The A755 is a winding road in south Kirkcudbrightshire.
Route
Kirkcudbright Bridge
The route begins at a T junction with the A711 just north of Kirkcudbright town centre. Kirkcudbright, the county town of Kirkcudbrightshire, is probably the most attractive of the Galloway towns. It is brightly painted and stuffed full of attractive Georgian buildings and has a ruined manor house as well. The countryside around it is also very attractive. It heads west along Bridge Street past the remains of the old town station and across the concrete Kirkcudbright Bridge, which dates from 1926, replacing an older bridge. After passing Kirkcudbright Dairy and a collection of modern council houses, the route begins to climb steeply out of the Dee Valley. The B727 turns off to the left, having been in a multiplex with the A755 since it started, and takes a longer, slightly more coastal route to Gatehouse. The A755 continues to climb westwards through fields, passing a scattering of houses and farms.
The first section of the road is wide and well engineered with impressive cuttings and embankments, although it is rarely a busy road. However, after passing a staggered crossroads on a double bend, the road becomes windier and soon narrows as well. This is an undulating landscape of rolling green fields stretching away to the horizon. The views are broader to the south, with the road curving around some slightly higher hills to the north, but the Solway Coast is always hidden, despite being only a few miles away. After a brief run south west at Boreland of Borgue, the route curves back to head north west as it climbs to its summit. Again, the road widens and the windy bends give way to long sweeping curves as the road snakes across the fields. The summit, of just over 100m, comes at the junction at Glenterry. This is where the A755 used to end, and the unclassified road on the left was, until the mid 1980s, the A75. It was many years later before the junction was realigned to create the current T junction.
Near the route's end at Barharrow
The route now curves back to the south west as it descends a little, through patchy woodland, to Barharrow. Here the B727 comes back in from the left as the A755 turns north at a sharp bend, and the two routes enjoy a second multiplex to the far end of the A755, perhaps a unique situation. The final section is a series of easy bends as the road snakes across rolling fields to meet the A75. The junction is a staggered Crossroads on the Gatehouse of Fleet Bypass. The [B727]], former A75 emerges from it's multiplex and doglegs right-left to head into the town on the former A75 alignment, while the bypass itself is a short dual carriageway through the junction, with two lanes climbing westwards and only one heading east.
History
In the 1922 Road Lists, this route – as far as the original junction with the A75 at Minto Cottage – was classified as the B728. By 1930, at the latest, it had been upgraded to become the A755, the change probably happening in 1926. With the opening of the A75 Gatehouse of Fleet bypass, the route was extended by 1.6 miles along the old A75 between Minto Cottage and the A755's present western junction with the bypass.
As is noted above, two sections of the route have seen some substantial upgrades in the past, and the former A75 also saw some improvements prior to being bypassed. As the route leaves Kirkcudbright, it used to follow what is now the B727, and then fork right onto the lane that is now signed as a no through road from either end. It then crossed the modern road for a loop on the northern side, re-joining the current alignment opposite Kirkchrist Farm. These changes all post date 1970. Continuing westwards, some of the route has been widened, but there are no obvious signs of realignment before Auchenhay Bridge. Just beyond, the old road line snakes alongside in the wide verge to the right, before disappearing behind bushes and the crossing the modern road. Both of these wiggly loops are still open to traffic, although they aren't really wide enough for two cars to pass so are not really suitable as laybys. The current alignment dates from the late 1960s, first appearing on the 1970 One Inch map. In comparison, the improvements to the former A75 section appear to be older, and entirely online.
