Kirkcudbright is 'Dy-no-mite!'

Kirkcudbright, a recent destination for one of our famous day trips, is a lovely, arty town located at the estuary of the River Dee in Galloway.

First order of business: I had to learn how to pronounce the name properly. It is most definitely not pronounced how it looks: kur (to rhyme with fur) KOO (to rhyme with fu manchu) bree (to rhyme with tree). So that's kur-KOO-bree, emphasis on the KOO. I guess I should apologize for the title of this post, then. Sorry. Sorry Kirkcudbright. Sorry Jimmy Walker of Good Times fame. Sorry.

There are several noticable things about Kirkcudbright. The ruin of Maclellan's Castle dominates one end of the town, where Castle Street and Cuthbert Street meet. I didn't think the castle was particulary nice to look at, but see a nicely drawn town map here.

Another noticeable thing about the town, something I haven't seen much of in the UK, is wide streets. They aren't as wide as Salt Lake City's streets, or the streets in Las Vegas (which you need to file something akin to a flight plan before you cross), but they are very wide for British streets.

Kirkcudbright has one of the more interesting WWI memorials I've seen. It is a statue of a man with a sword and shield protecting a small boy. Usually they are just a stone pillar with names on them. Something interesting to note is that the WWI memorials in these little towns have a lot (I'm not kidding) of soldier's names on them, about twice as many as WWII. I'm always moved by seeing those lists of names, especially when in a very small village. I look around and think my God, nearly all of the men from this little town were lost. And then twenty years later, another world war. It is sobering.

Another thing you notice is that the town does pride itself on being home to a lot of artists. I think a town that promotes the arts is a very good town indeed. In keeping with the arty feeling, the citizens seem to have agreed that it would be really cool to paint their houses interesting colors, so you do get that seaside town feeling when you look around.

Here are a few pics of Kirkcudbright. Enjoy. 

Click for the larger pic and you'll see the house near the end of the street is purple

This lovely church was turned into several private flats

You better not misbehave in Kirkcudbright

 

 Loved Ones Lost at Sea

'To The Glorious Dead: 1914 - 1918'

Fishing boat in Kirkcudbright Harbour along the river Dee

 You are not allowed to drive your car into the harbour