Penpont - Izeria

Penpont is a village about 2 miles (3 km) west of Thornhill in Dumfriesshire, in the Dumfries and Galloway region of Scotland. It is near the confluence of the Shinnel Water and Scaur Water rivers in the foothills of the Southern Uplands. It has a population of about 400 people.

1. Archaeology

There are several archaeological sites nearby, including Late Bronze Age hill forts on Tynron Doon and Grennan Hill and a long cairn at Capenoch Loch dating from the 2nd or 3rd century.

1. History

The toponym Penpont means "head of [the] bridge" or "bridge-end" in the Cumbric language once spoken in the region. The A702 road passes through Penpont. West of Thornhill it crosses the River Nith on a two-arched stone bridge in Penpont parish. It was built in the 1760s after the presbytery of Penpont raised £680 toward the cost. Work started about 1774, but in 1776 the bridge collapsed. The bridge was completed in 1778 and strengthened in 1930–31. It is a Category A listed building. Penpont's Church of Scotland parish church is a Gothic Revival building completed in 1867. It is a Category B listed building. It has an Art Nouveau Communion table made in 1923. Penpont's war memorial was made by Glasgow sculptor William Kellock Brown and installed in 1920. It is a bronze statue of an infantryman, with his rifle pointing downwards, his hands resting on the butt and his head slightly bowed.

1. Notable people

Sir Hugh Steuart Gladstone FRSE FZS (1877-1949) civil servant and ornithologist, Lord Lieutenant of Dumfries, lived at Capenoch House in Penpont. Joseph Thomson (1858–95), the geologist and explorer after whom Thomson's Gazelle is named, was born in Penpont. The sculptor Andy Goldsworthy has lived in the village since 1986 and has a workshop there. Many of his works are in the surrounding countryside, including a pinecone-shaped sculpture at Stepends Farm made to celebrate the year 2000. Each year Penpont holds a week-long festival called the Penpont Gala, beginning in the first week of July. Kirkpatrick MacMillan, generally credited with the invention of the pedal driven bicycle, was born and died in Keir, one mile south of Penpont. Leo Kearse Comedian and broadcaster Joanna Lumley owns a cottage near the village. Hugh McMillan (poet) born 1955

1. See also

Drumlanrig Castle Tibbers Castle Kirkbride, Durisdeer

1. References


1. External links

Penpont Heritage

Nearby Places View Menu

Scaur Water

Scaur Water is a river which rises near Polskeoch in the Scaur hills in the region of Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. It flows from its source near Sanquhar in the Southern Uplands and joins the River Nith two miles southwest of Thornhill. The total length is 30 km (19 mi). During its course it descends from 500m to 55m altitude, and forms part of the boundary between Tynron and Keir Parishes. The river valley, the Scaur Glen, displays several sculptures by Andy Goldsworthy and Bronze Age forts, and is lined for much of its length with birch and oak forest. The river is renowned for trout fishing and canoeing, especially at the Glenmarlin Falls near Penpont. A local legend tells of the ghosts of a horse and rider who drowned in a deep pool, known colloquially as the Black Hole, at the bottom of the falls.

Fishing Hiking

Keir, Dumfries and Galloway

Keir is a civil parish, containing the small village of Keir Mill, in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, one mile south of Penpont. It was founded in the late eighteenth century.

Landmark Neighbourhood

Shinnel Water

Shinnel Water, also spelt Shinnell, is a river in the region of Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. It rises in the Scaur hills of Tynron Parish in the Southern Uplands at an altitude of 460m, and flows 13 miles to join Scaur Water near Penpont, at an altitude of 70m. There are two notable features of the Shinnel: at the confluence of the two rivers, it flows over a ridge of rocks with some force; and three miles upstream, the river forms a picturesque waterfall at Aird Linn. Like Scaur Water, the Shinnel is renowned for trout fishing and flows through birch and oak forest.

Fishing Hiking

2.2 km

Grennan Hill

Grennan Hill is the site of an Iron Age hill fort outside Penpont in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland.

Historic Site Landmark