One exceptional point of interest on the visit of LADAS to Galloway was the Church of Kirkmaiden. Hidden from view and not signposted, it could be one of Scotland's best-kept secrets for the historically or ecclesiastically minded. The Rev. C.H. Dick had the following to report about the Church in Highways and Byways in Galloway and Carrick (1916).
'On Monreith Bay, close under a steep, wooded slope is one of the oldest churches in Scotland, Kirkmaiden-in-Fernis. Its origin is connected with the story of Medana, the beautiful daughter of an Irish King. Among her many suitors there was a soldier - miles nobiles - who was especially determined to win her. The princess, however, had embraced the Christian faith, and had secretly taken the vow of celibacy. Rendered desperate by her suitor's persistence she fled with two handmaids to Galloway and landed at Portankill in The Rhinns, a place which took its name from the chapel which she built there, and led a life of poverty and good works. One day she was startled by voices on the shore. Her soldier rushed in and threw his arms about her. She slipped from his grasp, and followed by her handmaids, rushed into the surf and took refuge on a rock amid the water. Her lover hastened after her; but before he could reach her, the rock floated off and carried its precious burden across Monreith Bay, where Medana found a short-lived peace. Her lover discovered her new place of retreat. When he came into sight the lady promptly climbed a tree. "Why persecute me thus", she exclaimed. "Those eyes compel me", her lover began, and before he could say more, she tore them out and threw them at his feet, saying "Take them, then!" Distracted, broken hearted, and repentant, he went on his way. Medana came down from her tree and asked her attendants for water to bathe her face. Just as she was being told that there was none at hand, a clear healing stream broke out of the sloping ground where her eyes had fallen. She washed with it and recovered her sight. Her saintly life knew no further disturbance, and she was ultimately canonized. The chapels she had built on two sides of Luce Bay became the mother churches of Kirkmaiden-in-Rhinns and Kirkmaiden-in Fernis. If anyone doubt the details of the story, let him listen to Sir Herbert Maxwell:" There on the sweep of strand before the church, lies the very rock which served Medana and her maids as a ferry-boat, just where they left it on landing; and there also is the well bubbling cool fresh from the rock, much venerated at this day as a wishing well by lovers and other afflicted persons. To doubt the truth of the legend of St. Medana is to disregard the plain evidence of one's senses."
The chancel of the old church is the burial-place of the Maxwells of Monreith. It has been restored recently in the style of twelfth century architecture, with a Norman arch and round-headed window. In one of the nameless graves in the churchyard lies the body of Captain Thurot, a French naval officer, who distinguished himself in the war between Britain and France in 1760. He sailed into Belfast Lough with three vessels, captured Carrickfergus Castle, and marched to Belfast, where he requisitioned supplies. A little later, he was surprised in Luce Bay by a superior British fleet, and he and three hundred other Frenchmen were killed or drowned. His body came ashore in Monreith Bay, and Sir William Maxwell gave it honourable burial."
Sir Herbert Maxwell's idea of 'plain evidence' isn't quite as scientific as that which the members of LADAS prefer. Nevertheless, the legend gives some colour to this dank, overgrown and intriguing site.
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