Portpatrick is a village and civil parish in the historical county of Wigtownshire, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. It is located on the west coast of the Rhins of Galloway. The parish is about in length and in breadth, covering . History Dating back some 700 years and built adjacent to the ruins of nearby Dunskey Castle, Portpatrick's position on the Rhins of Galloway affords visitors views of the Northern Irish coast to the west, with cliff-top walks and beaches both north and south. The Gulf Stream, flowing in from the north, gives the coastline a pleasant climate, in which subtropical plant life can flourish. Portpatrick has a Community Council, and an annual Life Boat Week, featuring parades, activities, and a firework display. There are bowls clubs, a golf club, many guesthouses and hotels, and rustic public houses. The village is also home to a mini putting course. By the inner harbour is the starting point of the Southern Upland Way, a long-distance walking route to Cockburnspath on the east coast. The Portpatrick Hotel, built in 1905 and extended in 1907, sits on the cliffs above this point. The village was used as one of the locations for the 1952 film Hunted, starring Dirk Bogarde and directed by Charles Crichton. It also featured in the BBC drama Two Thousand Acres of Sky as a stand-in for Portree. Features Harbour Portpatrick village was founded on fishing, operating from the sandy, crescent-shaped harbour that remains the focal point of the village. It was the principal port for goods and mail traffic to Ireland from the 17th century, but the strong winds across the North Channel made this impractical. In 1770 John Smeaton constructed the town's first proper harbour. In 1821, John Rennie was appointed to create a new harbour defined by two new piers. The north pier collapsed in 1839, but the south remains standing. The harbour's inner basin was built between 1861 and 1863, but by then, the main goods route to Ireland was via Stranraer, and services went into decline. St Patrick's Church This ruined church, dating from 1629, may itself stand on the ruins of an earlier church, known as St Patrick's Chapel. The circular tower may date from the 1520s, and originally stood on its own. Its unusual shape (for Scotland) may mean that it was either a lighthouse for the harbour, or heavily influenced by Irish architecture. In