Stranraer

Stranraer (An t-Sròn Reamhar in Gaelic) is a town in the south of Scotland in the west of the region of Dumfries and Galloway and was formerly in the county of Wigtownshire.

It lies on the shores of Loch Ryan on the northern side of the isthmus joining the Rhins of Galloway to the mainland. The name comes from the Scottish Gaelic "An t-Sròn Reamhar" meaning literally "The Fat Nose", but which more poetically might be rendered as "the broad headland".

Stranraer station and ferry terminal

It is one of the administrative centres of the region, but best known as a ferry port connecting Scotland with Belfast and Larne in Northern Ireland. In 2003 Stena Line announced plans to transfer its operations to a new port at Old House Point, north of Cairnryan. Later Stena and P&O announced an agreement to share Cairnryan port. The move north is part of an effort to shorten the journey time of the Stena HSS service (High-speed Sea Service) and increase sailings from four to five per day. The HSS, a high-speed catamaran, is obliged to slow considerably when in Loch Ryan and Belfast Lough due to the large wake which it produces at higher speeds. The sailing time from Cairnryan to Stranraer is approximately ten minutes, thus twenty minutes could be saved per sailing.

The Old Town Hall, built in 1776, now houses Stranraer Museum with its displays of Victorian Wigtownshire and the town's polar explorers, Sir John Ross and his nephew James Clark Ross.

The Castle of St. John is a medieval tower house, built around 1500 by the Adairs of Kilhilt. It has been used as a home, a court, a prison and a military garrison, the latter during the Killing Times in the 1680s. Stranraer became a burgh of barony in 1596 and a royal burgh in 1617.

Stranraer and its surrounding area saw a significant amount of activity during the Second World War, as it became a focus for anti U-boat work. Flying boats operated from the area to attempt to secure the waters of the North Channel and the south western coast of Scotland, with both areas seeing almost all Britain's shipping imports pass through those seas en-route to the Clyde or the Mersey. Indeed the flying boat Supermarine Stranraer is named after the town. Winston Churchill himself departed from Stranraer in a Boeing Flying boat on the night of the June 25 1942, when making his second visit of the war to the USA.

The town is the home of Stranraer F.C., the local semi-professional football team who play at Stair Park. Next season they will be playing in the Scottish Second Division after being beaten by Partick Thistle in this season's Scottish First Division play offs.

Stranraer has five primary schools and one secondary school (Stranraer Academy). The 'Academy', as it is referred to, is a comprehensive school consisting of two 1960's "box" buildings and one ultra modern. The New Building has excellent physical education facilities. The school has around 1100 pupils, 90 members of staff and serves both the town itself and the surrounding villages and rural populations.

A reference to Stranraer is made in the song 'Cap In Hand' by The Proclaimers, in which they say that the town's football team could lose less if it signed 'Hib's goalie'.

A panoramic view of Stranraer, as viewed from Gallowhill

Stranraer & the shores of Loch Ryan, as seen from the North East end of the town