B793

Route

The B793 between the two turnings to Drumstinchall

The B793 is a rural B-road in east Kirkcudbrightshire.

The road starts on the A711 to the north of Dalbeattie and heads roughly southwards, bypassing the town to the east. We soon cross the Kirkgunzeon Lane (a stream) then we pass a turning into Dalbeattie, after which the road quality gets worse - we have come to the end of the modern bypass.

We pass between the hills and Dalbeattie Forest before the road bends to the left. We then continue east, contouring across the moor and passing a few small woods. We skirt the grounds of Auchenskeoch Lodge, going round a pond and then follow the valley of the Southwick Water downstream; the stream is over to the left and its valley is not always visible.

The terrain gets less bleak as we descend. Soon we pass the isolated Southwick Parish Church then continue on to end shortly afterwards at a T-junction on the A710 by Southwick war memorial just east of Caulkerbush.

History

The original route of the B793 in Dalbeattie

What is now the B793 was originally unclassified, with the exception of the section closest to Dalbeattie which did not exist. Early on the road east of Dalbeattie to the A710 at Caulkerbush was numbered A745.

Meanwhile the B793 number came into being in the centre of Dalbeattie around the same time. In its original form the road started on the A711 Craignar Street and headed north along Haugh Road to cross the A710 and bear right into New Road and Station Road, ending back on the A711 after a detour of just over half a mile.

In the 1960s the B793 was extended east along what was the A745. It left town along Southwick Road before joining the road's present route and following it to Caulkerbush. Following construction of the Dalbeattie eastern bypass the B793 was rerouted onto that, thus taking it out of the centre of town. It is not known whether the original section of the B793 was downgraded at this time or if this had taken place earlier.