Galloway (Scottish Gaelic: Gall-Ghàidhealaibh [ˈkal̪ˠaɣəl̪ˠu]; Scots: Gallowa; Latin: Gallovidia)[1] is a region in southwestern Scotland comprising the historic counties of Wigtownshire and Kirkcudbrightshire.

[2][3] The region takes its name from the Gall-Gàidheil, or "stranger Gaels", a people of mixed Gaelic and Norse descent who seem to have settled here in the 10th century.

More recently wind turbines have been installed at a number of locations on the watershed, and a large offshore wind-power plant is planned, increasing Galloway's 'green energy' production.

This is a possible indication that Rispain Camp had different agricultural practices than elsewhere in Galloway, especially given the relatively low occurrence of rotary querns at sites in the area.

[7]: 21  Roughly contemporary with the Rispain Camp site, a cluster of roundhouses at Dunragit (dating to the early centuries AD) was revealed to contain examples of native (i.e. non-Roman) pottery.

Metallurgical testing done on three lead beads recovered from the Carghidown site (dated to c. 360 BC–AD 60) indicated a closer affinity to the Southern Uplands than to a sample from the Isle of Man.

Though it would have been written within the century after Agricola's campaign, Ptolemy's work is a Roman perspective on Britain following the conquest, and not necessarily a reflection of pre-Roman social or ethnic groups.

Ptolemy listed two peoples as inhabitants of the area around Galloway: the Novantae in the west (associated with Wigtownshire, Kirkcudbrightshire, and southern Ayrshire) and the Selgovae in the east (primarily associated with modern-day Dumfriesshire).

[15] In the west, the city of Rerigonium (literally 'very royal place'), shown on Ptolemy's map of the world, is a strong contender for the site of Pen Rhionydd, referred to in the Welsh Triads as one of the 'three thrones of Britain' associated with the legendary King Arthur, and may also have been the caput of the sub-Roman Brythonic kingdom of Rheged.

According to tradition, before the end of Roman rule in Britain, St. Ninian established a church or monastery at Whithorn, Wigtownshire, which remained an important place of pilgrimage until the Reformation.

This can be seen in the context of both the vacuum left by Northumbria being filled by the resurgent Cumbric Britons and the influx of the Norse into the Irish Sea, including settlement in the Isle of Man and in the now English region of western Cumbria immediately south of Galloway.

This did not happen because Fergus, his sons, grandsons and great-grandson Alan, Lord of Galloway, shifted their allegiance between Scottish and English kings.

During a period of Scottish allegiance, a Galloway contingent followed David, King of Scots, in his invasion of England and led the attack in his defeat at the Battle of the Standard (1138).

Folklore holds that a copy of the Wycliffe Bible was circulating in Galloway around 1520, and secret groups (proto-conventicles) gathered to hear a man named Alexander Gordon preach from it.

[17]: 32  With the end of the monasteries, the large ecclesiastical landholdings created under the medieval Lordship of Galloway were broken up amongst hundreds of small landowners.

The Covenanters began as participants in conventicles, which, similarly to the use of Mass stones by the equally illegal Catholic Church in Scotland, were unsanctioned secret religious services that took place outdoors, in barns, or in granaries.

[17]: 28–29  By this time, a number of prominent individuals associated with the Stuart monarchy held lands in both Galloway and in Ulster, facilitating the illicit trade, which "may have been tolerated for political reasons".

Other novels include the historical fiction trilogy by Liz Curtis Higgs, Thorn in My Heart, Fair is the Rose, and Whence Came a Prince.

Five Red Herrings, a whodunit by Dorothy L. Sayers, initially published in the US as Suspicious Characters, sees Lord Peter Wimsey, on holiday in Kirkcudbright, investigating the death of an artist living at Gatehouse of Fleet; the book contains some remarkable descriptions of the countryside.

S R Crockett, a bestselling writer of historical romances active before the First World War, set several novels in the region including The Raiders and Silver Sand.

Galloway is also the setting of several memoirs, including Devorgilla Days written by Wigtownshire author Kathleen Hart, an account of life in Wigtown, Scotland's national book town.

The poet pondered how much the culture of the region and the celebration of Christmas Day had changed since Kirkconnell Abbey was founded by St. Conal, a Culdee monk from Gaelic Ireland and missionary of the Celtic Church.

The landscape, he commented, remained largely unchanged and called upon his readers to embrace the awe that their ancestors had once felt before the incarnation and birth of Jesus Christ.