Minnigaff is not a Wigtownshire parish, but as virtually a
part of Newton Stewart, and having been included with Wigtownshire for
many purposes over several hundred years, this outlier of the Stewartry of
Kirkcudbright is here described. The clachan or village with its church of
Monigaff was a busy market by the 16th century, and the fall of the Cree
and its Penkiln Burn tributary powered mills from maybe 1770, notably
McKeand's Mill by Queen Mary's Brig, where blankets were made even through
the 1920s.
The hills
of the parish are studded with old mines for lead and
copper, nickel and arsenic. Medieval mottes or fortifications are at
Bardrochwood and Machars Hill, while William Wallace camped at Boreland to
the north of the village, and the ruined Garlies Castle is in the Cumloden
Deer Parks. Today the main highway crosses the river at Creebridge, and
although this bank of the Cree for some miles past Creetown is now a part
of the Wigtown District, we have not included the area in our resources.
1851 Census Index Heads of Household
This index, prepared by John Roy from the Crown's public records of the 1851 census, gives reference to the name of the Heads of Household only. It does not include the additional information that would be listed against that entry on the film, such as age, marital status, occupation, origin and other people residing in the same domicile.
To view the Heads of Household index for this parish click here.
To view a SUMMARY of the 51 Heads of Household Index, click here. The summary helps to pinpoint where in Wigtownshire a surname appears and how frequently it is recorded.
Parish Lists of Wigtownshire and Minnigaff, 1684
Published in 1916, Parish Lists of Wigtownshire and Minnigaff, 1684 contains nominal rolls recorded in 1684 of all persons, male or female, over the age of 12, by parish, and domocile. To read more about this index, and to find a link to the Minigaff parish roll, click here.
The Minnigaff Covenant
One of the few covenants from south-west Scotland to have survived is from Minnigaff, and a transcription from this was included by Alexander S. Morton in his book "The Galloway Covenanters or the Struggle for Religious Liberty in the South-West of Scotland" published by Pickering and Inglis, Printers and Publishers, London. Printed in the early 1900s this book is difficult to find, and would not be found in the average library's catalogue. To view, click here
Minnigaff is not a Wigtownshire parish, but as virtually a
part of Newton Stewart, and having been included with Wigtownshire for
many purposes over several hundred years, this outlier of the Stewartry of
Kirkcudbright is here described. The clachan or village with its church of
Monigaff was a busy market by the 16th century, and the fall of the Cree
and its Penkiln Burn tributary powered mills from maybe 1770, notably
McKeand's Mill by Queen Mary's Brig, where blankets were made even through
the 1920s.