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Publication Account

Date 1986

Event ID 1017452

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Publication Account

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1017452

This neat little building, first restored and partly rebuilt in 1898, stands close to a rocky inlet on the seaward side of the 'Isle' of Whit horn, once a genuine island but now a promontory linked to the mainland by Harbour Row and its associated quay. It is conceivable that it occupies a site associated with St Ninian, but no Early Christian remains have been recorded from the island. Excavations located the foundations of a narrower chancel, probably of 12th century date, but nothing older. As it stands, the chapel and its enclosure-wall date from about 1300 when it was rebuilt as a single structural chamber with a south doorway, a two-light east window, and smaller windows in the side-walls. Much of the dressed stonework is modern. In 1864 it was reported that 'a certain retired sea-captain ... took out the dressed stones some years ago to help up his house in the village'. A pre-restoration sketch of 1887 shows that the embrasure of the despoiled east window was of distinctly pointed form.

In the Middle Ages the chapel probably served the resident community at the port of Whithom, as well as pilgrims arriving by sea from Ireland and Man.

Information from ‘Exploring Scotland’s Heritage: Dumfries and Galloway’, (1986).

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