Wigtownshire (UK Parliament Constituency) - Administrative Boundaries After 1975

Administrative Boundaries After 1975

The Galloway region was created in 1975, by merging the counties of Wigtownshire, Kirkcudbrightshire and Dumfriesshire as a two-tier region with the districts of Wigtownshire, Stewartry, Nithsdale and Annandale and Eskdale within it.

After 1996 the unitary authority became known as Dumfries and Galloway Council still with Wigtownshire, Stewartry, Nithsdale, Annandale and Esdale within it.

The assertion that the traditional shires/counties "no longer exist", although frequently made, is just wrong. We must understand the fundamental difference between a purely administrative authority and a traditional, historic shire/county.

County councils as administrative authorities were only created in 1889, little more than 100 years ago. The present-day, Dumfries and Galloway Council Area is the creation of bureaucrats for administrative purposes only. It can never replace the historic shire/counties' names which are far, far older geographical areas. This means, for example, that Wigtownshire still very much exists, but not as an administrative entirety, but under the administrative authority of Dumfries and Galloway Council Area. Because the administrative authority letterhead had changed, it does not mean that the places that it administers have ceased to exist.

The historic counties of Britain, at least most of them, have existed for around 1,000 years or more, and were not formed by any government, but are geographical entities in themselves which have nothing whatsoever to do with administrative regions formed purely for the sake of convenience of provision of services. Where the areas of these two different entities happen to coincide, that is merely because it suits the schemes of civil servants, for financial economy and other reasons, for them to do so. The geographical shires/counties were essentially, in their origins, creations of nature, their boundaries often formed by hill ranges, rivers, streams etc. - natural divisions.

The Dumfries and Galloway Council region is composed of counties and their sub-areas. - From west to east:

• Wigtownshire
  • the sub-area of Wigtownshire - Rhins of Galloway ----------------divided into census areas (civil parish areas)
  • the sub-area of Wigtownshire - Machars (archaically, Farines)--divided into census areas (civil parish areas)

• Kirkcudbrightshire
  • the sub-area of Kirkcudbrightshire - Stewartry (archaically, Desnes)

• Dumfriesshire
  • the sub-area of Dumfriesshire - Nithsdale
  • the sub-area of Dumfriesshire - Annandale
  • the sub-area of Dumfriesshire - Eskdale