Stewartry district was created on 16 May 1975 under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973, which established a two-tier structure of local government across Scotland comprising upper-tier regions and lower-tier districts. Stewartry district was one of four districts created within the region of Dumfries and Galloway. The district covered the majority of the former administrative county of Kirkcudbrightshire, excluding the parishes of Kirkmabreck and Minnigaff on the western edge of the county, which went to Wigtown district, and the parishes of Kirkbean, Kirkpatrick Irongray, New Abbey, Terregles, and Troqueer on the eastern edge of the county, which went to Nithsdale. The district's name of "the Stewartry" was derived from the alternative name for Kirkcudbrightshire as the "Stewartry of Kirkcudbright", referencing the fact that the area had previously been administered by a steward rather than a sheriff.[2][3][4]
For lieutenancy purposes, the last lord-lieutenant of the county of Kirkcudbrightshire was made lord-lieutenant for the new Stewartry district when it came into effect in 1975.[5]
Further local government reform in 1996 under the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994 saw the four districts of Dumfries and Galloway abolished, with Dumfries and Galloway Council taking over their functions. The council continues to use the former Stewartry district as the basis of an area committee, alongside committees for the other three abolished districts of Annandale and Eskdale, Nithsdale, and Wigtown, subject to some adjustments of boundaries where ward boundaries no longer follow the pre-1996 district boundaries.[6] The area of the former district also continues to be used for lieutenancy purposes as the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright lieutenancy area.[7]
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