The River Dee, in south-west Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

, flows from its source in Loch Dee amongst the Galloway Hills

Galloway Hills

The Galloway hills are part of the Southern Uplands of Scotland, and form the northern boundary of western Galloway. They lie within the bounds of Galloway Forest Park, an area of some of largely uninhabited wild land, managed by the Forestry Commission...

, firstly to Clatteringshaws Loch

Clatteringshaws Loch

Clatteringshaws Loch is a reservoir in the Dumfries and Galloway district of southern Scotland. It was created by damming the Galloway River Dee as part of the Galloway Hydro Electric Scheme....

, then in to Loch Ken

Loch Ken

Loch Ken is 9-mile long freshwater loch in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. It lies in the Glenkens, where it is fed from the north by the Water of Ken and from the west by the Dee. It continues as the Dee south from Glenlochar, where the water is held back by the Glenlochar Barrage...

, where it joins the Water of Ken

Water of Ken

The Water of Ken is a river in Galloway, south-west Scotland. It rises on Blacklorg Hill, north-east of Cairnsmore of Carsphairn in the Carsphairn hills, and flows south-westward into the Glenkens valley, passing through Carsfad and Earlstoun lochs, both of which are dammed to supply the Galloway...

. From there, the Dee flows 15 miles (24.1 km) southwards to Kirkcudbright

Kirkcudbright

Kirkcudbright, is a town in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland.The town lies south of Castle Douglas and Dalbeattie, in the part of Dumfries and Galloway known as the Stewartry, at the mouth of the River Dee, some six miles from the sea...

, and into Kirkcudbright Bay to reach the Solway

Solway Firth

The Solway Firth is a firth that forms part of the border between England and Scotland, between Cumbria and Dumfries and Galloway. It stretches from St Bees Head, just south of Whitehaven in Cumbria, to the Mull of Galloway, on the western end of Dumfries and Galloway. The Isle of Man is also very...

. The distance is just over 38 miles (61.2 km) in total. Together with its tributaries, the Dee's total catchment area is over 400 square miles (1,036 km²).

The river is dammed at Tongland

Tongland

Tongland is a small village about 2 miles north of Kirkcudbright, south west Scotland. It lies on the west bank of the Dee near its confluence with the Tarff Water.-History:...

, two miles (3 km) upriver from Kirkcudbright. This was constructed as part of the Galloway hydro-electric power scheme

Galloway hydro-electric power scheme

The Galloway hydro-electric power scheme is a network of dams and hydro-electric power stations in Galloway, south west Scotland. It was built between 1930 and 1936....

 in the 1930s. Also at this site is Tongland Bridge, built in 1806 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:...

.

The ruins of Threave Castle

Threave Castle

Threave Castle is situated on an island in the River Dee, 2.5 km west of Castle Douglas, in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland...

 stand on an island on the lower part of the Dee.

The Dee has also been known as the Black Water of Dee because of its dark colour in the stretch above Loch Ken. In Ptolemy

Ptolemy

Claudius Ptolemy , was a Roman citizen of Egypt who wrote in Greek. He was a mathematician, astronomer, geographer, astrologer, and poet of a single epigram in the Greek Anthology. He lived in Egypt under Roman rule, and is believed to have been born in the town of Ptolemais Hermiou in the...

's 2nd century work Geography

Geographia (Ptolemy)

The Geography is Ptolemy's main work besides the Almagest...

 it is listed as the river Deva.

Loch Ken and the Dee Marshes were together designated a Ramsar site on August 21, 1992.

Tarff Water

The Tarff Water enters the Dee as a right-bank tributary near Tongland

Tongland

Tongland is a small village about 2 miles north of Kirkcudbright, south west Scotland. It lies on the west bank of the Dee near its confluence with the Tarff Water.-History:...

 in the tidal stretch of the river. The headwater streams of the Tarff drain the tract of country between the villages of Laurieston and Ringford

Ringford

Ringford is a village in the Dumfries and Galloway hills located at beside the Tarff Water. It is about north of the fishing town of Kirkcudbright. It has a war memorial and a village hall. The Kirkcudbright Railway used to run past the village, the nearest stop being Tarff....

 including Loch Mannoch. The river should not be confused with the similarly named Tarf Water

Tarf Water, Wigtownshire

The Tarf Water is a river in the former county of Wigtownshire in south-west Scotland. It rises on the Ayrshire border and flows in a generally southeastward direction to meet the River Bladnoch near the village of Kirkcowan It has no major tributaries but is fed by numerous burns which drain an...

 which is a tributary of the River Bladnoch

River Bladnoch

The Bladnoch is a river in the Machars of Galloway in southwest Scotland. One of the earliest descriptions of it is given by Sir Andrew Agnew of Lochnaw and Sir David Dunbar in an appendix to Andrew Symson's work A Large Description of Galloway written in the 17th century...

further west in Galloway.