The prosperity of the lairds gradually increased after the Reformation. Some began to think of ways to increase it still further. In the late seventeenth century Patrick McDouall of Logan began attempts, which continued into the nineteenth century, to establish a ferry-port for Ireland at Port Nessock, later renamed Port Logan. He built a new quay, now no longer visible, but until the middle twentieth century still called the Wee Quay. He also built Logan Windmill to lessen the estate's dependence on waterpower, which in summer was liable to failure. In 1702 Colonel Andrew McDouall built Logan House in classical style. By 1800 Logan Fish Pond had been constructed to ensure the supply of fish to Logan House, whatever the weather.

In the early nineteenth century a second Colonel Andrew McDouall made further attempts to improve the harbour at Port Logan, building the present quay and harbour light, and also making alterations in the village to improve access and to provide accommodation for travellers and officials. The construction of the Battery, the Inn, and the High Row ('Heigh Raw') was the result. Stone for building operations was quarried at Quarry Bay and Slate Heugh. The cutting through which the stone was transported to the seaside is still visible.

In the early-nineteenth century, Chapel Rossan was built as a house for the estate factor. The main building at Balgowan may have been erected as a dower house. Later in the century, Logan Tile Works, now a ruin, was established at Terally to provide bricks and tiles for local use. Logan Saw Mill, operated by waterpower, was also developed.

The McDoualls of Logan did not confine their attention to their estate. Andrew McDouall (1685-1750), second son of Robert McDouall of Logan, wrote a major work on Scots Law, The Institute of the Laws of Scotland in Civil Rights (1751-3). In 1755 he became a judge of the Court of Session in Edinburgh under the title Lord Bankton.

The eighteenth century saw the disappearance of the old communal farms. They were replaced by the setup, which in essence survives to the present day - farms with single tenants, or owners, who rotate their crops systematically in enclosed fields often separated by drystane dykes. The growth of industrial towns and cities meant that the market for farm produce widened. Farms supplied more than local needs. Cheese making became a farm staple. Creameries were eventually established in Sandhead and Drummore. On some farms flax for linen-manufacture was grown.

The former tenants of the ferme-touns were rapidly transformed into a new class of farm labourers, with the incidental consequence of much rural deprivation and discontent. The countryside gradually became depopulated as the result of migration to the new industrial towns and cities, or overseas.

The lack of paved roads made land traffic difficult, and with the growth of trade local ports, Drummore in particular, became more important. Traffic was mainly with Ayr, Belfast, Maryport in Cumberland, and Liverpool. Exports included potatoes, cheese, and other farm products. Imports included coal, salt, manure, lime, animal food, and a variety of household goods.

The toll exacted on ships by tides and rocks led to the erection of the Mull of Galloway Lighthouse in 1828. Robert Stevenson, a member of the celebrated family of lighthouse builders, directed the work.

A lifeboat station was opened at Port Logan in 1866, and closed in 1932. The former lifeboat house is now the village hall.

During the nineteenth century some paved roads were constructed, but land traffic was still slow and cumbersome. In 1877 a Galloway MP, M.J. Stewart, proposed the building of a railway from Stranraer southwards to Ardwell, where he lived, with the possibility of a later extension to Port Logan or Drummore. He employed a surveyor to plan the route and estimate the cost. The failure of the City of Glasgow Bank in 1882 put an end to the scheme. Until the early twentieth century stagecoach and carter's wagon remained the only methods of transport by land.

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From at least the middle eighteenth century a parish school stood beside Kirkmaiden Church. The walls of the small building still stand, fronted on the east by the gravestones of two early schoolmasters. The first bears a much-worn Latin inscription, the other, that of William Todd and his family, begins with a quotation in Greek from the New Testament. William Todd wrote a history and description of Kirkmaiden parish, which survives in manuscript but was never printed. He was a gifted teacher, and in addition a good stonemason - he carved the family gravestone, and he made his hobby the construction of sundials, some of which are still in existence.

Clachanmore school was built in 1831. The Education Act of 1872 led to the building of schools at Mull village, Drummore, Port Logan, Sandhead, Meoul, and Stoneykirk. The buildings survive, but have now been put to other uses, for the most part residential. The only schools left in the area are at Drummore and Sandhead.

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In the 1843 General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, 451 ministers, led by Thomas Chalmers, separated themselves from the main body to become the Free Church of Scotland. They were expelled from their churches, but with the support of many members of their congregations they were able to form rival Free Churches in their former parishes. In Kirkmaiden the leader of the movement was the Rev. John Lamb, supported, among many others, by his session-clerk, William Todd, who thus lost his post of parish schoolmaster.

The new Free Church was established in what is now St Medan's Church Hall, Drummore, outside of which stands a monument to Mr. Lamb. An inscription giving details of the foundation of the church has crumbled and almost disappeared. The parish nowhad two churches, of which the Free Church, on the whole, was the more successful.

In 1900 the Free Church of Scotland joined with a remnant of earlier secessions, the United Presbyterians, to form the United Free Church, which in 1929 was reunited with the Church of Scotland. The old church at Kirkmaiden was retained, but used only occasionally. The present St Medan's, built in 1903, began as the UF church.

Churches built elsewhere during this time include Stoneykirk (1827) and Ardwell (1900-02), theformer disused, the latter used only occasionally. A former UF church, with manse and Sunday School buildings, stands at Doctor's Corner. The name probably indicates that the minister held the degree of Doctor of Divinity. Sandhead Church of Scotland was built 1962-3. Stoneykirk and Kirkmaiden parishes are now united with regular services at the churches in Drummore and Sandhead.

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The first walled garden at Logan House was built in the late eighteenth century. There, during the last years of the nineteenth century and the first of the twentieth, Agnes Buchan Hepburn, wife of Colonel James McDouall of Logan, established a collection of exotic plants. Her sons, Kenneth and Douglas McDouall, continued her work, setting up the Peat Garden in 1924. They also made an aviary for their collection of tropical birds, which was abolished at the beginning of the Second World War. The death of Kenneth in 1945 marked the end of the direct McDouall line at Logan. R.W. Hambro and Sir Ninian Buchan Hepburn maintained the gardens, until in 1969 the Royal Botanic Gardens, Edinburgh, took over, greatly increasing the scope and value of the unique collection.

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Military activities dominated the first half of the century. During the First World War (1914-18) German U-boats were active in the North Channel and Luce Bay. The graves of sailors drowned in the sinking of the Main in 1917 and the Rio Verde in 1918 are to be seen in Kirkmaiden kirkyard. Other vessels also were torpedoed or sunk by gunfire. To counteract, the Royal Navy Air Service (RNAS) in 1915 established an airship base at East Freugh.

RAF West Freugh was opened in 1937 as an Armament Training Camp. During the Second World War (1939-45) it expanded to include training facilities for Observers, Navigators, and Bomb Aimers. It also served as a base for the Bombing Trials Unit. Operations continued after the end of the war. West Freugh today serves as a weapons trial and satellite tracking station.

The Second World War also saw the temporary and unsuccessful establishment of an emergency landing ground and supply dump on the west side of the Sandhead-Drummore Road, just south of Logan Toll. An air-sea rescue unit operated from the large, ugly shed still standing at the foot of Stair Street, Drummore. 'Land girls' were based in a hostel at Drummore, while others stayed on the farms where they worked. Many children from the Glasgow area were billeted as evacuees with local families.

The war years saw the conversion to arable of much land formerly fallow. In the second half of the century death duties on estates brought about the sale of many farms to their former tenants. The ever-increasing use of machinery reduced the number of farm workers and led to the consolidation of larger farm units. The growth in the number of cattle made it necessary to have larger fields for grazing and the growth of fodder.

Continued depopulation forced the closure of village schools, shops, churches and post-offices. Local landmarks such as Logan Tollhouse and Drummore Castle were destroyed. As against this, the ever-increasing use of the car made journeys to and from other parts of the United Kingdom easier for everyone. Tourism in general became more important. Caravan sites opened in many parts of the area. Visitors sometimes became permanent residents, thus going some way to solve the problem of depopulation.

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Farming is the main occupation of the South Rhins today and we produce, not only some of the finest cattle and sheep in Scotland, but also the earliest potatoes are grown in Drummore - Scotland's most southerly village.

Sea angling also plays a large part in attracting visitors to the area but many people come just for the peace and quiet.

The lighthouse and the new Mull of Galloway Visitor Centre attracts around 40,000 visitors a year, some obviously attracted to the bird reserve run by the R.S.P.B., and the fact that puffins nest and breed amongst the rocks.

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The outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in Spring 2001 made an inauspicious start for the new century and millennium with several farms in the South Rhins affected. Hope springs eternal however, and we look forward to whatever developments time may bring.

Continue reading: Myths & Legends

With thanks to Prof. Jack MacQueen for text