Port Nessock Bay is now all that remains of the western end of a strait that in post-glacial times separated the main part of what is now the Rinns of Galloway from three smaller islands to its south.

MacDowall erected a quay and bell tower designed by Thomas Telford, and a causewayed road leading to them.

This causeway blocked the view to seaward of the existing houses on the Lower Road (Laigh Row), whose inhabitants MacDowall expected to move to a new Upper Road; in the event, they welcomed the shelter it provided from the brisk onshore winds, and preferred to stay put, though subsequently most of them added a second storey so recovering some of the sea view.

In recent years it has been used for a range of social events such as weddings and to celebrate Hogmanay and St Andrew's Night.

[citation needed] The village was used between 2001 and 2003 as the setting for a popular BBC series, Two Thousand Acres of Sky starring actress Michelle Collins.