Almost an island
Aug. 13th, 2023 05:07 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shewhomustWe are home. The suitcases are unpacked, and the first load of laundry is in the machine. Life resumes. Tomorrow we - well, 'expect' is putting it too strongly, but we have an appointment with someone from our electricity supplier to progress the installation of an EV charging point. Where was I?
Ah, yes: on the coast south of Whithorn itself is Isle of Whithorn, where pilgrims to the shrine of Saint Ninian would make landfall (travel by sea being easier than by land) - there is a chapel to the saint there. We had intended to visit, but having been let down by our accommodation in Wigtown, made a last minute booking with a B&B in Isle of Whithorn.
The documentation tells you that Isle of Whithorn is not an island, presumably to avoid discouraging travellers deterred by the prospect of ferries. This is almost true. Part of the village is on the mainland, and that part includes the house where we were staying, with its view across the water. It also includes what was once the Queen's Arms, and retains the interior decor of a pub, although it is now divided between an art gallery and a brewery. There is an island, though, connected to the mainland by a causeway, and until the early nineteenth century this was obvious. Now the causeway is lined with a row of houses, so that walking across it, as we did to cross from our accommodation to the restaurant on the harbour, you are only aware of being in a street looking onto the water (and with the church on the seaward side of that street). But behind the houses, the land soon runs out... We climbed up to the highest point of the island, which is known as 'the Cairn':
Despite the solar panel on top, it's not a light, but a daymark; on a clear day - and this was a clear day - you can see across to the Isle of Man. There it is again, just visible on the horizon through the window of Saint Ninian's Chapel:
The area is dedicated to two presiding spirits. One is Saint Ninian, obviously. The other is The Wicker Man. The cult movie was filmed locally, and yes, 'cult' is not an overstatemant hereabouts. I liked Amanda Sunderland's paintings (though I can't, of course, find images of my favourites) but I appreciated the six foot wicker person outside the tea rooms.
Ah, yes: on the coast south of Whithorn itself is Isle of Whithorn, where pilgrims to the shrine of Saint Ninian would make landfall (travel by sea being easier than by land) - there is a chapel to the saint there. We had intended to visit, but having been let down by our accommodation in Wigtown, made a last minute booking with a B&B in Isle of Whithorn.
The documentation tells you that Isle of Whithorn is not an island, presumably to avoid discouraging travellers deterred by the prospect of ferries. This is almost true. Part of the village is on the mainland, and that part includes the house where we were staying, with its view across the water. It also includes what was once the Queen's Arms, and retains the interior decor of a pub, although it is now divided between an art gallery and a brewery. There is an island, though, connected to the mainland by a causeway, and until the early nineteenth century this was obvious. Now the causeway is lined with a row of houses, so that walking across it, as we did to cross from our accommodation to the restaurant on the harbour, you are only aware of being in a street looking onto the water (and with the church on the seaward side of that street). But behind the houses, the land soon runs out... We climbed up to the highest point of the island, which is known as 'the Cairn':
Despite the solar panel on top, it's not a light, but a daymark; on a clear day - and this was a clear day - you can see across to the Isle of Man. There it is again, just visible on the horizon through the window of Saint Ninian's Chapel:
The area is dedicated to two presiding spirits. One is Saint Ninian, obviously. The other is The Wicker Man. The cult movie was filmed locally, and yes, 'cult' is not an overstatemant hereabouts. I liked Amanda Sunderland's paintings (though I can't, of course, find images of my favourites) but I appreciated the six foot wicker person outside the tea rooms.
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Date: 2023-08-13 05:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-08-14 11:37 am (UTC)