Mochrum to Whithorn

This is section 12 of the Whithorn Way, one of the important final sections of the 149-mile long distance walking route from Glasgow Cathedral to Whithorn Priory.

The route follows in the foosteps of pilgrims to Whithorn in the Middle Ages, when Whithorn’s shrine to St Ninian became one of the most frequented in Scotland, offering miracles of healing and forgiveness. The route is one of several to Whithorn followed by mediaeval pilgrims – this is the westerly route from Glasgow, but there were also routes from Edinburgh, the North of England, and by sea from Ireland, the Isle of Man and beyond.

Many of our modern roads follow the pilgrim routes of the past. This section of route is on quiet back roads, passing the Monreith Estate and Drumtroddan Stones, before arriving at the north end of Whithorn. It starts at pretty Mochrum village, with its T-plan Kirk which has a laird’s loft. For lodging and local shops, Port William on the coast is a couple of miles from Mochrum.

At Mochrum, you may visit the pudding-basin-shaped Motte of Druchtag, once the basis for a wooden castle, perhaps for one of the Dark Age lords of Galloway or one of the Norman lords being imported to tame Galloway in the 12th Century. You will pass the White loch of Myrton, glimpsed through the trees, where there is also a circular walk, the ruins of Myrton Castle, and (privately owned) Monreith House, associated with the Maxwells of Monreith. Gavin Maxwell, famed for the “Ring of Bright Water” trilogy about his life in the West Highlands with an otter, grew up in the neighbourhood and first let his otter swim in the waters of the White Loch.

You will pass an access path to the Standing Stones of Drumtroddan, dating to the second or third Millennium BC and cup and ring marks from the Neolithic or Early Bronze Age. The road enters Whithorn just after the large dairy farm, with the tell-tale name of Bishopton. The main street is at its widest point at the access to the Priory, a fitting theatre for pilgrims gathering before entering the precincts of the Monastery.

The Pend, with its Royal Coat of Arms of Scotland above, was once the gatehouse to the monastery, dividing the sacred world within from the secular world outside. Pilgrims have progressed up Bruce Street for over a Millennium, towards the top of the hill, where the remains of the mediaeval Priory are located. You will pass the Whithorn Visitor Centre, where you can see an exhibition of artefacts, the Priory Museum on Bruce Street (where the oldest written and Christian monument in Scotland can be seen), the Whithorn Roundhouse and excavation field, before reaching the Priory (and crypts beneath, where pilgrims flocked to touch the remains of St. Ninian).