Whithorn

Whithorn, a royal burgh in Wigtownshire, 3½ miles NW. of the Isle of Whithorn, 12½ miles S. of Wigtown by rail. Pop. (1851) 1652; (1891) 1403. Ptolemy makes mention of the place as Leukopibia, a town of the Novantæ—the name most likely synonymous with the Latin Candida Casa, the Old English Hwit-aern. Here at any rate St Ninian (q.v.) founded Candida Casa or church of Whithorn, dedicating it to St Martin, who had just died (397), and here he was buried in 432. From this place the monastery of Rosnat spread the light far and wide, and here a bishopric was founded by the Angles in 727, which was, however, removed in 796. At length under David I. Fergus, lord of Galloway, re-established the see of Galloway, founding here also a Premonstratensian priory, whose church became the cathedral. In early times pilgrimages were made hither from all parts of Scotland; James IV. came at least once a year, and we find Margaret, queen of James III., visiting it in 1473, and James V. in 1532 and 1533. Here in 1514 died the aged Earl of Angus, 'Bell-the-Cat.' There remains now only a mere, roofless, ivy-grown ruin.