Portpatrick

Portpatrick, a decayed fishing-village in Wigtownshire, 7¾ miles SW. of Stranraer by rail. It is sheltered by high cliffs, and has a pleasant south-westerly exposure, but the coast is rocky and the sea boisterous, while there are no facilities for bathing, although the village enjoys some reputation as a watering-place. Portpatrick is but 21½ miles direct north-east of Donaghadee in County Down, was long the Gretna Green for Ireland, and the chief place for the importation into Scotland of Irish cattle and horses, while it was a mail-packet station from 1662 till 1849. A pier was built in 1774, and a great artificial harbour was commenced from Rennie's designs in 1821, but ultimately was found impracticable as a place of shelter owing to the violence of the south-westerly swell and the winds that blow for eight months of the year. The public confidence in the harbour received its death-blow from the wreck of the Orion steamship within the port in 1850, when about seventy souls perished within a few yards of the crowded street. The lighthouse was removed in 1869, and the harbour-works fell quickly into hopeless ruin, after having cost the country £500,000. Pop. of parish (1831) 2239; (1891) 1219.