Gatehouse-of-fleet

Overview

Gatehouse of Fleet is an attractive village situated near the mouth of the Water of Fleet, ten miles west of Kirkcudbright.

Given the current pace of life in the village, it's difficult to imagine that in the late 18th- and early 19th centuries, Gatehouse of Fleet was a thriving industrial centre with cotton mills, shipbuilding, a brewery and its own port and was known locally as the 'Glasgow of the South'. Traces of this industrial past can still be found in its buildings and street names and in the Mill on the Fleet, a former textile mill which is now an award-winning visitors' centre tracing the economic and social history of Gatehouse.

Gatehouse provides plenty of opportunities for a variety of sporting activities, including golf, mountain biking, fishing and sailing. Port Macadam, once the town's harbour, is still used by small pleasure craft and masted vessels may berth at pile moorings on the seaward side of the A75 overpass.

The area is also stepped in history and has several interesting attractions including Cardoness Castle, a classic late 15th-century fortified tower house that was the ancient seat of the McCullochs and the ruins of Anwoth Church with its atmospheric graveyard, complete with Covenanter graves.

On a visit to Gatehouse in 1793, Robert Burns penned the first draft of his famous poem, 'Scots Wha Hae', at the Murray Arms.