WHITHORN, a royal burgh in Wigtonshire, is situated eleven miles south of the burgh of Wigton, between the Luce and Wigton bays, about two miles west of the latter. It consists of one street, extending south and north, its length being nearly half a mile. It was constituted a royal burgh by James IV. in 1511. The number of inhabitants is 1200. The isle of Whithorn, three miles south east, is the port of this borough.
But Whithorn is particularly deserving of notice on account of its antiquity and celebrity. It is the site of the Leueophibia of Ptolemy. It is the place where the gospel was first preached in Scotland, and where the first place of Christian worship was erected. The person to whom these two events are owing is St. Ninian, who lived in the end of the 4th and beginning of the 5th century; and Leuco phibia became Candida Casa, and since Whithorn, from the circumstance, as is supposed, of the church being built of white stone. The bishoprick which St. Ninian established, was at Whithorn; and Whithorn continued from that period till 1689 the see of the bishop of Candida Casa or Galloway. Ninian died in 452; but his memory was so much venerated, that many places both in Scotland and England were called by his name, and there is no saint in the Romish calendar whose tomb was so often visited. The kings of Scotland not only visit ed Ninian's shrine themselves, but encouraged others to do so, and granted protection to all stran gers coming from England, Ireland, or the Isle of Man, in pilgrimage to Whithorn. James IV. per formed this pilgrimage about twenty times,—once on fool, in consequence of the dangerous illness of the queen on the birth of their eldest son. She re covered; a result that was attributed to the miracu lous influence of the saint: and when her health was re-established, she and her husband, as a mat ter of gratitude, performed the same pious journey in circumstances of great pomp and magnificence: seventeen horses were employed in transporting the queen's baggage; three in carrying the king's, and one in carrying the "chapel geir." James V. also
paid visits to Ninian's tomb; and pilgrimages con tinued to be made thither till 1581, when they were prohibited by an Act of Parliament.
A priory for Premonstratensian monks was found ed at Whithorn by Fergus, Lord of Galloway, about the middle of the 12th century. The church of the priory formed the cathedral church of the diocese; the prior and canons composed the chapter of the bishops; and the prior was vicar-general of the see during a vacancy. Many eminent men, such as archbishop Beaton and Archbishop Dunbar, were connected with this priory.
Of all these ancient buildings, there is now scarcely any remains. They had been allowed in deed to fall into ruins before the year 1684, when Symson wrote his account of Galloway. Some mouldering walls were demolished in 1823 to make way for a new place of worship. Some traces of walls may yet be discovered; large vaults are entire, and four arches of the original building still remain; they formed part of the parish church, which was dismantled in 1823. When digging the foundation of the new church, walls and vaults were discovered ten or twelve feet under the surface; and from an attentive examination, we are of opinion that the cathedral and priory were of greater extent and magnificence than is commonly imagined, covering at least two acres of ground.
See Chalmer's Caledonia, iii. § Wigtonshire; and Murray's Literary History of Galloway. (T. 1,i.)