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Kirkcudbright

“An irreproachable Scottish town…one of the most picturesque and fascinating Lowland towns I have seen”. So enthused the travel writer HV Morton after visiting this enchanting little town (pronounced “Kirk-coo-bray”) set beside the river Dee. It is still a working port with a small fishing fleet.

Morton was particularly impressed by the ruins of MacLellan’s Castle (Historic Scotland) which towers over the tiny harbour. Built between 1569 and 1582, it was designed not for defensive purposes but as a private residence for Sir Thomas MacLellan. Its Great Hall is particularly striking and there’s a curious feature in the enormous lintel over the fireplace. A spy-hole, known as the “Laird’s Lug”, has been cut into the lintel that looks into a small room behind it. Sir Thomas used to hide himself there and listen to what was being said about him in the Great Hall.

Kirkcudbright was once the county town of Kirkcudbrightshire, also known as the “Stewartry of Kirkcudbright”. It is a place of brightly painted Georgian, Regency and Victorian houses, making it a colourful and interesting place to explore.

This part of Galloway has a very mild climate, thanks to the Gulf Stream washing its shores, and this, as well as the quality of light to be found here, encouraged the founding of an artists’ colony. On a summer’s morning, the edge between light and shadow can be as sharp as a knife, whereas during the day it becomes diffused and soft, and artists have been reaching for their paints and palettes for years to try and capture these two qualities. Even today, straw-hatted artists can be seen at the harbour-side, trying to capture the scene.

Walk up the side of the castle into Castle Bank, passing the whitewashed Harbour Cottage Gallery, where there are regular exhibitions of work by local artists, and you arrive at the High Street. This must be one of the most charming and colourful streets in Scotland. The elegant Georgian and Regency houses - some of them quite substantial - are painted in bright, uncompromising colours, such as yellow, green and pink. Auchingool House is the oldest, having been built in 1617 for the McCullochs of Auchengool. Broughton House, dating from the 18th century, is now owned by the National Trust for Scotland, and was the home of AE Hornel the artist. He was one of the Glasgow Boys group of painters and died in 1933. The house is very much as it was when he lived there. Behind the house are the marvellous Japanese Gardens, influenced by trips that Hornel made to the Far East.

Further along the street is Greengates Close, (private) which was the home of Jessie M. King, another artist. A few yards further on the High Street takes a dog leg to the east, and here stands the early 17th century Tolbooth which has been refurbished and now houses a museum and art gallery telling the story of the artists’ colony. The Queen opened it in 1993. This was the former town house and jail, and John Paul Jones, founder of the American navy, was imprisoned here at one time for murder. He got his revenge in later years when he returned to the town aboard an American ship and shelled the nearby St Mary’s Isle, where the seat of the Earl of Selkirk was located and a medieval priory of nuns once stood.

Kirkcudbright’s Parish Church is a grand affair in red sandstone near the centre of the town, and dates from 1838. Greyfriar’s Kirk is all that is left of a 16th century Franciscan monastery that once stood here. Within it is the grand tomb of Sir Thomas MacLellan of Bombie and his wife Grizzell Maxwell, which was erected in 1597. But the tomb isn’t all it seems. The couple’s son, in an effort to save money, used effigies from an earlier tomb within what is essentially a Renaissance canopy.

In St Mary’s Street is the Stewartry Museum, which has many artefacts and displays on the history of the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright. On the opposite side of the street is the Town Hall, where themed painting exhibitions are held every year.

The town also has its literary associations. The Selkirk Arms Hotel is an essential port of call for any devotee of Robert Burns. The poet stayed at the hotel in 1794 and it was here that he penned his much-quoted “Selkirk Grace”:

Some hae meat and canna eat,
And some wad eat that want it,
But we hae meat and we can eat,
And sae the Lord be thanket.

Dorothy L. Sayers set her Lord Peter Wimsey whodunit Five Red Herrings among the artists’ colony. It’s not one of her best as it over-relies on a detailed knowledge of train times between Kirkcudbrightshire and Ayrshire, and of the paints found on an artist’s palette.

Kirkcudbright was where the village scenes in the cult movie The Wicker Man were filmed, and indeed many locations in Dumfries and Galloway - and even Ayrshire - stood in for the fictional Summerisles, where the action is supposed to have taken place.

A mile outside the town on the B727 is the Galloway Wildlife Conservation Park (formerly Wildlife Park Kirkcudbright), set in 27 acres of mixed woodland. The park is home to a varied collection of nearly 150 animals from all over the world.