Historic Whithorn : Archaeology and Development

Situated in the far south-west of Scotland, overlooking the Solway Firth, Whithorn is well-known as the site of an important early Christian monastery. The settlement was created a burgh of barony for the prior of Whithorn in the early fourteenth century. There were Christians living in the settlement at Whithorn by the mid-fifth century, and a monastery may have been founded on the priory site by the sixth century. By the eleventh century, a settlement of craftsmen and traders had grown up around this religious site. Like Tain in the north-east of Scotland, the site became a focus for pilgrimage, a profitable activity until the Reformation saw the banning of pilgrimages in 1581. In the post-medieval period the town's economy was based on cattle and agriculture, and a small amount of trade through the burgh's port at Isle of Whithorn.