Rockcliffe, Dumfries and Galloway Rockcliffe, Dumfries and Galloway Rockcliffe is a small, coastal village in Kirkcudbrightshire, Dumfries and Galloway in Scotland, with a view of Rough Island, Hestan Island, the Solway Firth and sometimes the Cumbrian coast. Rockcliffe lies on the eastern side of the River Urr estuary, and gives access to Rough Island by way of both firm mud exposed at low tide and a natural, tidal causeway. Hestan Island can be safely reached on foot from Rockcliffe if you are prepared to ford the knee-deep, lower reaches of the River Urr at low tide: it is a 2-mile walk across firm, sandy
Dumfries and Galloway (UK Parliament constituency) and Caerlaverock wards, as they were when the constituency was created, were excluded from the constituency. Ward boundaries changed in 2007. Dumfries and Galloway's predecessor seats, Galloway and Upper Nithsdale (1983-2005) and Galloway (1918–83), had been represented by Conservative MPs in all but two parliaments since 1931. Galloway and Upper Nithsdale was won by the Scottish National Party in 1997 but became the only Scottish seat to return a Conservative MP at the 2001 general election. Boundary changes for the 2005 election saw the new seat have a very slim Labour majority over the Conservatives, and the SNP were in