[1] The church was dedicated to the Virgin Mary; and in a cave on the eastern shore of the parish at some time a hermit lived.
[3] On 15 July 1393 Pope Clement VII authorised Finlay, Abbot of Soulseat, to annex Kirkmaiden parish church in ‘le Rynnis’ to augment the income of the abbey.
Now worship is habitually at the church within Drummore, with one service each month in the summer being held at Kirk Covenant.
A substantial earthwork, measuring 400 m long, cuts off an area of about 57 ha at the eastern end of the Mull of Galloway.
The Gordons of Clanyard Castle were powerful men in the area, and their daughters married into Kirkmaiden families.
[9] In 1790 the Statistical Account reported abundance of fish including oysters and lobsters, corn and cattle; plentiful potatoes and other vegetables; quantities of thriving barley and oats; and flax.
[3] At that time a number of endowments for the poor of the parish are mentioned, including £100 from Andrew McMurray a merchant in London, £100 from Andrew McDowal (Lord Bankton, one of the judges of the Court of Session: the McDowal family were lairds of Logan), and £400 from William Adair of Flixton,[10] all three of whom had been born in the parish.
The defences along the inner crests of the natural gullies on the north-east and south-east consisted of a wall originally 8'-12' thick.
The wall peters out on the north and south to south-west, and there are no visible defences on the west where the ground falls away steeply to the sea 150m below.
At the south entrance a natural terrace drops obliquely down the scarp into a hollow 2.5m broad with a bank up to 3m thick and 0.6m high on its outer lip.
(f) Crammag Head on the western shore of the Rhins was circular dun or broch with outworks about 19.5m in diameter over all, but its wall has been reduced to little more than the basal course of the outer face around the west.
The interior on the west, which is now occupied by Crammag Head Light, has been raised up to 1.8m above the outer face with material from a ditch immediately east of the dun.
The entrance through the outer defence was probably at its southern end where the rampart and ditch stop 3m and 5m short of the edge of the promontory respectively.
The original description of the stone (which is now lost) records that the name Ventidius was legible together with another, which translated as "sub-deacon".
[13] A ruined church south of Port William in the Machars, near Monreith in the parish of Glasserton, is called "Kirkmaiden-in-Fernis".
A 'Kirkmaiden Natural History Group' is based in Drummore; it holds monthly indoor meetings and conducts field outings throughout the year.