55°00′29″N4°02′31″W / 55.008°N 4.042°W /55.008; -4.042
Parton is a hamlet situated on the banks of theRiver Dee in the historical county of Kirkcudbrightshire,Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland.
Parton Row is the name of the cottages rebuilt in 1901 by the laird, Benjamin Rigby Murray, of Parton House. One was used as a library and reading room. The clock tower was added to an existing byre but later converted to a communal laundry. In later years the building nearest the hall was the village shop and post office and was the home of Sam Callander (1922 - 2012), who devoted much of his life to promoting the memory ofJames Clerk Maxwell.
Murray also built the village hall in 1908 with the motto over the entranceFloreat Partona ('let Parton flourish'). The motto alludes to the village song:
| SempiterneSplendeat Partonensesfloreant! Floreat Partona! | May the crown of the fatherland shine eternally, MayPomona increase, for us, the harvests from our land, May gentlePax protect, mayBellona keep her distance. May the herds sell dear, mayAnnona be affectionate,
sustain us, grateful. May Partonians flourish! May Parton flourish! |
Parton railway station was part of thePortpatrick line, but closed in 1965. The station building was converted as a private house.
Parton Kirk is byWalter Newall and was built in 1832–33. Of the old church of circa 1593 only the east gable wall survives and serves as part of the burial enclosure of James Clerk Maxwell and his wifeKatherine Clerk Maxwell and the Rigby-Murrays of Parton. The oak pulpit from Old Parton Church dated to 1598 is now in the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh. It bears the initials 'I.G.', for John Glendonwyn of Parton, patron of the parish church whose arms are included in the carved decoration.[1]
Prominentmathematical physicistJames Clerk Maxwell lived at the nearbyGlenlair House. He was famous for developing formulae governingelectricity andmagnetism as well as theMaxwell distribution in thekinetic theory of gases. He is commemorated by a monument beside the Parton war memorial in front of the church.
Also buried in the kirkyard is Maxwell's fatherJohn Clerk Maxwell of Middlebie andElma Yerburgh (1864–1946)[2] of theThwaites Brewery family fromBlackburn, who lived at nearby Barwhillanty.[3] Here also is buried Dr David Summers (1947- 2009) Physicist and poet of Napier University, Edinburgh.[1][2] Dr Summers lived in Parton Row.
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