Kirkcudbright (1)

In 1814 the English engraver William Daniell undertook to travel around Britain recording both the great beauty and the daily life to be found around the British coastline. Starting his journey at Lands End he travelled up the West Coast to John o'Groats stopping in Dumfries and Galloway and Ayrshire on his way and returning via the East Coast. The project took him 11 years to complete and resulted in 308 aquatint engravings which were published in eight volumes entitled Voyage Around Great Britain.  He travelled mainly in the summer months making sketches as he went. The winter months he spent in the city making engravings from his sketches.   This engraving depicts Kirkcudbright and the River Dee. Four sailing ships are in port and the ferry boat is midstream in the river. The 'old gloomy castle' (Daniell's words) is the ruin of the late 16th century MacLellan's Castle. The single storey building in the centre of the print is the Basil Warehouse, built for the Baltic trade.