Island 242 - Isle of Whithorn, Dumfries and Galloway

The Isle of Whithorn is the name given to the village that lies 3 miles to the south east of Whithorn in Dumfries and Galloway and at the southern tip of the Machars Peninsula.  However it is also the name of the former tidal island adjacent to the village.  Both the village and the island are delightful, peaceful places off the beaten track.

Having driven 500 miles in one day to get there, with only a couple of brief stops for geocaches along the way, I was glad to stretch my legs and to have some time to stand and stare in this tranquil place.

The Isle of Whithorn is an important place in the history of Christianity in Scotland.  St Ninian, who was British but went away to Europe to study, returned to convert the southern Picts 50 years before St Columba arrived on Iona.  The current chapel, which is in ruins, was built in 1300 on the site of an earlier narrower one.  It is situated inside a perimeter wall, which probably enclosed a house for a priest and a burial ground.  The chapel was in ruins by the 1860s but was repaired and partly rebuilt in 1898.

After St Ninian's death the Isle of Whithorn became a place of pilgrimage. Pilgrims from as far away as Spain, France, Wales, Ireland and Scandinavia landed in the safe harbour on the island, gave thanks for their safe arrival in the chapel on the island and then walked 3.5 miles inland to visit St Ninian's shrine at Whithorn.  The exact details about St Ninian's life are a bit sketchy and lost in the mists of time.  He does of course have a whole island named after him in the Shetland Isles, although he probably never went there.

I have not been able to find a definitive date for when the causeway to the island was built.  Some sources say the 1790s while others say the 1820s.  The causeway is clearly shown on an Ordnance Survey map of 1849.  A row of houses was built on the causeway, so it is difficult to tell where the island used to start.  Round the back of the houses at the wonderfully named Stinking Port (presumably the stink was created by rotting seaweed?) it is easier to see.

The island is covered in grass and wild flowers such as thrift, sea campion, thistles, thrift, sea mayweed and yarrow.  There is a network of paths criss-crossing it, some better trodden than others, and several memorial benches.

There are also 2 memorials to the crew of the Solway Harvester, a scallop dredger from Kirkcudbright, which sank off the Isle of Man on 11th January 2000 with the loss of all 7 crew members.  Her crew members came from the Isle of Whithorn area.

The name Whithorn means "white house" and refers to St Ninian's stone church - Candida Casa in Latin.

Witness Cairn 

It was inaugurated in 1997 to commemorate St Ninian's arrival in Scotland.  People are welcome to add their own stone, as a symbol of an act of witness completed or which you pledge that you will do. It is situated inside the remains of the village's old lifeboat station, which closed in 1919.

Solway Harvester Memorial Bench made of Galloway granite, with St Ninian's Chapel in the background

I don't why this area had been mowed or what the lines are for?

Memorial to the crew of the Solway Harvester up near the tower

I'm not sure of the origins of this tower.

St Ninian's Chapel

Round the back of the houses it is easier to see the join between the island and the mainland.

This is the causeway from the front

Whithorn Priory

Isle of Whithorn

Tower and Solway Harvester Memorial

 St Ninian's Chapel