Welcome to Kirkgunzeon

Kirkgunzeon is a pretty village and parish in the Stewartry area of Dumfries and Galloway, about four miles North East of Dalbeattie. It is located on a loop of minor road off the A711 between Beeswing and Dalbeattie. On this website you will find information on Kirkgunzeon and Maxwell Memorial Hall along with the history of Kirkgunzeon Parish including the Church and Churchyard, the War Memorial, the natural environment and links to local services. The earliest written records of Kirkgunzeon date back to the 12th century when it was referred to as ‘Kircwinnyn’ although there is archaeological evidence of hunter gatherers in the area dating back as far as 6000BC. The Parish has existed from the thirteenth century. It is primarily an agricultural area with evidence of farming dating back to the Bronze Age settlements. In the 19th century the village was described as self sufficient with a mill, school, shop, smithy and railway station. Many of these village facilities have now closed although both Maxwell Memorial Hall and the Primary School remain open.

A booklet with lots of information on the parish, Kirkgunzeon Past and Present , was written by local resident Catherine Little in 1965. This has been reproduced for our website with the kind permission of her son Mr. Ian W. Little. This web version includes a number of photographs from a collection collated for the ‘Centenary of Maxwell Memorial Hall’ and ‘History of Kirkgunzeon Parish’ exhibitions (2006 & 2019).

In conjunction with the 2019 Parish history exhibition funds were secured to produce a Parish Information Board.

This includes a map of the parish and a copy was mounted inside the disused telephone box on the hill between the bridge and the Hall.

Those interested in family history can find information on family memorials in the Churchyard section.