Ecclefechan
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Ecclefechan is a small town in the south of Scotland in Dumfries and Galloway.
The writer Thomas Carlyle was born there on December 4, 1795. He was also buried there on the 4th February 1881 and still lies there today. Carlyle's birthplace "The Arched House" remains a tourist attraction and has been maintained by the National Trust for Scotland since 1936.
Buried next to Thomas Carlyle is Dr Archibald Arnott (1772-1855) who was Napoleon's doctor on St Helena.
Ecclefechan has a population of 746 (c. Central Register Office 22 Apr 2006) and lies at the foot of a large Roman Fort (Burnswark) which dominates the horizon with its flat top. The High Street of the village has a burn which runs through a culvert below it. This culvert was constructed in 1875 by Dr George Arnott at his own expense.
Ecclefechan has two shops, a hairdresser, a church, a doctors surgery, a primary school and a post office. It also has three hotels: "The Ecclefechan Hotel" which dominates the High Street; the "Cressfield Hotel" which has an adjoining caravan park with full amenities; "Kirkconnel Hall Hotel" which sits to the north.
Local produce includes Ecclefechan Tart and a good blended whisky called "The Fechan" whose label denotes the Arched House.
Robert Burns (1759–1796) composed a song entitled The Lass O' Ecclefechan. Ecclefechan also has links to the Guinness family, the story of the Whistling Ploughboy of Ecclefechan under the title "A Guinness With a Difference" was produced by ministries and charts the ploughboy's influence under God on the Guinness family.
Other points to note: "Oor Wullie" of The Sunday Post fame once got a day off school for spelling "ECCLEFECHAN" correctly and the Jocks and the Geordies of the Dandy once reminisced the Great Battle of Ecclefechan.
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