Challenging place names and how to say them

It can be a daunting task when you arrive at your holiday destination and request directions to a nearby site of interest only to be met with puzzled looks, or worse, gales of laughter. Your pronunciation of the place in question appears to be incorrect. In the South of Scotland, there are certainly place names whose pronunciation defies logic. With plenty of names which are Gaelic in origin, there are some fantastically quirky pronunciations. Never fear! Our guide below will have you sounding like a local in no time!

Kirkcudbright

Pronounce it: Kir-coo-bree

This picturesque town sits on the edges of the mouth of the River Dee as it flows into the Solway Firth. Today it is known as The Artists Town for the Glasgow Boys artists who colonised the town from the 1880s to 1920s. Further back Robert Burns travelled through and is thought to have penned his famous Selkirk Grace locally. Mary, Queen of Scots spent her final night in Scotland at nearby Dundrennan Abbey, and the founder of the American Navy, John Paul Jones was born nearby and later imprisoned in the town. You can visit his birthplace museum nearby.

Modern day Kirkcudbright boasts plenty to keep the visitor entertained from exploring the home and gardens of artist EA Hornel, Broughton House and Gardens, to the Dark Space Planetarium, Dark Art Distillery and the Kirkcudbright Galleries. The town fizzes with summer activities and spectacles, an early spring book week and a variety of annual spectacles.

Visit Kirkcudbright

Explore further around The Solway Firth

Hawick

Pronounce it: Hoick

Nestled in the heart of the Scottish Borders, Hawick is famous as a textile centre producing some of the finest cashmere, tweeds and knitwear in the country. The Borders Textile Towerhouse offers a range of permanent and changing exhibits reflecting this proud history. At Hawick Museum expect national travelling exhibitions in addition to its presentation of the town’s past. In the summer the oldest of the Borders Common Riding events brings pageantry on horseback alive. Tours of the towns’ woollen emporiums and its whisky producing distillery are available through Famously Hawick.

Now that you have mastered Hawick, you’ll also be able to say Dawyck (doick), as in the Dawyck Botanic Garden in the Tweed Valley as well as Crawick (croick) as in the Crawick Multiverse – see our Sanquhar listing below for more info!

Visit Hawick

Explore further around Teviot, Eskdale and Liddesdale

Sanquhar

Pronounce it: Sank-her

This market town sits on the River Nith within the Galloway and Southern Ayrshire UNESCO Biosphere and boasts the world’s oldest working post office at 300 years old! Sanquhar is known for its knitting patterns, while the Scottish Blackface wool from the Biosphere is gaining fame quickly. The work of local knitters at A’ the Airts Community Centre recently featured in VisitScotland’s winter sustainable tourism campaign adorning some adorable Highland cows and was highlighted in a feature on the BBC’s One Show.

There are quirky artefacts on display in the town’s Tolbooth Museum including those reflecting its proud tradition of knitting. One of the sections of the Southern Upland Way takes in the ruins of Sanquhar Castle, the incredible architectural landscape designed by Charles Jencks at the Crawick Multiverse before ending with the industrial heritage of Scotland’s highest town, Wanlockhead.

Also nearby is the gorgeous pink sandstone of Drumlanrig Castle with its 120,000 acre estate offering an ideal escape for woodland walks or cycle rides. You may recognise the castle itself as its been the backdrop for some well-known TV series including The Buchaneers and Outlander.

Visit Sanquhar

Explore further around Nithsdale

Traquair

Pronounce it: Track-ware

The small village of Traquair sits two miles outside of Innerleithen with 7stanes Innerleithen offering an abundance of thrilling mountain bike trails. Best known, however, is the historic house of Traquair which is the oldest continuously inhabited house in Scotland, dating back over 900 years. Following a visit from Bonnie Prince Charlie in 1745, the 5th Earl of Traquair proclaimed the estates’ relatively new Bear Gates would remain shut until a Stuart king returned to the throne of Scotland – they remain closed to this day!Here too, one of the Southern Upland way sections finishes after passing via St Mary’s Loch and remote moorland.

Visit Traquair

Explore further around the Tweed Valley

Ecclefechan 

Pronounce it: Eckle-feck-in 

This small village near Lockerbie was the birthplace of one of the most prolific writers and social commentators of the 19th century, Thomas Carlyle. Today there is a museum relating his life and times. The town is also known for the Ecclefechan butter tart, a traditional Scottish baked pastry with an outer crust filled with butter, muscavado sugar, dried fruit such as raisins and a touch of vinegar! The rich caramel buttery centre sets it apart from that other dried fruit tart, a mince pie.

Just a few miles south of the town is The Devil’s Porridge Museum, which tells the fascinating tale of HM Gretna, the world’s largest munitions factory during the First and Second World Wars. Cordite for explosives was mixed here and, on visiting the factory, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle declared it resembled ‘porridge of a devilish sort’, hence the museum’s modern day name.

The Gretna Green Famous Blacksmith Shop nearby is well known for the role it has played in so many marriages. Following the 1754 Marriages Act in England, which required parental permission for those under 21 years old to marry, many young lovers eloped to Scotland to tie the knot and Gretna was one of the first towns over the borderline.

Visit Lockerbie

Explore further around Annandale

The Eildons

Pronounce it: Eel-duns

These iconic hills outside of Melrose dominate the Scottish Borders skyline and offer romance, folklore and stunning views if you fancy the climb. From here you can see where the Romans once had their camp at Trimontium. Indeed it is most likely the Romans named their fortress after the Eildons themselves – in Latin trimontium means Three Hills. Learn more about the Romans’ most northerly outpost from the artefacts on display at Trimontium Museum in Melrose. Here too you will find an excellent virtual reality experience walking you through 360° of the Roman encampment.

The Eildons were said to be a favourite view of Scottish writer Sir Walter Scott, who was reputed to come and ponder from Scott’s View of the hills. His home, Abbotsford, is located just outside of Melrose and is well worth a visit for all ages – there is a superb Witch Corner for younger visitors based on Scott’s love of the supernatural.

Visit Melrose

Explore further around Eildon and Leaderdale

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