The Kirkcudbrightshire Coast. 1.39 



clock with two dials facing the two sections of High Street 

 respectively. The clock is lighted every evening at dusk, a 

 pleasing detail in the nightly aspect of the town. One of the 

 most memorable pictures of Kirkcudbright, indeed, is the dark 

 street with the illuminated clock-face overhung by the evening 

 star. The largest of the old buildings in the town is the castle 

 of the Maclellans, the Lords Kirkcudbright. 



The burgh records are full of interest. Extracts have been 

 printed in the "Transactions," but I do not think the following 

 incident has been noticed before. The parish was stirred to its 

 depths in 1761 by the appointment of a blind minister. The 

 anxiety of the people to have the settlement obviated was so 

 strong as to lead to a step which must surely have few parallels. 

 The appointment was made by the Crown, and among other 

 opposition measures, the Town Council, " encouraged by your 

 Lordship's honour, piety, and tender regard for the welfare of 

 the Christian Church," aj^peal to the Bishop of London to use 

 his influence in high places on their behalf. The minister was 

 the Rev. Thomas Blacklock, the poet and friend of Robert 

 Burns. 



The records contain little that bears on the general history 

 of the country. During the war scare of 1797, however, we 

 find a meeting of the Council called to consider whether, in the 

 then alarming state of the country, it might not be necessary to 

 have one or more men stationed at or near the mouth of the 

 harbour to keep a constant look-out, and report on the appear- 

 ance of any of the enemy's ships. It was decided to place a 

 man on either side of the river to watch the coast both day 

 and night. 



A beautiful road runs down the west side of the estuary of 

 the Dee towards the old churchyard of Senwick, where John 

 Mactaggart, the author of " The Scottish Gallovidian Encyclo- 

 paedia," pubhshed in 1824, is buried. There are .some remains 

 of some ancient forts on the tops of the cliffs extending west- 

 wards from the Little Ross lighthouse. The pretty village of 

 Borgue is the site of the memorial tablet to William Nicholson, 

 the author of " The Brownie of Blednoch," and in the neighbour- 

 ing churchyard of Kirkandrews is his grave. 



Gatehouse-of-Fleet is associated with Burns' " Scots wha 

 hae." The poet is said to have committed it to writing in a 



