Rediscovering The Wicker Man

The Wickerman Sculpture, near Dundrennan, was created by renowned local artist Trevor Leat. The sculpture was the signature of the Wickerman Festival, an annual music festival championing alternative music. The culmination of the festival was the burning of the Wickerman sculpture at midnight on the Saturday and was to echo the burning of the Wicker Man effigy in the film.

The Artist’s Town of Kirkcudbright is a pretty harbour town at the mouth of the River Dee on the Solway Coast. The town is home to several locations used in ‘The Wicker Man’ including Greyfriar’s Episcopal Church (mainland church), Harbour Cottage Gallery (Summerisle bakery) and High St. Gallery (May Morrison’s sweet shop/post office).

The interior of Greyfriar’s Episcopal Church served as the location for the scenes at the mainland church near the start of the film. The skull and crossbones motif seen in the film’s other kirk wasn’t a prop, it is a feature of churches of that period in the region.

Anwoth Old Kirk was used extensively as a location in the film. The Church is used for the graveyard scenes and the famous maypole scene.

The small seaside town of Creetown featured in scenes from the cult classic, The Wicker Man.

It is home to Ellangowan Hotel which, although now closed, was used for the interiors shots of the Green Man Inn on Summerisle and the Creetown Bakery also features in a short scene where Howie is shown a baked John Barlycorn loaf.

The Creetown Heritage Museum has a section dedicated to the film including a 12ft tall model of the Wicker Man complete with a Sergeant Howie inside.

On 13th January 1974, The Wicker Man saw its first public showing in Newton Stewart. The one-night-only showing of the, as yet unreleased, film was a thank you to the people of the local area where the film was shot. The cinema is still in operation today and on 30th April 2023 saw the World Premiere of the new 50th Anniversay 4k restoration of the film. The film is coming back to the cinema in June when it goes on general release.

Whithorn, located on the Machars Peninsula, featured as the location of Summerisle’s library and registry office.

The house at 59 George Street was used to film the upstairs bedrooms and the landing of the Green Man Inn. The rear of the building is where Ash Buchanan is introduced to Willow by Lord Summerisle.

Burrowhead is the location for the several scenes in the film, including for the Wicker Man shots, where Howie is shouting down at the villagers as the fires burn around  him and the climatic final scene where the Wicker Man’s buring head topples over to reveal the setting sun. Nothing remains of the large Wicker Man, but the stumps of the smaller effigy do remain.

It was also the location for the ‘cave’ which Howie and Rowan emerge from and meet Lord Summerisle. The ‘cave’ was in fact a hole dug by the crew and, although filled in somewhat, can still be seen at the location today.

St Ninian’s Cave, near Whithorn, appears in scenes from the film. It is where Lord Summerisle rolls the barrel of beer into the water as an offering to the God of the Sea. It is where Rowan first appears at the entrance to the cave, ready to be sacrificed.

St Ninian’s Cave isn’t actually a cave, but rather a fissure in the rock face. The scenes where Howie and Rowan enter the cave and run through it were not in fact filmed here, but later at a separate location in England.

Due to its sheltered position and proximity to the Gulf Stream, Logan Botanic Gardens is known for growing plants that do not normally survive the Scottish climate, including palm trees and tree ferns. This made it the perfect location for Lord Summerisle’s gardens in the film.

The dramatic Culzean Castle is perched on a clifftop overlooking the Firth of Clyde. It was used for the exterior shots of Lord Summerisle’s castle and the State Dining Room was used for the dining room scene in the film.

The castle was built in 1777 by Robert Adam and is maintained now by the National Trust for Scotland, so is open to visitors.