Cairnryan (; ) is a village in the historical county of Wigtownshire, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. It lies on the eastern shore of Loch Ryan, north of Stranraer and south west of Glasgow. History Cairnryan is a linear settlement, looking across the main A77 road to Loch Ryan. It was established in 1701, when Lochryan House was built for Lt. Colonel Andrew Agnew, 9th of Croach, (along with many of the houses, to the north of the village) for workers on the Lochryan Estate). A local slate quarry, next to Cairn Hill, which overlooks the village, provided the slates for the housing. The estate included a deer park and a bowling green. Lochryan House was re-modelled in the 1820s and is visible from the main road. Into the 1800s, Cairnryan was an important staging post on the coach route to Ayr, with half a dozen inns along this short stretch of coast. It also achieved a less desirable reputation as a haunt of highwaymen preying on that same passing traffic. For two hundred years Cairnryan had been noted for its deep water facility and during World War II it became No.2 Military Port, with three harbour piers and a military railway, linking the village with nearby Stranraer. To make room for the development of new railway tracks, the properties on the loch side of the village were demolished, reducing the local population as the occupiers were re-housed elsewhere. Of the three piers built, only one pier remains; one being dismantled and the other being destroyed (in an ammunition explosion) shortly after the World War II. The remaining pier is now in a state of considerable disrepair (but is still used by anglers). Another role, during World War II, was the building of some sections for the two Mulberry harbours, the floating ports on which the Allies depended after D-Day. Troops were based locally, in military camps. At the end of the World War II, the Atlantic U-boat fleet surrendered in Loch Ryan and was anchored in the port before being towed to the North Channel and scuttled, this activity was codenamed 'Operation Deadlight'. In the early 1950s, the south end of the village, houses were built at Claddyburn Terrace, which increased the village's population. For a period after the Second World War, (until at least 1958), the port was used to receive, by rail and by Liberty and Victory ships,