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Published: September 14th 2021
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Kirk Cud Bright - Kirk Coo Brie - Sion pondered long and hard on the way to pronounce the towns name . Brie he said - thats a cheese . Yes exactly but the Scots pronounce the town Kirk Coo Brie and it has nothing to do with cheese . In fact its name might derive from Kirk Cuthbert . We had read that it was the perfect place to visit . An artists town with a Stewartry museum and a castle. So off we set . Parking was not easy. Google had showed us a good car park in the middle of the town . Full - cars parked up and packed in like sardines . Not a hope of getting Gabby in . The marina next door was totally empty. A missed opportunity to allow parking which would have brought in much needed revenue . The houses were tall and built of that red warm sandstone so beloved by Scottish builders . The streets were wide enough for cars to park on either side and have a gap in the middle wide enough for two vehicles .. Sadly although there was much in the way of roadside parking it
had all been taken up and we had to settle with a tiny spot just on the edge of town . A quick recce showed no yellow lines, no lowered kerbs and no signs saying we were not welcome . However we still felt oddly ill at ease leaving Gabby there while we went in search of some lunch .
There were the usual variety of shops. A decent looking florist , a couple of pubs, a pharmacy and a closed fish and chip shop. A number of cafes all full just like the car parks . We walked up one side of the street looking at each shop in turn . None of the usual empty shops . A few charity shops and no big multinationals . The other side looked much the same . At the head of the street was the towns war memorial . It stood at the foot of the castle and featured a bronze figure of a naked man standing on a stone base . He cradled a child . The warrior also carries a sword . It was highly unusual in design and extremely striking . The warrior seems to be protecting the child with the sword and his knee . The stones were gathered from the seashore . It was the work of the Edinburgh sculptor George H Paulin and was unveiled in April 1921.
Behind the memorial was MacLellans Castle named after its original owner Sir Thomas MacLellan of Bombie who was the provost of the town . He began to build his castle on the site on an old convent of Greyfriars. He acquried the land following the protestant reformation on 1560. By 1582 the castle was complete enough to move in. It seems that five years after it was built the family including second wife Grissel entertained James VI. After their death the families prosperity failed and they ran up huge debts and by 1742 a descendant was working in Edinburgh as a glovemaker. Such is the fall at times of families . The house was partially demolished , the roof removed and the contents sold off . The grey old substantial building fell into disrepair . Eventually the state took over the castle in 1912. Now it is in the hands of Historic Scotland so had it been open we would have gained free entry through Cadw. Sadly the scaffolding was up the place firmly shut to the public . Its one for another day .
Our search for lunch continued . In the end we bought a pizza from a bakery , a couple of sausage rolls and a cheese and bacon pastry . Not the best we have eaten . We sat for a while in a laybye outside of town trying the sausage rolls . The scored low. The pizza tasted nothing like a pizza and the best was probably the cheese and bacon pastry . Our search for somewhere for lunch failed miserably . The rain was now falling and the weather was remaining dreek . Not the best of days to head for a garden but that was where we were off next .
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