34 — Sunday, September 28, 1997 — North Shore News

north shore news

"Photo submitted

FISHING nets s lie in walt ona ‘nilety morning at Kirkcudbright harbor. The ancient village in Scotland's south- west Is home to McLeilan’s Castie, a turreted mansion built in 1582 by Sir Thomas McL.elian.

sun, children’ ‘Shipped. in the street, a hearty. tang ‘of brine. wafted-.,.

- up from the harbor, - and. it-was another carefrée’ summer day - in this‘ quict little *

town in’ southwest Scotland. :

* But the weekend would be different, according to the poster in a shop win- dow: “Bloody Civil War Coming.” :

The shopkeeper sold me a couple of postcards and said: “Aye, that'll be this weekend. The toon’s fu’ wi? big men dressed up like auld

* sojers. Ye’ll ken aw aboot it when they start firing can- nons and bashing yin anither

_wi? big bits of metal. A’ve seen yon afore; they get right stuck in and give yin anither lalldy.”

‘Translated: The citizens in period costume, 17th century being about right, gather to engage in furious hand-to-hand combat.

Seeking further enlight- enment I went to the pub

‘down the street where four

men in rough-hewn

military uniforms of an

uncertain vintage were

pawns pints of McEwan’s ea

“War here fur the bash this weekend,” said one. “Don’t miss it. There’s nearly as much fighting as you used to get at Glasgow fitba’ games.

At that they all downed their pints, two burped loudly, they collected their muskets at the door and

walked across the street to the castle.

You can’t miss McLeilan’s Castle; it has dominated Kirkcudbright (pronounced “Kir-coo-bry”) since 1582 when the turret- ed mansion was built by Sir Thomas McLellan using

““Password?’, said the women with the musket as I got to the door.

‘Unity in Christ,’

I replied.”

stones from a Franciscan friary that sheltered Mary, Queen of Scots in 1563.

Although the roof has gone the castle stands proud and on this day a young man and a woman were on the lawn practicing sword fighting.

“Password?” said the woman with the musket as I got to the door.

“Unity in Christ!” I replied (a spy in the pub told me) and was allowed to pass by the member of Col. Hugh Fraser’s Dragoons, a historical regiment that would have 1,000 members

on the field for the week- end’s battle coordinated by the Sealed Knot Re- Enactment Society.

Garrison commander was Richard Boyce, with Manus O’Cahan’s of Foot, a pleas- ant young man who put down his flintlock musket while he rummaged in a pocket for his card.

“Here,” he said, “If you need more information send an e-mail.

As for the McLellans, they probably lived by the sword and died by it, hardly a footnote in the bloody his- tory of Scotland.

This handsome part of Scotland has seen more than its share in particular of reli- gious wars.

Nearby Threave Castle, built by Archibald the Grim, was the last Douglas castle to surrender to James 11 in 1455, but only after he had dragged the giant cannon Mons Meg from Edinburgh Castle to blast its walls.

The Catholic Maxwells, onc of whom is said to have offered the harbor to Philip 11 of Spain for use during

“the armada of 1588, were

prominent around Kirkcudbright.

Soon after that the Tolbooth was built, and it later heid John Paul Jones, founder of the American Navy, charged with manslaughter after his ship’s carpenter died from a flog- ging.

This year, incidentally,

was the 250th anniversary of

his birth near here. Quieter times came to Kirkcudbright, which took little part in the Industrial Revolution, although Telfer’s bridge of 1805 still

welcomes visitors at the edge of town.

Then the artist E. A. Hornel, of the Glasgow

Boys, discovered its backwa- | ter charms.Other artists fol-

lowed, and today there are studios and galleries in the

narrow streets (called closes)

and old fishermen’s houses.

Kirkcudbright gets few tour buses. It has no big horels with business groups and I didn’t see a McDonald’s.

What you will find are old streets and buildings, many of them with flower baskets in the summer and others brightly painted, where bargain bed & break- fasts come with a warm wel- come,

London TV journalist Haig Gordon has a holiday

cottage here, and he says it’s |

the perfect antidote to the noise and crush of London.

Mind you, he was getting out of town on the weck- end.

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