Dumfries and GallowayInfobox settlement | name = Dumfries and GallowayDumfries an GallowaDùn Phris is Gall-Ghaidhealaibh | native_name_lang = | other_name = | image_skyline = | image_flag = | image_shield = Coat of arms of the Dumfries and Galloway area council 1996.svg | image_blank_emblem = Dumfries and Galloway Council.
AyrshireAyrshire (Siorrachd Inbhir Àir, ˈʃirɣəxk iɲiˈɾjaːɾj) is a historic county and registration county, in south-west Scotland, located on the shores of the Firth of Clyde. The lieutenancy area of Ayrshire and Arran covers the entirety of the historic county as well as the island of Arran, formerly part of the historic county of Buteshire. Its principal towns include Ayr, Kilmarnock and Irvine and it borders the counties of Renfrewshire and Lanarkshire to the north-east, Dumfriesshire to the south-east, and Kirkcudbrightshire and Wigtownshire to the south.
WigtownWigtown (ˈwɪgtən,_-taʊn (both used locally); Baile na h-Ùige) is a town and former royal burgh in Wigtownshire, of which it is the county town, within the Dumfries and Galloway region in Scotland. It lies east of Stranraer and south of Newton Stewart. It is known as "Scotland's National Book Town" with a high concentration of second-hand book shops and an annual book festival. Wigtown is part of the Machars peninsula. W.F.H. Nicolaisen offered two explanations for the place-name Wigtown.
Robert BurnsRobert Burns (25 January 1759 21 July 1796), also known familiarly as Rabbie Burns, was a Scottish poet and lyricist. He is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland and is celebrated worldwide. He is the best known of the poets who have written in the Scots language, although much of his writing is in a "light Scots dialect" of English, accessible to an audience beyond Scotland. He also wrote in standard English, and in these writings his political or civil commentary is often at its bluntest.
2014 Scottish independence referendumA referendum on Scottish independence from the United Kingdom was held in Scotland on 18 September 2014. The referendum question was, "Should Scotland be an independent country?", which voters answered with "Yes" or "No". The "No" side won with 2,001,926 (55.3%) voting against independence and 1,617,989 (44.7%) voting in favour. The turnout of 84.6% was the highest recorded for an election or referendum in the United Kingdom since the January 1910 general election, which was held before the introduction of universal suffrage.
KilmarnockKilmarnock (kɪlˈmɑːrnək ; Kilmaurnock; Cill Mheàrnaig, kjhiːʎ ˈvaːɾnəkj, meaning "Marnock's church") is a large town and former burgh in East Ayrshire, Scotland and is the administrative centre of East Ayrshire Council. With a population of 46,770, Kilmarnock is the 14th most populated settlement in Scotland and the second largest town in Ayrshire. The town is continuous to nearby neighbouring villages Crookedholm and Hurlford to the east, and Kilmaurs to the west of the town.
LangholmLangholm ˈlæŋəm, also known colloquially as the "Muckle Toon", is a burgh in Dumfries and Galloway, southern Scotland. Langholm lies between four hills in the valley of the River Esk in the Southern Uplands. Langholm sits north of the Anglo-Scottish border on the A7 road running between Edinburgh and Carlisle. Edinburgh is to the north, Newcastleton is around to the east and Carlisle to the south. Langholm is surrounded by four hills in the River Esk valley within Scotland's wider Southern Uplands.
Scottish peopleThe Scots (Scots Fowk; Albannaich) are an ethnic group and nation native to Scotland. Historically, they emerged in the early Middle Ages from an amalgamation of two Celtic-speaking peoples, the Picts and Gaels, who founded the Kingdom of Scotland (or Alba) in the 9th century. In the following two centuries, the Celtic-speaking Cumbrians of Strathclyde and the Germanic-speaking Angles of north Northumbria became part of Scotland. In the High Middle Ages, during the 12th-century Davidian Revolution, small numbers of Norman nobles migrated to the Lowlands.
Celtic BritonsThe Britons (*Pritanī, Britanni), also known as Celtic Britons or Ancient Britons, were the indigenous Celtic people who inhabited Great Britain from at least the British Iron Age until the High Middle Ages, at which point they diverged into the Welsh, Cornish and Bretons (among others). They spoke Common Brittonic, the ancestor of the modern Brittonic languages. The earliest written evidence for the Britons is from Greco-Roman writers and dates to the Iron Age.
CumbricCumbric was a variety of the Common Brittonic language spoken during the Early Middle Ages in the Hen Ogledd or "Old North" in what is now the counties of Westmorland, Cumberland, northern Lancashire in Northern England and the southern Scottish Lowlands, alongside the Kingdom of Elmet in modern day Yorkshire. It was closely related to Old Welsh and the other Brittonic languages. Place name evidence suggests Cumbric may also have been spoken as far south as Pendle and the Yorkshire Dales.
