Stranraer History

Places to see

Stranraer is a town in the south of Scotland, to the west of Dumfries and Galloway and in the county of Wigtownshire. Most people will recognise the name of the town because it is the ferry port with a direct connection to the city of Belfast in Northern Island. Although evidence has been found to suggest that there was a settlement in that area from prehistoric times, the town itself was formed with the building of Stranraer Castle, or the Castle of Saint John five hundred years ago. Stranraer is the largest town in that part of Scotland; it lies at the head of Loch Ryan on the north side of the neck of land that keeps it connected to the rest of the mainland.

Stranraer Castle was originally built behind the broad beach that is at the head of Loch Ryan, but has since been moved to serve as a centre piece for the town. It was not until some time after the castle was built that the settlement really began to evolve. The centre grew quite quickly over the next hundred years. Stranraer became a burgh of barony in 1596 and became the market town for west Wigtownshire in 1600. In 1617 the town became a royal burgh and was reached via a military road from Dumfries because there was a need to access Portpatrick for transportation to Ireland.

By the middle of the eighteenth century Stranraer had its first harbour built and in the first quarter of the nineteenth century there was further development of the port. In 1861 Stranraer was eventually established as the foremost port in the area due to the coming of the railway from Dumfries. The railway service was extended to the port itself in 1862 and at the same time a rail link was also opened to Portpatrick. In the years that followed a direct line was established from Stranraer to Girvan in the north of Scotland.

For a hundred and fifty years after the link to Girvan was established, Stranraer continued to be the main port for the Irish ferries. Disaster struck the ferry in 1953 when the car deck of the Princess Victoria was swamped by heavy seas, killing a hundred and thirty three people. During the Second World War Stranraer and the area surrounding the town became important to the war effort because it was where most of the anti U-boat work went on. Most of Britain’s shipping imports passed through the North Channel and the south western coast of Scotland en route to the Clyde or the Mersey, so flying boats were operated from the area in an attempt to secure the area. To this day much of Stranraer’s industry and economy is tied up with the ferry port and its associated industries, including tourism. The town is also a major administrative centre for the Wigtownshire area of Dumfries and Galloway. It is now the second largest town in the south of Scotland with a population exceeding thirteen thousand.