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Whithorn (Taigh Mhàrtainn in Gaelic
Scottish Gaelic language

Scottish Gaelic is a member of the Goidelic languages branch of Celtic languages. This branch also includes the Irish language and Manx language languages....
) is a former royal burgh
Royal burgh

A royal burgh was a type of Scottish burgh which had been founded by, or subsequently granted, a royal charter. Although abolished in 1975, the term is still used in many of the former burghs....
 in Dumfries and Galloway
Dumfries and Galloway

Dumfries and Galloway is one of 32 Council areas of Scotland of Scotland. To the north, it borders onto South Ayrshire, East Ayrshire and South Lanarkshire; in the east the Scottish Borders; and to the south the county of Cumbria in England....
, Scotland
Scotland

conventional_long_name = ScotlandAlba|common_name= Scotland|image_flag = Flag of Scotland.svg|flag_width = 130px...
, about ten miles south of Wigtown
Wigtown

Wigtown is a town and former royal burgh in the Machars of Galloway in the south west of Scotland , south of Newton Stewart and east of Stranraer....
.

The town was the location of the first recorded Christian church in Scotland, Candida Casa
Candida Casa

Candida Casa was the name given to the church established by St Ninian in Whithorn, Galloway, southern Scotland, in the mid fifth century AD. The name derives from Latin casa and candidus/candida , referring possibly to the stone used to construct it, or the whitewash used to paint it....
 the 'White [or 'Shining'] House', built by Saint Ninian
Saint Ninian

Saint Ninian is the earliest known bishop to have visited Scotland. Neither his place and date of birth, nor his early life, are known with any certainty....
 (original form Nynia) about 397. A monastery and diocese of the Anglo-Saxon
Anglo-Saxons

Anglo-Saxons is the term usually used to describe the invading tribes in the south and east of Great Britain starting from the early 5th century AD, and their creation of the English nation, lasting until the Norman conquest of England of 1066....
 kingdom of Northumbria
Northumbria

Northumbria is primarily the name of both a medieval petty kingdom of the Angles people, in what is now north east England and southern Scotland, and of the earldom which succeeded it when a united Anglo-Saxon kingdom became England....
 was founded on the site in the 8th century. It was the centre of the revived See of Galloway (or Candida Casa) under the patronage of Fergus, Lord of Galloway and Bishop Gille Aldan
Gille Aldan

Gille Aldan or Gilla Aldan of Whithorn, was a Galwegian who was the first Bishop of the resurrected See of Whithorn or Galloway. He was the first to be consecrated by the Archbishop of York, who at that time was Thurstan....
 from the 12th century.






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Whithorn (Taigh Mhàrtainn in Gaelic
Scottish Gaelic language

Scottish Gaelic is a member of the Goidelic languages branch of Celtic languages. This branch also includes the Irish language and Manx language languages....
) is a former royal burgh
Royal burgh

A royal burgh was a type of Scottish burgh which had been founded by, or subsequently granted, a royal charter. Although abolished in 1975, the term is still used in many of the former burghs....
 in Dumfries and Galloway
Dumfries and Galloway

Dumfries and Galloway is one of 32 Council areas of Scotland of Scotland. To the north, it borders onto South Ayrshire, East Ayrshire and South Lanarkshire; in the east the Scottish Borders; and to the south the county of Cumbria in England....
, Scotland
Scotland

conventional_long_name = ScotlandAlba|common_name= Scotland|image_flag = Flag of Scotland.svg|flag_width = 130px...
, about ten miles south of Wigtown
Wigtown

Wigtown is a town and former royal burgh in the Machars of Galloway in the south west of Scotland , south of Newton Stewart and east of Stranraer....
.

The town was the location of the first recorded Christian church in Scotland, Candida Casa
Candida Casa

Candida Casa was the name given to the church established by St Ninian in Whithorn, Galloway, southern Scotland, in the mid fifth century AD. The name derives from Latin casa and candidus/candida , referring possibly to the stone used to construct it, or the whitewash used to paint it....
 the 'White [or 'Shining'] House', built by Saint Ninian
Saint Ninian

Saint Ninian is the earliest known bishop to have visited Scotland. Neither his place and date of birth, nor his early life, are known with any certainty....
 (original form Nynia) about 397. A monastery and diocese of the Anglo-Saxon
Anglo-Saxons

Anglo-Saxons is the term usually used to describe the invading tribes in the south and east of Great Britain starting from the early 5th century AD, and their creation of the English nation, lasting until the Norman conquest of England of 1066....
 kingdom of Northumbria
Northumbria

Northumbria is primarily the name of both a medieval petty kingdom of the Angles people, in what is now north east England and southern Scotland, and of the earldom which succeeded it when a united Anglo-Saxon kingdom became England....
 was founded on the site in the 8th century. It was the centre of the revived See of Galloway (or Candida Casa) under the patronage of Fergus, Lord of Galloway and Bishop Gille Aldan
Gille Aldan

Gille Aldan or Gilla Aldan of Whithorn, was a Galwegian who was the first Bishop of the resurrected See of Whithorn or Galloway. He was the first to be consecrated by the Archbishop of York, who at that time was Thurstan....
 from the 12th century. The late medieval cathedral priory is ruinous, much of it having disappeared completely apart from the much-altered aisleless nave
Nave

In Romanesque architecture and Gothic architecture Christian abbey, cathedral basilica and Church architecture, the nave is the central approach to the high altar....
 and vaults at the former eastern end which once held the shrine of St. Ninian, one of medieval Scotland's major pilgrimage
Pilgrimage

File:Supplicating Pilgrim at Masjid Al Haram. Mecca, Saudi Arabia.jpgIn religion and spirituality, a pilgrimage is a long quest or search of great moral significance....
 destinations. A museum
Museum

A museum is a "permanent institution in the service of society and of its development, open to the public, which acquires, conserves, researches, communicates and exhibits the tangible and intangible heritage of humanity and its environment, for the purposes of education, study, and entertainment", as defined by the International Coun...
 in the town contains finds from the site, which has been extensively excavated in recent years. A late medieval gateway with the arms of the King of Scots leads into the site of the priory, which contains the 19th century parish church and a museum of carved stones (Historic Scotland
Historic Scotland

Historic Scotland is an executive agency of the Scottish Government, responsible for historic monuments in Scotland.Its website states:It has direct responsibility for maintaining and running over 360 monuments in its care, about a quarter of which are manned and charge admission entry....
). The collection of early medieval stones is one of the largest in Scotland, and includes the country's earliest surviving Christian memorial, the 5th century inscribed 'Latinus Stone'. The museum layout and display was revised and greatly improved in 2005.

One of the finest artefacts found at the site is the Whithorn crozier. The gilded and enamelled crozier is an outstanding example of champlevé enamels which were being made in England in the second half of the 12th century, and this one dates to around 1175. It is now housed in the National Museums of Scotland
National Museums of Scotland

National Museums Scotland is the family of several national museums in Scotland....
, although is moved to the Whithorn Trust Visitor Centre every summer. It is thought that the crozier was buried with the body of Simon de Wedale
Simon de Wedale

Simon de Wedale O. S. A., was a 14th century Augustinian Canon who rose to become Abbot of Holyrood and then Bishop of Galloway. Little is known of Simon until he appears on February 27, 1321, as Abbot of Holyrood Abbey near Edinburgh....
, who was one of the Bishops of Whithorn.

Whithorn was first known (in Latin) as Candida Casa. 'Whithorn' is a modern form of the Anglo-Saxon version (actually a literal translation) of this name, Hwit Ærne, 'white house'. In Gallovidian Gaelic, it was called Rosnat, or Futarna, the latter a version of the Anglo-Saxon name (Gaelic has no sound corresponding to English 'wh').

Whithorn's link to the sea was the port known as the Isle of Whithorn (a separate community from Whithorn itself and actually a peninsula). Much used in the Middle Ages by pilgrims arriving by boat. The thirteenth century St Ninian's Chapel marked the point where pilgrims came ashore (the roofless remains are looked after by Historic Scotland
Historic Scotland

Historic Scotland is an executive agency of the Scottish Government, responsible for historic monuments in Scotland.Its website states:It has direct responsibility for maintaining and running over 360 monuments in its care, about a quarter of which are manned and charge admission entry....
).

The 1st Century settlement of Rispain Camp
Rispain Camp

Rispain Camp is the remains of a fortified farmstead 1 mile west of Whithorn, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. It is one of the major Iron Age archaeological sites in Scotland....
, about 1 mile west of Whithorn is also in the care of Historic Scotland
Historic Scotland

Historic Scotland is an executive agency of the Scottish Government, responsible for historic monuments in Scotland.Its website states:It has direct responsibility for maintaining and running over 360 monuments in its care, about a quarter of which are manned and charge admission entry....
.



Railway

Whithorn was once served by a railway station
Whithorn railway station

Whithorn is the closed terminus of the Wigtownshire Railway branch, from Newton Stewart railway station, of the Portpatrick and Wigtownshire Joint Railway....
 until the Beeching axe
Beeching Axe

The Beeching Axe is an informal name for the HM Government's attempt in the 1960s to reduce the cost of running British Railways, the nationalised railway system in the United Kingdom....
.