, (
Pronounced ), or ''Cille Chuithbeirt'' in
Modern Gaelic , is a town in the south of
Scotland in
Dumfries And Galloway , south of
Castle Douglas and
Dalbeattie , in the part of Dumfries and Galloway known as the
Stewartry , situated at the mouth of the
River Dee , some six miles from the sea. It was the county town of the former
County of
Kirkcudbrightshire ,
The early rendition of the name of the town was Kilcudbrit, derived from the Gaelic Cii Cudbert, (Chapel of
Cuthbert ), the Saint whose mortal remains were kept here for seven years between exhumation at
Lindisfarne and re-interment at
Chester-le-Street .
Spottiswood , in his account of religious houses in Scotland mentions the Franciscans or Grey Friars had been established at Kirkcudbright from the 12th century. No traces of the Greyfriars or Franciscan dwellings remain in the parish of Kirkcudbright.
In
1453 , Kirkcudbright became a royal burgh, and about a hundred years later the magistrates of the town obtained permission from
Queen Mary to use part of the convent and nunnery as a parish church. From around 1570, Sir Thomas Maclellan of Bombie (Bomby), the chief magistrate received a charter for the site, its grounds and gardens. Maclellan dismantled the church in order to obtain material for his proposed castle, and proceeded to have built a very fine house on the site.
After the
Battle Of Towton ,
Henry VI Of England crossed the
Solway in the August of 1461, to land at Kirkcudbright in support of the Queen Margaret at Linlithgow. The town also successfully withstood the English siege in 1547 under Sir Thomas Carleton, but after the surrounding countryside had been overrun was compelled to surrender.
The
Stewartry Museum was founded in
1879 and was at first based in the Town Hall until it became too small. The collection moved to a purpose-built site and contains the local and natural history of the eastern part of Galloway, formerly known as
Kirkcudbrightshire and now known as the Stewartry.
Britain's earliest surviving sporting trophy, the
Siller Gun , is part of the collection, as are paintings by the many local artists.
The Tolbooth was built between
1625 and
1629 and served not only as the
Tollbooth , but also the council offices, the Burgh and Sheriff courts, the criminal prison and the debtors' prison. One of its most famous prisoners was
John Paul Jones , hero of the American
Navy . The building is now used as an Arts Centre.
Kirkcudbright has had a long association with the Glasgow art movement, which started when a colony of artists, including the
Glasgow Boys and the famed
Scottish Colourists , such as
Samuel Peploe and
F. C. B. Cadell , based themselves in the area over a 30-year period from
1880 to
1910 .
Many of them moved to the town from Glasgow, including Edward Hornel,
George Henry and
Jessie M King , and their presence led to Kirkcudbright becoming known as "the artists’ town", although this moniker may have originated more from tourist board publicity rather than local usage. The
Whodunit ''
The Five Red Herrings '' by
Dorothy L. Sayers involves the artistic community of Kirkcudbright. In 1975 the book was made into a film shot in the town with
Ian Carmichael playing the lead role of
Lord Peter Wimsey .
More recently Kirkcudbright has been put on the map for being the home of
Formula One racing driver
David Coulthard , who attended school in the town and lived in the neighbouring village of
Twynholm .
The town also featured heavily in the cult 1973 horror film, ''
The Wicker Man ''. Many parts of the town can be easily recognized in the film.
