Dumfries and Galloway
Geography
Area: - Total - % Water	Ranked 3rd 6,426 km² ? %
Admin HQ:	Dumfries
ISO 3166-2:	GB-DGY
ONS code:	00QH
Demographics
Population: - Total (April 29, 2001) - Density	Ranked 11th 147,765 23 / km²
Politics
Dumfries and Galloway Council http://www.dumgal.gov.uk
Control:
MPs:	Russell Brown Peter Duncan

Dumfries and Galloway is one of 32 unitary council regions in Scotland. To the north it borders onto South Ayrshire, East Ayrshire and South Lanarkshire; in the east the Borders; and to the south the county of Cumbria in England. It lies to the north of the Solway Firth and to the east of the Irish Sea.

Dumfries and Galloway covers the traditional counties of Wigtownshire (in the west), Kirkcudbrightshire (centre) and Dumfriesshire (in the east). Together Kirkcudbrightshire and Wigtownshire are referred to as Galloway.

The Galloway part of the region is made up of the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright, the Machars and the Rhins. The Dumfries part includes the Inner Solway and the former county of Dumfriesshire.

It was created in 1975 as a two-tier region with the districts Annandale and Eskdale, Nithsdale, Stewartry, and Wigtown. These districts were abolished in 1996, and so Dumfries and Galloway became a unitary authority.

The region is well-known for its many artists and writers. It is the scene of Dorothy Sayers's novel Five Red Herrings (1931).

Towns and villages

• Ae, Annan
• Beattock
• Caerlaverock, Cairnryan, Carsphairn, Castle Douglas, Castle Kennedy, Creetown
• Dalbeattie, Dalton, Drumlanrig, Drummore, Dumfries
• Ecclefechan, Eskdalemuir
• Gatehouse of Fleet, Glenluce, Gretna Green
• Kirkcolm, Kirkcudbright
• Langholm, Lochmaben, Lockerbie
• Moffat, Moniaive, Mull of Galloway
• New Abbey, New Galloway, New Luce, Newton Stuart
• Portpatrick
• Ruthwell
• Sanquhar, St. John's Town of Dalry, Stranraer
• Thornhill
• Wanlockhead, Whithorn, Wigtown

Places of interest

• Caerlaverock Castle - Historic Scotland
• Caerlaverock NNR - National Nature Reserve
• Corsewall Lighthouse, privately owned
• Galloway Forest Park, Forestry Commission
• Southern Upland Way - long distance footpath
• Sweetheart Abbey, New Abbey
• WWT Caerlaverock - a reserve of the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust

United Kingdom | Scotland | Council areas of Scotland

Aberdeen | Aberdeenshire | Angus | Argyll and Bute | Clackmannanshire | Dumfries and Galloway | Dundee | East Ayrshire | East Dunbartonshire | East Lothian | East Renfrewshire | Edinburgh | Falkirk | Fife | Glasgow | Highland | Inverclyde | Midlothian | Moray | North Ayrshire | North Lanarkshire | Orkney | Perth and Kinross | Renfrewshire | Scottish Borders | Shetland | South Ayrshire | South Lanarkshire | Stirling | West Dunbartonshire | West Lothian | Western Isles