area about six miles long and four miles wide, comprising about 7000 acres bounded on the east by Wigtown bay and on the south by the river Bladnoch, lying east of Stranraer and south of Newton Stewart. Wigtownshire is retained as a Lieutenancy Area, and within Wigtownshire this area of Wigtown is a ward, a government district in the region of Dumfries and Galloway council. (See: Subdivisions of Scotland.)

Wigtown (Scots: Wigtoun, Scottish Gaelic: Baile na h-Ùige) is also the name of a town and former royal burgh in the (above) Wigtown. It is well known today as Scotland's National Book Town with a concentration of second-hand book shops. It has a population of about 1,000.

There is a Royal Burgh of Wigtown and District Community Council, refer http://www.wigtowncc.org.uk/Wigtown/Welcome.html

Wigtown remains the gateway to and main centre of the Machars.

Due to the North Atlantic Drift (Gulf Stream) the climate is mild and plants normally associated with the Southern Hemisphere can successfully be grown here.