Buying a building plot in or around Castle Douglas? See how the ground falls and what constraints apply before you commit, using the Scottish Government LiDAR flown over the area and published on the Scottish Remote Sensing Portal.
Across the Castle Douglas area (7.02 km² from the OS Open Names extent), open LiDAR covers 100% of the ground. The best survey for most of it is Scotland National LiDAR Programme, flown 2025–2026 on a 0.5 m grid.
That survey is recent (about 0 years old), but anything built or dug since still won't show. The flight date is on every page of the report.
Most of the ground across the area (96% of readings) lies between 43.6 m and 83.8 m above Ordnance Datum, with a median of 53.8 m. The extremes (42.6 m to 101.4 m) can include water surfaces and data edges, so we don't quote them as ground levels.
That makes Castle Douglas steep ground by Scottish town standards: about a quarter or more of it falls faster than 1 in 10. On slopes like that, the cut-and-fill estimate and the fall across the plot are often the numbers that change a build budget most, so they're worth seeing before an offer.
Tiles from LiDAR for Scotland Phase 3 (flown 2015–2019); Historic Environment Scotland LiDAR (flown 2010–2017); LiDAR for Scotland Phase 1 (flown 2011–2012) also overlap the Castle Douglas extent, but where surveys overlap the report uses the best one, as above.
Fitting a plane through the 10 m levels, the ground across Castle Douglas falls generally towards the south-west at about 11.8 m per km (roughly 1 in 85). The lowest tenth of the ground lies mostly to the south-west, and the highest tenth lies mostly to the north-east.
About 30.8% of the 10 m samples are flatter than 1 in 40, while one in ten is steeper than 9.4°.
On SEPA's flood maps (medium likelihood), 23.2% of the Castle Douglas extent is inside the river flood extent, 15.4% inside the surface water extent and none inside the coastal extent. The extent is a rectangle round the town, so it can take in foreshore, sea and open ground. These are indicative national maps, not a flood risk assessment; a plot report gives the figures for your own boundary.
Historic Environment Scotland has 26 listed building records in the extent (1 category A, 11 category B, 14 category C), and 1 scheduled monument overlapping it. A plot report lists any that touch or sit near your boundary.
NatureScot protected areas overlapping the extent: Threave and Carlingwark Loch (SSSI).
None of the Castle Douglas extent is within the Coal Authority's Development High Risk Area.
Nearest towns with pages here: Dalbeattie, 7 km east, median ground about 27 m lower; Kirkcudbright, 13.8 km south-west, median ground about 37 m lower; Gatehouse of Fleet, 17.8 km west, median ground about 37 m lower; New Galloway, 20 km north-west, median ground about 23 m higher.
Sampled every 10 m, the typical slope is 2.7°, and 26.5% of the area is steeper than 1 in 10. A single plot can be much flatter or steeper than this. Its report works at 0.5 m.
| Area checked | 7.02 km² (OS Open Names extent, at most 6 km across) |
|---|---|
| LiDAR coverage | 100.0% |
| Best survey | Scotland National LiDAR Programme, flown 2025–2026, 0.5 m grid (100.0%); typical ±0.14 m |
| Ground levels | mostly 43.6–83.8 m AOD (2nd–98th percentile), median 53.8 m |
| Slope (10 m sample) | median 2.7°, 90th percentile 9.4°, 26.5% steeper than 1 in 10 |
| Overall fall | towards the south-west, about 11.8 m per km |
| SEPA flood maps (medium likelihood) | river 23.2%, surface water 15.4%, coastal 0.0% of the extent (awareness only, not a flood risk assessment) |
| HES records in extent | 26 listed buildings (A 1, B 11, C 14), 1 scheduled monuments, 0 conservation areas, 0 gardens and designed landscapes |
| NatureScot protected areas | 1 |
| Coal Authority high risk area | 0.0% of the extent |
Read from the open LiDAR at a 10 m sample on 2026-10-23; local data checked 2026-10-23. A plot report reads the same data at 0.5 m for your boundary only.
Check a plot in Castle Douglas
Accuracy. We test Scottish LiDAR against independent survey overlaps and Ordnance Survey levelled trig pillars: heights are ±0.14 m typical on open ground (95% within ±0.28 m). Results by survey phase.
Dalbeattie · Kirkcudbright · Gatehouse of Fleet · New Galloway
Place names and extents: OS Open Names. Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. LiDAR: contains Scottish Government LiDAR data, Open Government Licence v3. ©SEPA 2025; this SEPA product is licensed under the Open Government Licence version 3.0. Third-party data attribution statements: https://www.sepa.org.uk/media/5zidnja5/sepa_flood_maps_data_attribution_statements.pdf (SEPA flood maps are indicative and not suitable for individual properties). Contains Historic Environment Scotland and Ordnance Survey data © Historic Environment Scotland - Scottish Charity No. SC045925 © Crown copyright and database right 2026. Open Government Licence v3. Contains NatureScot information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3. Contains Mining Remediation Authority (formerly the Coal Authority) data, Open Government Licence v3. See data licences.