Ecclefechan
Ecclefechan (Scottish Gaelic: "Eaglais Fheichein") is a small village located in Dumfries and Galloway in the south of Scotland. The village is famous for being the birthplace of Thomas Carlyle. Ecclefechan lies in the valley of the Mein Water, a tributary of the River Annan, south of Lockerbie, north of Annan and northwest of the English border. The A74(M) motorway runs immediately north of the village and Junction 19 is just northwest of the village. 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. Etymology. The name "Ecclefechan" was recorded as "Egilfeichane" in 1507, and might be of Brittonic origin. The first element is "eglẹ:s", meaning "a church" (c.f. Welsh "eglwys"). The second element is the equivalent of Welsh "bechan", meaning "little". Comparable Welsh toponyms include Eglwysbach and Llanfechan. A lesser likelihood is that the name commemorates "Féchín of Fore", a 7th-century Irish saint. Governance. Ecclefechan is in the parliamentary constituency of Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale, David Mundell is the current Conservative Party Member of Parliament (MP). Ecclefechan is part of the South Scotland region in  the Scottish Parliament, being in the constituency of Dumfriesshire. Oliver Mundell of the Conservatives is the Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP). Before Brexit for the European Parliament its residents voted to elect Members of the European Parliament (MEP)s for the Scotland constituency. For Local Government purposes, it belongs to the "Annandale East + Eskdale Ward" of the Dumfries and Galloway Council Area. The village does not have its own Parish Council. Places of interest. Thomas Carlyle's birthplace "The Arched House" is a tourist attraction and has been maintained by the National Trust for Scotland since 1936. According to  letters from Carlyle written to Charles Gavin Duffy in the summer of 1846, his mother's farm in Ecclefechan was at that time located in Scotsbrig (Charles Gavin Duffy, 'Conversations with Carlyle", NY: Scribner's Son, 1892, pp. 18–20). From Scotsbrig, Carlyle watched the construction of the Caledonian Railway and complained to Duffy of Ecclefechan's potato blight, and the abundance of railway navvies from Lancashire, Ireland, and Yorkshire, finding his visit home disturbed by the "black potato-fields, and all roads and lanes overrun with drunken navvies" (ibid., pp. 19–20). Carlyle comments that "I find that the Irish are  best on point of behaviour" because they sent their money home to their families and did not spend it on whiskey (ibid., p. 20). Ecclefechan lies at the foot of a large Caledonian hillfort, Burnswark, besieged by the Roman army in 140 AD. Its flat top dominates the horizon. Hoddom Castle is located from the village centre. Not far from the village is the Robgill Tower, built by the Clan Irvine. In the 1880s, an adjoining home was built. The tower was one of a number of structures built along the border as protection against incursions by the British. Culture . 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. "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". Local produce. Local produce includes:-