St. Ninian, Celtic missionary (born c. 360, Britain—died c. 432); bishop generally credited as the first Christian missionary to Scotland, responsible for widespread conversions among the Celts and possibly the Southern Picts. Ninian was the first bishop of Galloway.
He is known as the Apostle to the Southern Picts, and there are numerous dedications to him in those parts of Scotland with a Pictish heritage, throughout the Scottish Lowlands, and in parts of Northern England with a Northumbrian heritage. He is also known as Ringan in Scotland, and as Trynnian in Northern England.
St Ninian’s Cave is a natural cave on the shore of Physgill Glen, Glasserton, Whithorn, Dumfries and Galloway, Tradition holds that this cave was a place of retreat for the saint in the late AD 300s. Excavations in the 1880s and in 1950 uncovered a collection of early medieval carved stones.
Movie Fact: The cave and beach was shown in the 1973 cult film The Wicker Man. The DVD is available in the cottage to watch (if you dare).
The cave may well have also been a hermitage from the monastery at Whithorn. Alternative interpretations are as a chapel or stone-carving workshop. The cave today is a lot smaller than it once was, due to successive rock falls.
Today it’s 7 metres long and 3 metres high, and almost 3 metres wide at the mouth. Excavations in the cave in 1950 revealed internal stone walls and pavements, along with the disturbed and undated burials of an elderly adult and two children.
The Carvings: Excavations in the 1880s and in 1950 also uncovered a collection of early medieval carved stones. There were 18 in total, most of them built into a post-medieval wall, others lying loose in the cave’s interior or at its mouth. The carved stones can now be viewed at Whithorn Priory Museum.
Ten crosses were carved into the cave wall itself. Eight are Latin crosses, seven of which all take the same form. The remaining two are simple incised crosses with barred terminals.
The carved stones and crosses provide the only certain evidence for early medieval use of the cave. St Ninian’s Cave remains a place of pilgrimage for the Roman Catholic church, likely an unbroken tradition since the early medieval period.
How to get there from The Old Smiddy: 2.8 miles (6 mins) via A747. What3words: thrashed.crabmeat.elephant
