Most of you will have heard of Gretna
Green, the town by the Scotland/England border where lovers have
traditionally eloped to get married in secret.
What is less well known is that Portpatrick once served a similar
purpose for Irish lovers. Until 1826 the
Church of Scotland took advantage of Portpatrick's position on the Rhinns of
Galloway, the closest point on the Scottish coast to Ireland, by running a profitable
line in quick and easy weddings with no questions asked. The crossing from Ulster
was just 21 miles, and eloping couples could be married within a couple of days
of disembarking in Scotland. Aside from blushing brides and their grooms,
this crossing was used to send mail to Ireland and to bring cattle back
the other way. However, Portpatrick's
time as a ferry port was to prove short-lived due to the ferocity of the sea off
this coast. Over the years the efforts
of John Smeaton (he of Smeaton's Tower in Plymouth), John Rennie and Thomas
Telford proved unequal to the task of protecting the port through their
respective harbour and lighthouse constructions, so that the packet boats were
forced to move to Stranraer, which had the advantage of a much calmer
disposition being located on the shores of Loch Ryan.
That is not to say that Portpatrick became a backwater with the
departure of the packet boats. It has
developed into a much loved and attractive small resort offering sailing and
other water-borne leisure activities. There
is a small sandy beach backed by cliffs with a clifftop golf course. The ruined 17th-century Old Church, or St Andrew's Kirk has a distinctive
Irish-style round tower; the graveyard here is a reminder of the savagery of
the seas off this coast judging by the number of graves housing victims of
shipwrecks hereabouts. Portpatrick is
one end of a long-distance path, the 212-mile Southern Upland Way (the other
end being at Cockburnspath on the North Sea). For a shorter walk, head along the clifftop
path towards the south, which offers fine sea views and which leads to the
ruined 16th century Dunskey Castle.
Map of the area.
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Portpatrick Harbour - geograph.org.uk - 1012939. Photo by Arnold Price, via Wikimedia Commons
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