Thhe Society visited Wigtonshire over the weekend 9-10th September. The sites visited included the Drumtroddan standing stones, which probably date to the Bronze age.
One of the most interesting places visited was Whithorn, the site of the earliest known Christian community in Scotland. Whithorn is traditionally associated with St Ninian, a shadowy figure of the fifth/sixth centuries. By the fifteenth century Whithorn had become a major centre of pilgrimage. Many Scottish sovereigns, among them Margaret (queen of James III), James IV, and James V, made repeated pilgrimages to the saint's shrine, and left rich offerings behind them.
The twelth century Priory also served as the cathedral of Galloway. It had a long nave without aisles, a choir of about the same length, and a lady chapel beyond. In 1684 the nave and western tower were still intact, however the existing remains consist only of the roofless nave and the extensive vaulted crypts constructed under the eastern end of the church. Adjacent to the Priory in the museum is a fine collection of early Christian stone, including the Latinus stone,
the earliest Christian memorial in Scotland, and the Monreith Cross, the finest of the Whithorn school of crosses.