Ecclefechan

The village is known as "Fechan" to the local residents. It has two shops, one of which is no longer a post office, a hairdresser, a church, a doctors' surgery and a primary school "Hoddom Primary School". It also has three hotels: "The Ecclefechan Hotel" with its white-painted frontage is prominent on the High Street and the main junction in the village; the "Cressfield Hotel" which has an adjoining caravan park; "Kirkconnel Hall Hotel" which sits to the north.

Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881), the essayist, satirist and historian was born in Ecclefechan on 4 December 1795 at The Arched House. Carlyle left Ecclefechan at the age of thirteen and walked the 84-mile-long (135 km) journey to Edinburgh in order to attend university. In 1828 Carlyle moved to Craigenputtock with his wife Jane. He never forgot his roots and insisted that Ecclefechan should become his final resting place. He was buried in Ecclefechan churchyard on 5 February 1881.

Archibald Arnott (1772–1855), Napoleon's doctor on St Helena, was born in Ecclefechan on 18 April 1772 at Kirconnel Hall. He returned to Ecclefechan in his retirement and he was also buried in the Ecclefechan churchyard.
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