Port Logan, formerly Port Nessock, is a small village in the parish of Kirkmaiden

Kirkmaiden

Kirkmaiden is a civil parish in the Rinns of Galloway, the most southerly in Scotland; the present Church of Scotland parish has the same name as and is approximately coterminous with the original pre-Reformation parish....

 in the Rhins of Galloway

Rhins of Galloway

The Rhins of Galloway is a hammer-head peninsula in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland...

 in Wigtownshire

Wigtownshire

Wigtownshire or the County of Wigtown is a registration county in the Southern Uplands of south west Scotland. Until 1975, the county was one of the administrative counties used for local government purposes, and is now administered as part of the council area of Dumfries and Galloway...

.

Port Nessock Bay is now all that remains of the western end of a strait that in post-glacial times separated the main part of what is now the Rinns of Galloway from three smaller islands to its south. There was a ruined pier in the bay in 1790, at which time kelp and samphire were gathered on the coast to the south.

The village was planned; it was created by Colonel Andrew MacDowall (Douall), the laird of Logan, in 1818. MacDowall erected a quay and bell tower designed by Thomas Telford

Thomas Telford

Thomas Telford FRS, FRSE was a Scottish civil engineer, architect and stonemason, and a noted road, bridge and canal builder.-Early career:...

, and a causewayed road leading to them. This causeway blocked the view to seaward of the existing houses on the Lower Road (Laigh Row), whose inhabitants MacDowall expected to move to a new Upper Road; in the event, they welcomed the shelter it provided from the brisk onshore winds, and preferred to stay put, though subsequently most of them added a second storey so recovering some of the sea view.

Character and facilities

Facilities include a village hall which used to be the local Lifeboat Station. It is run by a local committee and completely self funding. In recent years it has been used for a range of social events such as weddings and to celebrate Hogmanay and St Andrew's Night. It is sometimes used for meetings of the Kirkmaiden

Drummore

Not to be confused with Drummuir, north east ScotlandDrummore is a village at the southern end of the Rhins of Galloway in Scotland: it has two satellite clachans, called Kirkmaiden and Damnaglaur. The village lies where the Kildonan Burn runs out to the sea, a few miles north of the Mull of...

 Community Council. There is a tiny part-time post office, and the Port Logan Inn, which since it changed hands in 2006 has been serving good real ale and food. There is a small market garden supplying local businesses and the public.

For a couple of years until 2006 they also included a newly-built cafe with excellent views called the Butterchurn; however, this is now closed, and the new owners are seeking planning permission to convert it into a private house.

Tourist attractions

The Logan Fish Pond, Logan Botanic Garden

Logan Botanic Garden

Logan Botanic Garden is a botanical garden located near Port Logan on the Rhins of Galloway, the south-western tip of Scotland.The area has a mild climate, due to the influence of the North Atlantic drift. This enables plants which would not normally survive outdoors in Scotland to flourish. There...

 & Logan House Garden http://www.mull-of-galloway.co.uk/attractions/logan_house_gardens.html are nearby.

The village is a popular fishing destination.

Media associations

The village was used at the setting for the popular BBC

BBC

The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

 series Two Thousand Acres of Sky

Two Thousand Acres of Sky

Two Thousand Acres of Sky was a TV drama which aired on BBC Television from 2001 to 2003. It is also syndicated in the United States on PBS. It was created and written by Timothy Prager. The Executive Producer was Adrian Bate....

 starring actress Michelle Collins between 2001 and 2003.

USAAF Douglas C-47 crash

On the 27 July 1944 two United States Army Air Force, Douglas C-47 Skytrain one of them 42-93038 was on a flight from Filton Airport to Glasgow Prestwick Airport before flying to the United States. The flight was trasporting wounded soldiers. But the flight entered bad weather and the pilot of the C-27 tried to gain altitude to clear the cliffs. The C-47 crashed into the cliff side at Port Logan were all 22 passeengers and crew died.