SERIES
THE parish of Parton lies on the east side of Loch Ken (in fact a wide part of the course of the river Dee) near the centre of what was historically the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright, now the central part of Dumfries and Galloway Council area. In the mid 19th century its landscapes were considered ‘tame and disagreeable’ presumably because they lacked the grandeur of the Galloway hills to the west.
In the 12th century a timber castle was built on an earthen mound (motte) which still survives close to the present church, and this was the focal point for a parish created as part of the process of feudalisation in Lowland Scotland.