Newton Stewart Walks Gateway to the Galloway Hills Cree Bridge and gardens Creebridge Newton Stewart - ‘Land of Silvery Winding Cree’ Newton Stewart, Gateway to the settlements of Creebridge and Galloway Hills, lies in the heart Minnigaff, dating back to medieval of Galloway. The town sits at the times while Newton Stewart itself lowest bridging point of the River originated in the late eighteenth Cree which winds its way from its century as a planned town using the source in Loch Moan high up in water of the Cree to power textile Galloway Forest Park to its estuary at mills. Four bridges, two vehicular Creetown and Wigtown Bay. and two pedestrian, cross the Cree within the precincts of the town Newton Stewart owes its character and another two cross its tributary to the Cree which formed the the Penkiln. These feature in our historic boundary between the two picturesque walks and provide a districts of Galloway - the Stewartry viewpoint from which to watch of Kirkcudbright to the east and the many anglers on the hunt for ‘the Shire’- Wigtownshire- to the salmon, sea trout and brown trout. west. On the east bank lie the old 2 Today Newton Stewart stretches for a The Walks mile and a half along the west bank of the Cree with the low-lying town 1. Riverside Poetry Walk centre backed by steep streets and lanes leading to newer residential 2. Cree Flood Plain areas from which you can enjoy 3. Old Minnigaff and the Two Rivers spectacular views of the Galloway 4. The Town Periphery Hills. The town is dominated by the great rounded mass of Cairnsmore 5. Doonhill Woods of Fleet with the more northerly 6. “The Country Ones” Walk skyline of the Minnigaff Hills, Larg, Lamachan and Curleywee, visible 7. Penkiln Burn and Cumloden from several walks. Deerpark Within the town centre the walker 8. The Port Road should look out for interesting 9. Moss of Cree and Wigtown, buildings such as the old town hall and Scotland’s Booktown clock tower, the Art Deco cinema, now a thriving community cinema, and the octagonal livestock mart which reminds us that Newton Stewart is still an important market town for the surrounding farming community. The countryside and its wildlife is on the doorstep with woodlands, like Doonhill and Bower Wood, right on the edge of the town while Galloway Newton Stewart Forest Park and Wigtown Bay Local Gateway to the Galloway Hills Nature Reserve lie within easy walking distance. The walker has a good chance of seeing red squirrels, roe and fallow deer in the forests and fields while the bird life ranges from the summer warblers of the woodlands to the winter spectacular of overwintering wildfowl on the mudflats of the estuary. United Nations Galloway and Southern Ayrshire Biosphere Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization member of the World Network of Biosphere Reserves 3 Walks 1 to 7 are circular walks, ending at the car park while walks Bridge of A714 Cree 8 and 9 are longer linear walks finishing at Creetown and Wigtown B7079 River Cree respectively. Public transport is M a available for the return journey or, Victoria Street s Riverside Road o Newton n f if you prefer, you can take the bus e l d Stewart D out to Creetown or Wigtown and r i v e walk back into town. Bus service, Church Lane 415, serves Wigtown to Newton Riverside Stewart at approximately hourly Car Park intervals on weekdays, less All walks Dashwood start here frequently on Sunday. Services Square Footbridge Albert Street 500/X75/431 provide a regular P ods Queen St. Go L service between Creetown and an Princes St. e Newton Stewart. The 500 service is wheelchair accessible. For detailed information, check Dumfries and Galloway Council website The walks in this booklet are an www.dumgal.gov.uk and click on introduction to the many and varied ‘bus time tables’ from the home walking opportunities in Newton page or call Traveline Scotland on Stewart and district. They have 0871 200 2233. been chosen to encourage people of all degrees of fitness to explore We hope we have whetted your the town and its surroundings on appetite to explore further afield. If foot and to help promote Newton so the information board outside the Stewart as a ‘Walkers are Welcome’ Belted Galloway Visitor Centre in the town. They are easy or moderate Riverside Car Park shows the walking walks and all start at the Riverside opportunities throughout the Cree Car Park (NX413 653) in Newton Valley, or why not join us each May Stewart. for the popular Newton Stewart Walking Festival. 4 Creemills Suspension Bridge over River Cree Route Information • A brief description of the route, • Keep dogs under close control at terrain, approximate distances all times and times and points of interest • Keep to paths across farmland are given for each route. • Take care on country roads • Each walk is colour coded in the booklet with matching route- • Use gates and styles to cross markers on the ground. fences, hedges and walls • The description ‘barrier- • Respect farm livestock, crops and free’ indicates suitability for machinery wheelchairs or childrens’ buggies. • Take your litter home with you • The orange covered OS Explorer • Protect wildlife, plants and trees 1:25,000 maps numbers 319 and 311 cover the area in detail. • Guard against risk of fire • Enjoy the countryside and respect • Make no unnecessary noise its life and work • Take particular care crossing A75 • Leave gates as you find them 5 Walk 1: Riverside Poetry Walk Route: Start and finish at Riverside Car Park, taking in both banks of the River Cree from the A75 to the Cree Bridge. Creebridge Description: Circular riverside in ’Scan Horizons’ inscribed on a walk with added interest of poetry granite seat. inscriptions, also published in Cree At the underpass under the A75, Lines by Liz Niven. The verses celebrate climb the steps to the right and cross the importance of the Cree in defining the river to the anglers’ lay-by where the character of Newton Stewart. another poem engraved on granite, Distance: 1.5 miles/2.5km ‘Stravaigers’s Rest’, reminds us of travellers through Galloway as well Time: Allow 1 hour. as local folk. Descend the path to Terrain: Includes paved path and side the stile into the fields and proceed roads and grass path which may be to the west end of the Sparling wet. Mainly level but includes steps, Bridge with its verse reminding stile and kissing gate. us that the Cree is the historic boundary between the Stewartry This walk is enlivened by inscriptions (Kirkcudbrightshire) and the Shire of poetry celebrating the River Cree, (Wigtownshire) written by local poet, Liz Niven, as part of a project for Newton Stewart Carry straight on along the riverside Initiative with words and ideas to the main road before turning left provided by local people. Before across the attractive Cree Bridge. This leaving the Riverside Car Park enjoy bridge was built in 1813, replacing the verse, ‘Cree Seasons’, on the an earlier wooden bridge and ford plaque on the river bank and the on this important river crossing poem ‘Brig’ engraved on the metal point with its old tollhouse. Turn left of the pedestrian Sparling Bridge, passing the gardens and memorial to celebrating the fish of the Cree. Randolph, Ninth Earl of Galloway. If you turn left to the riverside at the Leave Riverside Car Park following eighteenth century clock tower, you the signed footpath on the west will spot the last poem, ‘Cree Voice’, bank of the Cree, looking out for engraved in the sandstone surface anglers and river birds like mallards, of the river wall, before returning to swans and goosander and the views the car park. 6 of Cairnsmore of Fleet described Walk 1: Riverside Poetry Walk Start N 0 ½km ½mile Scale © Crown Copyright and Database right 2013 . All rights reserved. Ordnance Survey Lic.100016994 7 Start at Riverside Car Park, Grid Reference NX413 653 Walk 2: Cree Flood Plain Route: Riverside Car Park to Nether Barr returning by same route Description: Pleasant stroll along the banks and floodplain of the River Cree with views of the Minnigaff Hills River Cree Distance: 2.6 miles/4.2km The river meanders in wide sweeps Time: Allow 1.5 hours across its floodplain and this area frequently floods when heavy rain Terrain: Barrier-free, all on paved and high tides coincide. To the left cycle path; mainly on the level but of the footpath lie marshy meadows including approximately 60m stretch with reed beds on the right. Look out with 14% gradient. for the plants such as rushes, sedges, The first section of this walk follows lady’s smock and meadow sweet the same route as the first part of associated with this habitat. Walk 1 and you should pause in the Take a breather at the handy bench Riverside Car Park to read the verses and enjoy the view to the left of the on the plaque on the riverbank and hill mass of Cairnsmore of Fleet and on the entrance to the Sparling foot the village of Blackcraig. The rocks bridge. This bridge, completed in around Cairnsmore of Fleet contain 1998, is named after sparling, a rare mineable seams of lead and copper fish breeding only in the River Cree and Blackcraig was a centre of lead and two other sites in Scotland. mining in the late eighteenth and This route stays on the west bank nineteenth centuries. of the Cree so leave the Riverside Turning at Nether Barr retrace Car Park following the signing for your route back to town , enjoying the Riverside Walk.