Kirkgunȝeon ( gd, Cill Fhionnain) is a village and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...

Dumfries and Galloway Dumfries and Galloway ( sco, Dumfries an Gallowa; gd, Dùn Phrìs is Gall-Ghaidhealaibh) is one of 32 unitary council areas of Scotland and is located in the western Southern Uplands. It covers the historic counties of Dumfriesshire, Kirkc ...

, south west

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to ...

. The village is south west of

Dumfries Dumfries ( ; sco, Dumfries; from gd, Dùn Phris ) is a market town and former royal burgh within the Dumfries and Galloway council area of Scotland. It is located near the mouth of the River Nith into the Solway Firth about by road from t ...

and north east of Dalbeattie. The civil parish is in the former county of

Kirkcudbrightshire Kirkcudbrightshire ( ), or the County of Kirkcudbright or the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright is one of the historic counties of Scotland, covering an area in the south-west of the country. Until 1975, Kirkcudbrightshire was an administrative count ...

, and is bounded by the parishes Lochrutton to the north, Urr to the west,

Colvend and Southwick Colvend and Southwick is a community council area and civil parish within the Stewartry area of Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. It is also part of the Church of Scotland parish of Colvend, Southwick and Kirkbean. It is in the historic coun ...

to the south and

New Abbey New Abbey ( gd, An Abaid Ùr) is a village in the historical county of Kirkcudbrightshire in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. It is south of Dumfries. The summit of the prominent hill Criffel is to the south. History The village has a wealt ...

to the east. Kirkgunzeon is recorded in c.1200 as ''Kirkwynnin''. ''Wynnin'' represents a

Cumbric Cumbric was a variety of the Common Brittonic language spoken during the Early Middle Ages in the '' Hen Ogledd'' or "Old North" in what is now the counties of Westmorland, Cumberland and northern Lancashire in Northern England and the south ...

form of the

Gaelic Gaelic is an adjective that means "pertaining to the Gaels". As a noun it refers to the group of languages spoken by the Gaels, or to any one of the languages individually. Gaelic languages are spoken in Ireland, Scotland, the Isle of Man, an ...

''Finnén'', a diminutive of Findbarr.

William J. Watson William John Watson FRSE LLD (1865 – 9 March 1948) was a toponymist, one of the greatest Scottish scholars of the 20th century, and was the first scholar to place the study of Scottish place names on a firm linguistic basis. Life Watson ...

takes this to be Findbarr of Moyville. Thomas Clancy argues the name commemorates ''Uinniau'' a local British saint, not recorded in literary records.

Government

Kirkgunzeon Community Council is one of 23 community councils in the

Stewartry Stewartry was a local government district from 1975 until 1996 within the Dumfries and Galloway region in south-west Scotland. Under the name Stewartry of Kirkcudbright the area of the former district is still used as a lieutenancy area. Dumf ...

district. The community council serves an estimated population of 319. The maximum number of voting members of the community council is 11. Kirkgunzeon is in electoral ward 06 Abbey. It is part of the

county

constituency An electoral district, also known as an election district, legislative district, voting district, constituency, riding, ward, division, or (election) precinct is a subdivision of a larger state (a country, administrative region, or other poli ...

in the

Parliament of the United Kingdom The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative suprem ...

and part of the Galloway and West Dumfries

of the

Scottish Parliament The Scottish Parliament ( gd, Pàrlamaid na h-Alba ; sco, Scots Pairlament) is the devolved, unicameral legislature of Scotland. Located in the Holyrood area of the capital city, Edinburgh, it is frequently referred to by the metonym Holyr ...

( Holyrood).

Education

Kirkgunzeon Primary School serves the village and surrounding area as well as children from the district of Beeswing. The school is partnered with Colvend Primary School and Palnackie Primary School; these schools share a headteacher. Children from Kirkgunzeon attend Dalbeattie Primary School Nursery. The present school building was built in 1964. It is a single storey building, with two classrooms. It has capacity for 47 pupils. The previous school building, now a dwelling, was on the other side of the river in the original village of Kirkgunzeon. It served pupils up to the statutory leaving age from the start of compulsory education in 1972 until 1945, after which it became a primary school. The First Statistical Account of 1791-99 records one school and one school master in the parish. The Second Statistical Account, written in 1844, notes that there was also a school "at the lower end of the parish", built by the farmers at their own expense.

Religious sites

Kirkgunzeon Parish Church held its final service on Sunday, 13 October 2013. The Church of Scotland congregations of Kirkgunzeon and Dalbeattie parishes were officially joined on Wednesday, 16 October 2013. Kirkgunzeon had previously been linked with Lochend and New Abbey church of Scotland on 24 June 2009. This link was severed on 25 September 2013. On 4 August 2015 Dumfries and Galloway Council received an application to alter the church building to a dwelling.

Cultural references

Kirkgunzeon railway station is mentioned briefly in Dorothy L. Sayer's novel

The Five Red Herrings ''The Five Red Herrings'' (also ''The 5 Red Herrings'') is a 1931 novel by Dorothy L. Sayers, her sixth featuring Lord Peter Wimsey. In the United States it was published in the same year under the title ''Suspicious Characters''. Foreword Th ...

, which is set in Galloway.

Government

Education

Religious sites

Cultural references

See also

References

Further reading