Rough Firth
estuary of the Urr Water, in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, UK
Rough Firth is an inlet on the northern coast of the Solway Firth in the Stewartry area of Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. The firth lies between Almorness Point and Castlehill Point, and contains Rough Island. The village of Kippford stands near the head of the firth where the Urr Water reaches the sea; the only other coastal settlement of any size is Rockcliffe. The area is designated as the East Stewartry Coast National Scenic Area, one of the forty national scenic areas (NSAs) in Scotland.
44 ha on the eastern side of the firth is owned by the National Trust for Scotland, forming the Rockcliffe property, which covers a stretch of coastline and several small islands (including Rough Island).
Description
The area includes several different landscapes, as identified by Scottish Natural Heritage when undertaking a review of the "special qualities" of the area in 2010:
The land is varied and interesting, with many contrasts in form and texture. Smooth mudflat and merse are present, as are gently shelving beaches and rolling farmland; also steep cliffs, rocky islands, gorsey knolls and rough moorland.
There is a small 6th-century trading post known as the Mote of Mark, which stands on a rocky outcrop, and is owned by the National Trust for Scotland.
The site was excavated in 1913, and two drystone huts were found, along with over 100 flints, which may be prehistoric in origin. Additionally, a small piece of Samian ware and a piece of a mortarium were uncovered, along with fragments of clay moulds from the early Christian period, and pieces of 9th-century glass likely to have come from the Mediterranean region.
“Rough Firth” enters the record as estuary of the Urr Water, in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, UK. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Rough, Firth and estuary can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 18, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7370827. Authority coordinates are 54.867, -3.817. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2010 and 1913.
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This entry incorporates text from “Rough Firth” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.