Criffel, a barren though verdant granitic mountain group of SE Kirkcudbrightshire, commencing in Newabbey parish near the Nith, and running south-westward across Kirkgunzeon, Urr, and Colvend, down almost to the shore of the Solway Firth. It culminates in conical, peaked Knockendoch (1867 feet), 2¼ miles S by W of Newabbey village, and from this 'huge Criffel's hoary top,' as Wordsworth calls it, commands in clear weather a map-like view of the Solway's basin and the Cumberland mountains beyond, with far-away glimpses of Arran, Ireland, and the Isle of Man. 'Drayton,' says Dorothy Wordsworth, 'has prettily described the connection this neighbourhood has with Cumberland when he makes Skiddaw say- '" Scurfell from the sky, That Annandale doth Crown. with a most amorous eye Salutes me every day, or at my pride looks grim, oft threat'ning me with clouds, as I oft threat'ning him."' According to a prophecy ascribed to Thomas the Rhymer, 'in the evil day coming safely shall nowhere be found except atween Criffel and the sea.'-Ord. Sur., sh. 5, 1867.

(F.H. Groome, Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland (1882-4); © 2004 Gazetteer for Scotland)