Stoneykirk

The A716 runs through part of the village, and a local coach firm, McCulloch's Coaches, is based in the village James King 407 Service provides a bus link north to Stranraer and south to Sandhead and Drummore[3] Sandhead overlooks Luce Bay that was used for landing lime and coal.

The first church, Saint Stephen's Kirk or Steeniekirk or Stephenskirk or Stevenskirk or Stainiekirk or Staneykirk or Stanykirk or Toskarton or Toskartoun or Toscartoun or Toscarton or Achawan or Auchwane or Achowane or Clayshant, and finally Stoneykirk, was dedicated to St. Stephen and is thought to have been built between the 12th and 14th centuries, possibly under the patronage of the McCulloch family of Ardwell, Toskarton Parish.

There were three chapels of ease in the parish: St. Brioch's at Kirkmabreck, St. Donan's at Kildonan, and St. Lashrean's at Killaser.

[9] A cornerstone of McDowell's Garthland Castle (Tower House) bore the date AD1211, and on another towards the east, AD1274.

Killhilt, the ancient home of the Adair family, is also shown on the 1782 map just north of, and adjoining McDowell's Garthland Castle.

[11] In Wigtownshire, the name McCulloch appears on very early documents, including a Balliol deed dated in 1285 and the Ragman Rolls of 1296.

Clan McCulloch According to a family legend relayed by US Supreme Court Justice James Iredell, in about AD1317 King Robert the Bruce I of Scotland (reigned 1306–29) knighted Captain Cullo og Neil (o’Neil) and chose him to be his standard-bearer and Secretary of State.

King Robert the Bruce I granted Sir Cullo og Neil lands and Achawan or Auchwane in Wigtownshire (also known as Kirkmadren, ref.

[13] However, the name was previously well documented in 1285 and 1296 as mentioned above, as well as the 1305 appointment of Thomas McCulloch as Sheriff of Wigtownshire.

Barony of Achowane & Baronia Killasser On 7 July 1618 William McCulloch of Mertoun (Myretoun McCulloch Torhous in Mochrum Parish), with the consent of his eldest son Alexander, ratified a charter of Killasser in the barony of Achowane to William Houston and his wife Katherine Vaus.

[11] There was a Lord Maxwell who was imprisoned by James VI and released as long as he quit Scotland.

In AD1588 Lord Maxwell was in Spain when the Armada was being prepared, and advised Philip that the Galloway ports should be used.

[20] (b) Doon Castle, near High Ardwell are the remains of the best example of an Iron Age broch in Dumfries and Galloway.

A Bronze Age Cist and Urn were found in a grave covered with a whinstone slab.

[34][35] See Spanish Armada in Ireland in AD1588, and Spanish Armada wrecks on the western coast of Scotland in the Calendar of State Papers [36] Project Adair at [37] However, in the book "The Scotch Irish" by Charles A. Hanna, p. 233, it states that in the parish at Stoneykirk are the farms and bay of Float, locally stated to have been so called from the wreck of one of the ships of the Spanish Armada ; and the headland close to, corrupted from the Gaelic word "monadh", the hill-head, to " Moneyhead," from money supposed to have been lost from the wreck.