In becoming a united congregation, our parish is to be Maxwelltown West and New Abbey.  Our union is between your parish of Maxwelltown West and that of Lochend and New Abbey.  I thought it might be helpful to describe our parish of Lochend and New Abbey centred as it is on the villages of New Abbey and Beeswing.  The parish sits between Colvend and Southwick, Kirkgunzeon and Dalbeattie to the west, from Killywhan, roughly along the line of the old “Paddy line” railway (from Stranraer to Dumfries) to the north and the top of the Long Wood on A711 to the East. The southerly border is the Solway Coast.

New Abbey village has a school, village shop, Abbey Cottage tearoom, busy village hall, bowling green and GP surgery.  It also has St. Mary’s Roman Catholic church which celebrated its 200th anniversary in 2024.  The village also includes many historic monuments – the famous Sweetheart Abbey, burial place of Lady Devorgilla and the heart of her husband, John Balliol and also the 18th century water powered Corn Mill.
Photos in the main Contact magazine are:
Sweetheart Abbey – New Abbey Church of Scotland can be seen in the background to the left;
The Waterloo monument towers above the village, built from money raised by public subscription to commemorate the Battle of Waterloo in 1815.
(Photos in the magazine: Mike Marshall
Beeswing is a small village which includes the Locharthur Camphill Community with its farm shop and café as well as supported homes and workshops for adults with special needs.  We also have a village hall, but our post office and school are long gone.
Where is Lochend you may ask?  The church in Beeswing was Lochend Parish church.  The village is called after a racehorse, The Bee’s Wing, which won many races during her career between 1834 and 1842.  It is thought that winnings from betting on Bee’s Wing by the tollkeeper at Breconside (on A711 near Kirkgunzeon) enabled him to build and open a public house (now a private house called Lotus View) named “The Beeswing” after his win.  The name of the pub stuck to the village but of course the parish could not be called after a village named for the proceeds of gambling!
The two parishes of Lochend and New Abbey were linked in 1952, sharing a minister who travelled between the two each Sunday.  In 2004 Lochend church was closed due to concerns about the safety of the steeple.  At that point services of worship continued in Beeswing Village Hall. The two congregations were united in 2006 to facilitate a linkage with Kirkgunzeon which had been vacant for many years.  The linkage with Kirkgunzeon lasted until 2013 when the elders there took the decision to close their church when office-bearers’ positions could no
longer be filled.  The parishioners of Kirkgunzeon joined Dalbeattie church.
There is much history associated with Christian worship in the parish of Lochend and New Abbey and I hope I may write more at some time in the future.
Catherine Lye