Template:Wp-Kirkcudbright-History

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An early rendition of the name of the town was Kilcudbrit; this derives from the Gaelic Cille Chuithbeirt meaning "chapel of Cuthbert", the saint whose mortal remains were kept at the town between their exhumation at Lindisfarne and reinterment at Chester-le-Street.

John Spottiswoode, in his account of religious houses in Scotland, mentions that 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.

John Balliol was in possession of the ancient castle at Castledykes in the late 13th century and Edward I of England is said to have stayed here in 1300 during his war against Scotland.

In 1455 Kirkcudbright became a Royal Burgh. About a century 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, the chief magistrate, received a charter for the site, its grounds and gardens. MacLellan dismantled the church in order to obtain material for his new castle, a very fine house, which was built on the site.

After defeat at the Battle of Towton, Henry VI of England crossed the Solway Firth in August 1461 to land at Kirkcudbright in support of Queen Margaret at Linlithgow. The town for some time withstood a siege in 1547 from the English commander Sir Thomas Carleton but, after the surrounding countryside had been overrun, was compelled to surrender.

Kirkcudbright Tolbooth was built between 1625 and 1629 and served not only as the tolbooth, but also the council offices, the burgh and sheriff courts, the criminal prison and the debtors' prison. One of the most famous prisoners was John Paul Jones, founder of the United States Navy, who was born in Kirkbean.

The Johnston School was the town primary school until replaced with a new build in 2009. The school was endowed with a bequest by Kirkcudbright merchant and shipowner William Johnston (1769- 1845) and opened in 1847 as Johnston's Free School. The building was designed by Edinburgh architect James Newlands (1813-1871) who later went on to be the first Borough Engineer for Liverpool where he designed and built the first integrated sewerage system in the world in 1848. The school building was rebuilt, retaining the Italianate tower and façade in 1933 by William A MacKinnell, (1871-1940). He was the County Architect for Kirkcudbrightshire and built many schools in the Stewartry. In 2020 the building was refurbished as a Community Activity and Resource Centre. The building is Listed Category B.

St Andrew's and St Cuthbert's Church was designed in 1886 by London architect A E Purdie (1843-1920), in the Gothic style. It was built on the site of the medieval St Andrew's Church. In 1971 the interior was re-ordered and stripped of its Victorian fixtures and fittings and now features an abstract concrete and iron cross by the Liverpool sculptor Sean Rice (1931-1997), modern stained glass by the Polish artist Jerzy Faczynski (1917-1994) and a set of four paintings by Vivian K Chapman depicting The Passion. The church was built on the site of the old prison and the governor's house now serves as the clergy house. The church was built close to the site of the pre-reformation St Andrews Church.

The Kirkcudbright Railway opened in 1864 but the railway line and station closed in 1965.

Kirkcudbright Town Hall was designed by architects Peddie and Kinnear. It was completed in 1879 and is a Category B listed building. It has since been converted into the Kirkcudbright Galleries, a new facility which was opened by the Princess Royal on 12 July 2018.

The war memorial dates from 1921 and was created by the sculptor George Henry Paulin.

Kirkcudbright training area

Like many other remote areas during the Second World War, a area to the southeast of the town and extending to the coast of the Solway Firth, was acquired by the Army in 1942, as a training area for the D-Day invasion. The area remains in active use for live-firing exercises. Part of the training area is the Dundrennan Range, a weapons development and testing range. The use of this range for the testing of depleted uranium shells has been controversial. The range also contains one of the two surviving A39 Tortoise heavy assault tanks from the six prototypes originally produced. The 32-pdr gun has been removed and the tank is used for target practice. Due to the range's designation as a Site of Special Scientific Interest, removal of the tank to a museum is unlikely.

Museums

Broughton House is an 18th-century town house standing on the High Street. It was the home of Scots impressionist artist Edward Atkinson Hornel between 1901 and his death in 1933. The National Trust for Scotland maintain the house and its contents as a museum of Hornel's life and work.

The Stewartry Museum was founded in 1879 and was at first based in the Town Hall until it became too small to house the collections. The collection moved to a purpose-built site. It contains the local and natural history of the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright. Britain's earliest surviving sporting trophy, the Siller Gun, is part of the collection, as are paintings by many local artists.

The Tolbooth building is now used as an arts centre.