Kirkbean

History

Prominent residents

• John Campbell, a notable seafarer, was born in the village in 1720. He went on to become a British naval officer, a navigation expert, and colonial governor of Newfoundland, now a province of Canada.
• James Craik was Physician General of the United States Army, as well as being George Washington's personal physician and close friend.
• John Paul Jones, founder of the United States Navy and a rear admiral in the Imperial Russian Navy, was born on the Arbigland estate on 6 July 1747. There is a memorial font to him in the church, by sculptor George Henry Paulin, which depicts USS Bonhomme Richard.
• Helen Craik, a poet and novelist, was born at Arbigland in 1751.
• William Stewart Ross, the Scottish writer and publisher, was also born in Kirkbean. He was a noted secularist thinker who used the pseydonym "Saladin".
• Jean Thurot, son of François Thurot, a French naval commodore and privateer, was buried in Kirkbean cemetery.
• Sir James Gunn, artist, lived with his family in Carsethorn during World War II.

  Natural heritage