Tradespeople in Wigtown, Dumfries and Galloway

About Wigtown

Wigtown is Scotland's National Book Town, a small royal burgh on the western shore of Wigtown Bay with over a dozen bookshops lining its broad main square.

The town was designated Scotland's Book Town in 1998 and hosts an annual literary festival each autumn that has grown into one of the most respected in the UK.

Wigtown has a long and sometimes dark history — the Wigtown Martyrs, two Covenanting women drowned in the bay in 1685, are commemorated by a monument on the shore.

The town overlooks the vast mudflats and salt marshes of Wigtown Bay, a nature reserve of national importance for overwintering geese and wading birds.

Nearby: Newton Stewart, Port William, Whithorn

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About Dumfries and Galloway

Dumfries and Galloway is the most south-westerly council area in Scotland, stretching from the English border at Gretna to the Mull of Galloway — the southernmost point in Scotland — and from the Solway Firth coast inland to the hills of the Southern Uplands.

Dumfries is the largest town and administrative centre, a handsome red sandstone burgh on the River Nith where Robert Burns spent the last years of his life and is buried in St Michael's Kirkyard.

The region divides naturally into three historic areas: Dumfriesshire to the east, Kirkcudbrightshire (the Stewartry) in the centre, and Wigtownshire to the west — each with its own character, landscape, and loyalties.

The Galloway coast and countryside have a mild climate influenced by the Gulf Stream, fertile farmland, dark-sky reserves, and a string of small harbour towns that attract artists, writers, and visitors drawn to the quiet and the landscape.

Despite its size, the region is one of the most sparsely populated in Scotland — a place where community is strong, the pace is slower, and the landscape ranges from river valleys and rolling farmland to wild moorland and rocky coastline.

Nearby: Scottish Borders