Balmaghie (/bælməˈɡiː/ bal-mə-GEE),[1] from the Scottish Gaelic Baile Mhic Aoidh, is an ecclesiastical and civil parish in the historical county of Kirkcudbrightshire in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland and was the seat of the McGhee family.

Tourists and locals visit the area to watch wild birds at the RSPB Nature Reserve at Duchrae, the Ken-Dee Marshes.

[4] The 2018 mystery novel The Shadow of the Black Earl by Charles E. McGarry is set in a fictionalised version of Laurieston Hall and surrounding area.

Plans to sell the church for housing conversion were withdrawn following widespread protests and a petition and it has now been taken over by the Balmaghie Sacred Landscape Trust and the building is now in community use.

[8] The church was built in 1794 and set on a small hillock in Balmaghie overlooking Loch Ken and opposite Crossmichael Kirk on the far bank.