Penpont

There are several archaeological sites nearby, including Late Bronze Age hill forts on Tynron Doon{{cite web |url= http://www.walkscotland.plus.com/scaur/glen_w/tynd/pages/01.html |title=Views around the top of Tynron Doon |work=Cairnsmore of Carsphairn and the Scaur Hills |publisher=South West Scotland Hill Walking Routes }} and Grennan Hill and a long cairn at Capenoch Loch{{cite web |url= http://www.themodernantiquarian.com/site/6665/capenoch_loch.html |title=Capenoch Loch (Cairn(s)) |work=The Modern Antiquarian |publisher=Julian Cope }} dating from the 2nd or 3rd century.

File:Penpont war memorial - geograph.org.uk - 992026.jpg

The toponym Penpont means "bridge-head" in the Cumbric language once spoken in the region.{{Cite journal |last=Watson |first=William J |year=1925 |title=The Celts (British and Gael) in Dumfriesshire and Galloway |journal=Transactions and Journal of Proceedings of the Dumfriesshire and Galloway Natural History and Antiquarian Society |series=Third Series |volume=XI |page=147 |url= http://www.dgnhas.org.uk/transonline/SerIII-Vol11.pdf#page=153 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20140831051704/http://www.dgnhas.org.uk/transonline/SerIII-Vol11.pdf |archive-date=31 August 2014}}

The A702 road passes through Penpont. West of Thornhill it crosses the River Nith on a two-arched stone bridge in Penpont parish. It was built in the 1760s after the presbytery of Penpont raised £680 toward the cost. Work started about 1774, but in 1776 the bridge collapsed. The bridge was completed in 1778 and strengthened in 1930–31. It is a Category A listed building.{{Historic Environment Scotland|num=LB17286|desc=Nith Bridge (A702 over River Nith)|cat=A|access-date=2 April 2019}}

Penpont's Church of Scotland parish church is a Gothic Revival building completed in 1867. It is a Category B listed building.{{Historic Environment Scotland|num=LB17267|desc=Penpont Village Penpont Church and churchyard|cat=B|access-date=2 April 2019|fewer-links=yes}} It has an Art Nouveau Communion table made in 1923.{{citation needed|date=June 2015}}

Penpont's war memorial was made by Glasgow sculptor William Kellock Brown and installed in 1920. It is a bronze statue of an infantryman, with his rifle pointing downwards, his hands resting on the butt and his head slightly bowed.

• Sir Hugh Steuart Gladstone FRSE FZS (1877-1949) civil servant and ornithologist, Lord Lieutenant of Dumfries, lived at Capenoch House in Penpont.{{cite book|title=Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002|date=July 2006|publisher=The Royal Society of Edinburgh|isbn=0-902-198-84-X|url=https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp1.pdf}}
• Joseph Thomson (1858–95), the geologist and explorer after whom Thomson's Gazelle is named, was born in Penpont.
• The sculptor Andy Goldsworthy{{cite web |url= http://www.goldsworthy.cc.gla.ac.uk/archive/ |work=Andy Goldsworthy Digital Catalogue |title=Andy Goldsworthy Archive }} has lived in the village since 1986 and has a workshop there. Many of his works are in the surrounding countryside, including a pinecone-shaped sculpture at Stepends Farm made to celebrate the year 2000. Each year Penpont holds a week-long festival called the Penpont Gala,{{cite web| url = http://chrisfrear.photium.com/portfolio34657.html| url-status = dead| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080820052940/http://chrisfrear.photium.com/portfolio34657.html| archive-date = 2008-08-20| title = Penpont Gala Week 2008}} beginning in the first week of July.
• Kirkpatrick MacMillan, generally credited with the invention of the pedal driven bicycle, was born and died in Keir, one mile south of Penpont.{{cite web |url=http://www.penpontheritage.co.uk/famous-people |work=Penpont Heritage |title=Famous People of Penpont |access-date=2016-11-22 |archive-date=23 November 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161123060801/http://www.penpontheritage.co.uk/famous-people |url-status=dead }}
• Leo Kearse Comedian and broadcaster
• Joanna Lumley owns a cottage near the village.
• Hugh McMillan (poet) born 1955

• Drumlanrig Castle
• Tibbers Castle
• Kirkbride, Durisdeer

File:Bridge over the River Nith (3) - geograph.org.uk - 533035.jpg, completed in 1778]]

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• [http://www.penpontheritage.co.uk/penpont Penpont Heritage]

{{Civil parishes in Dumfries and Galloway}}

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Category:Parishes in Dumfries and Galloway

Category:Villages in Dumfries and Galloway

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