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WHITHORN

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Originally appearing in Volume V28, Page 609 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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WHITHORN , a royal See also:

burgh of See also:Wigtownshire, See also:Scotland. Pop. (1901) 1118. It is situated near the See also:southern extremity of the See also:peninsula of Machers, 121 in. S. of See also:Wigtown by railway. The See also:town consists of one See also:long See also:street See also:running See also:north and See also:south, in which the town-See also:hall is situated. It is famous for its associations with St See also:Ninian or Ringan, the first See also:Christian missionary to Scotland. He landed at the Isle of Whithorn, a small promontory about 31 M. to the S.E. where he built (397) a See also:church of See also:stone and See also:lime, which, out of contrast with the dark mud and wattle huts of the natives, was called Candida Casa, the See also:White See also:House (Anglo-Saxon, Hwit See also:tern, Whitherne or Whithorn). This he dedicated to his See also:master St See also:Martin of See also:Tours. Ninian died probably in 432 and was buried in the church. A See also:hundred years later the Magnum Monasterium, or monastery cf Rosnat, was founded at Whithorn, and became a noted See also:home of learning and, in the 8th See also:century, the seat of the bishopric of See also:Galloway. It was succeeded in the 12th century by St Ninian's Priory, built for Premonstratensian monks by Fergus " See also:King " of Galloway, of which only the See also:chancel (used as the See also:parish church till 1822) with a richly decorated See also:late See also:Norman See also:doorway, and fragments of the See also:lady See also:chapel, vaults, cellars, buttresses and tombs remain.

The priory church was the See also:

cathedral church of the see till the See also:Reformation, when it See also:fell into See also:gradual decay. In See also:Roman times Whithorn belonged to the Novantae, and See also:William See also:Camden, the See also:antiquary, identified it with the Leukopibia of See also:Ptolemy. It was made a royal burgh by See also:Robert See also:Bruce.

End of Article: WHITHORN

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