Whithorn

Whithorn (Taigh Mhàrtainn in Gaelic) is a former royal burgh in Wigtownshire Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, about ten miles south of Wigtown.

The town was the location of the first recorded Christian church in Scotland, Candida Casa : the 'White House', built by Saint Ninian (original form Nynia) about 397. Ref. The Whithorn Trust Refer to Archaeological and Historical Collections relating to Ayrshire and Galloway. vol.VII. pp.53-55

Whithorn is also the name of the area of 10,000 acres in Wigtownshire, 11 miles south from Wigtown, about eight miles in length, and varies from two to five miles in breadth, anciently divided into baronies, each controlled by a baron of the court of the barony, i.e. Houston, Baron of the Barony of Busbie or Busby. Burke's Peerage Lineage: This Baronet is heir male of the HOUSTOUNs O.C., the chiefs of which were heritable Baillies and Justiciaries of the Barony of Busbie, Wigtownshire. Scottish feudal lordship Scottish feudal barons sat in Parliament by virtue (and only by virtue) of holding their lands 'per baroniam', that is as barons. (Ceased in 1707 ?).

Whithorn was first known (in Latin) as Candida Casa. 'Whithorn' is a modern form of the Anglo-Saxon version (actually a literal translation) of this name, Hwit Ærne, 'white house'. In Gallovidian Gaelic, it was called Rosnat, or Futarna, the latter a version of the Anglo-Saxon name (Gaelic has no sound corresponding to English 'wh').

Whithorn's link to the sea was the port known as the Isle of Whithorn (a separate community from Whithorn itself and actually a peninsula). Much used in the Middle Ages by pilgrims arriving by boat.