KIRKCUDBRIGHT

KIRKCUDBRIGHT, the county town, 30 miles SW. of Dumfries by a branch-line (1864), is beautifully situated on the left bank of the Dee, which soon begins to broaden into Kirkcudbright Bay, opening into the Solway Firth six miles below. Its name (pron. Kirkcoobry) is derived from the church of St Cuthbert, as old at least as 1164; and it is a royal burgh (1455), uniting with Dumfries, &c. to return one member. Chief buildings are the court-house (1868) and town-hall (1879); and a lattice-bridge (1868), 500 feet long, spans the Dee. The ivy-mantled ruins of the castle built by Maclellan of Bombie in 1582 still dominate the town. Pop. (1841) 2606; (1891) 2533. See Maxwell's Stewartry of Kirkcudbright (3d ed. Castle-Douglas, 1878), and other works cited at GALLOWAY.