Wigtown ( (both used locally); ) is a town and former

royal burgh A royal burgh ( ) was a type of Scottish burgh which had been founded by, or subsequently granted, a royal charter. Although abolished by law in 1975, the term is still used by many former royal burghs. Most royal burghs were either created by ...

Wigtownshire Wigtownshire or the County of Wigtown (, ) is one of the Counties of Scotland, historic counties of Scotland, covering an area in the south-west of the country. Until 1975, Wigtownshire was an counties of Scotland, administrative county used for ...

, of which it is the county town, within the

Dumfries and Galloway Dumfries and Galloway (; ) is one of the 32 unitary council areas of Scotland, located in the western part of the Southern Uplands. It is bordered by East Ayrshire, South Ayrshire, and South Lanarkshire to the north; Scottish Borders to the no ...

region in

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. It lies east of

Stranraer Stranraer ( , in Scotland also ; ), also known as The Toon or The Cleyhole, is a town in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, on Loch Ryan and the northern side of the isthmus joining the Rhins of Galloway to the mainland. Stranraer is Dumfries ...

and south of

Newton Stewart Newton Stewart (Scottish Gaelic language, Gd: ''Baile Ùr nan Stiùbhartach'') is a former burgh town in the historical county of Wigtownshire in Dumfries and Galloway, southwest Scotland. The town is on the River Cree with most of the town to ...

. It is known as "Scotland's National

Book Town A book town is a town or village with many used book or antiquarian bookstores. These stores, as well as literary festivals, attract bibliophile tourists. Some book towns are members of the International Organisation of Book Towns. List of ...

" with a high concentration of second-hand book shops and an annual

book festival A literary festival, also known as a book festival or writers' festival, is a regular gathering of writers and readers, typically on an annual basis in a particular city. A literary festival usually features a variety of presentations and readings ...

. Wigtown is part of the

Machars The Machars () is a peninsula in the historical county of Wigtownshire in Galloway in the south-west of Scotland. Its name (in Scots and English) is derived from the Gaelic word ''Machair'' meaning low-lying or level land, known as "links" on ...

peninsula.

History

Name origins

W.F.H. Nicolaisen offered two explanations for the place-name Wigtown. One theory was that it meant 'dwelling place', from the

Old English Old English ( or , or ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. It developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...

'wic-ton'; however, if it is the same as

Wigton Wigton is a market town in the Cumberland district of Cumbria, England. It lies just outside the Lake District. Wigton is at the centre of the Solway Plain, between the Caldbeck Fells and the Solway coast. It is served by Wigton railway st ...

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders the Scottish council areas of Dumfries and Galloway and Scottish Borders to the north, Northumberland and County Durham to the east, North Yorkshire to the south-east, Lancash ...

, which was 'Wiggeton' in 1162 and 'Wigeton' in 1262, it may be 'Wigca's farm'. Other sources have suggested a Norse root with 'Vik' meaning 'bay', giving the origin as a translation of 'The town on the bay'.

Neolithic Age

The surrounding area (the

peninsula) is rich in

prehistoric Prehistory, also called pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the first known use of stone tools by hominins million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The use o ...

remains, most notably the

Torhousekie The Standing Stones of Torhouse (also Torhousekie) are a stone circle of nineteen granite boulders on the land of Torhouse, three miles west of Wigtown, Scotland. Description The stone circle consists of nineteen granite boulders set on a sligh ...

Standing Stones, a

Neolithic The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...

stone circle A stone circle is a ring of megalithic standing stones. Most are found in Northwestern Europe – especially Stone circles in the British Isles and Brittany – and typically date from the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age, with most being ...

set on a raised platform of smaller stones. It consists of nineteen boulders up to 5 feet high aligned to the

winter solstice The winter solstice, or hibernal solstice, occurs when either of Earth's geographical pole, poles reaches its maximum axial tilt, tilt away from the Sun. This happens twice yearly, once in each hemisphere (Northern Hemisphere, Northern and So ...

, surrounding a

ring cairn A ring cairn (also correctly termed a ring bank enclosure, but sometimes wrongly described as a ring barrow) is a circular or slightly oval, ring-shaped, low (maximum 0.5 metres high) embankment, several metres wide and from 8 to 20 metres i ...

on which there are 3 large stones (flankers), two upright and one recumbent. On a low ridge across the road from the circle there are another three stones.

Early history

Andrew Symson, a 17th-century minister, suggested the first settlement would have stood on low-lying sands between the present-day Wigtown and

Creetown Creetown (, ) is a small seaside town in the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright, in Galloway in the Dumfries and Galloway council area in south-west Scotland. Its population is about 750 people. It is situated near the head of Wigtown Bay, west of C ...

. Wigtown had two ports (gates) which may have been closed at night to form a large cattle enclosure. These were East Port, opposite a site later occupied by the British Linen Bank, and the West Port, which stood opposite the mouth of the High

Vennel A vennel is a passageway between the gables of two buildings which can in effect be a minor street in Scotland and the north east of England, particularly in the old centre of Durham. Etymology In Scotland, the term originated in royal bur ...

. Blackfriars, the Dominican friary, was founded at "Friarland" north of the mouth of the Bladnoch, south-east of the town of Wigtown, by Devorgilla in around 1267.

Wigtown Castle Wigtown Castle was a royal castle that was located on the banks of the River Bladnoch, south of Wigtown in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. A castle was built in the 12th century. Robert de Brus, 5th Lord of Annandale captured the castle in 1286. ...

was in existence by 1291, on flat land down by the

River Bladnoch The Bladnoch is a river in Wigtownshire in the Machars of Galloway in southwest Scotland. One of the earliest descriptions of it is given by Sir Andrew Agnew of Lochnaw and Sir David Dunbar in an appendix to Andrew Symson's work "A Large Descr ...

, (outlines clearly seen on an aerial view), whilst the town and church were on a hill, "an inversion of the usual arrangements". Nothing remains of the castle, although a strong natural site and indication of a large enclosed and defended area seems to point to a castle of the Edwardian type (Edward I) dating from the end of the 13th century. The site of the castle was excavated after a fashion about 1830, by a Captain Robert M’Kerlie and a team of volunteers. The outlines of a building were clearly traced on that occasion and a ditch, which had been broad, was distinctly seen on the north where there was also a semi-circular ridge of considerable elevation said to be the remains of the castle's outer wall. A few years later, a reporter in the ''

New Statistical Account The ''Statistical Accounts of Scotland'' are a series of documentary publications, related in subject matter though published at different times, covering life in Scotland in the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. The ''Old (or First) Statistica ...

'' wrote that a fosse was quite discernible, although "the foundations of the walls cannot now be traced". Mortar and "other remains indicative of an ancient building" were still to be observed. The town developed as port and became a

in 1292. Medieval Wigtown was built on a rectangular pattern with

burgage Burgage is a medieval land term used in Great Britain and Ireland, well established by the 13th century. A burgage was a town ("borough" or "burgh") rental property (to use modern terms), owned by a king or lord. The property ("burgage tenement ...

plots around the present day Square (Main Street) and later, the West Port. The royal burgh was granted to Sir Malcolm Fleming by David II in 1341. In 1372 Wigtown was purchased by

Archibald the Grim Archibald Douglas, Earl of Douglas and Wigtown, Lord of Galloway, Douglas and Bothwell (c. 1330 – c. 24 December 1400), called Archibald the Grim or Black Archibald, was a late medieval Scottish nobleman. Archibald was the illegitimate son o ...

Lord of Galloway. When he later became

Earl of Douglas This page is concerned with the holders of the forfeit title Earl of Douglas and the preceding Scottish feudal barony, feudal barons of Douglas, South Lanarkshire. The title was created in the Peerage of Scotland in 1358 for William Douglas, 1 ...

in 1384, it became attached to that earldom. It was restored to its former tenure as a royal burgh as a result of the forfeiture of the Douglases in 1455. Its status was formally recognised be a

royal charter A royal charter is a formal grant issued by a monarch under royal prerogative as letters patent. Historically, they have been used to promulgate public laws, the most famous example being the English Magna Carta (great charter) of 1215, but ...

in 1457.

Wigtown Martyrs

Monuments to the

Wigtown Martyrs The Wigtown Martyrs or Solway Martyrs, Margaret Maclauchlan and Margaret Wilson, were Scottish Covenanters who were executed by Scottish Episcopalians on 11 May, 1685 in Wigtown, Scotland, for refusing to swear the Oath of Supremacy declaring ...

exist in Wigtown. During "

The Killing Time The Killing Time was a period of conflict in Scottish history between the Presbyterian Covenanter movement, based largely in the southwest of the country, and the government forces of Kings Charles II of England, Charles II and James II of En ...

" of the

Covenanters Covenanters were members of a 17th-century Scottish religious and political movement, who supported a Presbyterian Church of Scotland and the primacy of its leaders in religious affairs. It originated in disputes with James VI and his son ...

in the 17th century, Margaret McLachlan, an elderly woman in her 60s, and Margaret Willson, a teenager, were, for refusing to swear an oath declaring James VII of Scotland as head of the church, sentenced to be tied to stakes in the tidal channel of the River Bladnoch near its entrance to

Wigtown Bay Wigtown Bay is a large inlet of the Irish Sea on the coast of Galloway in southwest Scotland. Its coastline falls entirely within the modern administrative area of Dumfries and Galloway and shared between the historical counties of Wigtownshire a ...

to be

drowned Drowning is a type of Asphyxia, suffocation induced by the submersion of the mouth and nose in a liquid. Submersion injury refers to both drowning and near-miss incidents. Most instances of fatal drowning occur alone or in situations where othe ...

by the incoming tide. The execution date was 11 May 1685. The ploy was that the younger woman might be persuaded to change her mind after watching the older woman drown. The strategy failed and both died. This execution was carried out by dragoons under the command of Major Windram in the presence of Sir Robert Grierson of Lag who held the King's Commission to suppress the rebels in the South West. Their story, as told in various sources, tells how the women were betrayed by an informer. After about a month in prison they were tried as rebels and sentenced to death by drowning. The story of the Wigtown Martyrs was among those collected by

Robert Wodrow Robert Wodrow (167921 March 1734) was a Scotland, Scottish minister and historian, known as a chronicler and defender of the Covenanters. Robert Wodrow was born at Glasgow, where his father, James Wodrow, was a Professor of Divinity (Glasgow), pr ...

and published in his ''History of the Sufferings of the Church of Scotland from the Restoration to the Revolution''. The

Church of Scotland The Church of Scotland (CoS; ; ) is a Presbyterian denomination of Christianity that holds the status of the national church in Scotland. It is one of the country's largest, having 245,000 members in 2024 and 259,200 members in 2023. While mem ...

synod A synod () is a council of a Christian denomination, usually convened to decide an issue of doctrine, administration or application. The word '' synod'' comes from the Ancient Greek () ; the term is analogous with the Latin word . Originally, ...

had decided in 1708 to collect accounts of persecution under the Stuart monarchs, and persuaded Wodrow to take on the research. He wrote that Thomas Wilson "lives now in his father's room, and is ready to attest all I am writing."

Later history

In 1809, the Main Street Square gardens were enclosed by the town council as a public space, having formerly been used for keeping hens and other livestock. The enclosed area was planted and later, a bowling green and tennis courts would be added. Wigtown Bowling Club was established in 1830 and continues to run, being one of the oldest in Scotland. In the 19th century, a prison was established for the town on Harbour Road, being in operation until the 1940s when it closed (it is now a private residence). A gas works was established in the town in the mid 19th century in North Back Street and it remained in operation until the end of the Second World War. An early reference to a

tolbooth A tolbooth or town house was the main municipal building of a Scotland, Scottish burgh, from medieval times until the 19th century. The tolbooth usually provided a council meeting chamber, a court house and a jail. The tolbooth was one of th ...

in Wigtown occurs in the late 16th century, and it is possible that this structure was blown up by gunpowder to make way for the new town hall which was completed in 1756. This municipal building in its turn gave way to the

Wigtown County Buildings Wigtown County Buildings, also known as Wigtown County Buildings and Town Hall, is a municipal building in The Square, Wigtown, Scotland. The structure primarily served as the meeting place and town hall for Wigtown Burgh Council, but was also u ...

which were erected in 1862. The buildings served as the county Headquarters of Wigtownshire and are built of red sandstone from north-west England. Wigtown removed its first

mercat cross A mercat cross is the Scots language, Scots name for the market cross found frequently in Scotland, Scottish cities, towns and villages where historically the right to hold a regular market or fair was granted by the monarch, a bishop or ...

in the late 17th century (which stood at the east end of the Square). A second market cross was erected to replace the earlier one and instead built at the junction of Main street between 1816 and 1818. Andrew Symson, a 17th-century minister of the church at Kirkinner, left a description of Wigtown. Writing in 1684, he described Wigtown as having "a market for horses and young phillies...which the borderers come and buy in great numbers." Residents of Wigtown and the surrounding area earned their livings in a variety of ways. An 18th-century observer, Samuel Robinson commented that from its peculiar position in relation to the sea, the county of Wigtown offered many singular advantages to the landing of smuggled goods and

smugglers Smuggling is the illegal transportation of objects, substances, information or people, such as out of a house or buildings, into a prison, or across an international border, in violation of applicable laws or other regulations. More broadly, soc ...

were not slow in taking advantage of this: however after a barracks was built "the trade and those who conducted it were ruined". Robinson, describing Wigtown, also noted that "the greatest number of houses were of a homely character, thatched and one storey high". The Newton Stewart to Whithorn branch railway line had a station at Wigtown which opened in 1877.

Recent history

Wigtown was described by William Learmonth in 1920 as the quaintest county town in Scotland. RAF Wigtown was constructed on the outskirts of the town and opened in 1941. Under the control of 29 Group RAF, the Station was home to No. 1 Air Observers School, later No. 1 Advanced Flying Unit (Observer), as well as providing a short-term home to several operational RAF squadrons. The Station was closed in 1948. Today it is very occasionally used by light aircraft, sometimes being referred to as Baldoon Airfield. In the 1990s Wigtown became Scotland's "

book town A book town is a town or village with many used book or antiquarian bookstores. These stores, as well as literary festivals, attract bibliophile tourists. Some book towns are members of the International Organisation of Book Towns. List of ...

". However, in contrast to

Hay-on-Wye Hay-on-Wye, or simply Hay (; or simply ), is a market town and community (Wales), community in Powys, Wales. With over twenty bookshops, it is often described as a book town, "town of books"; it is both the National Book Town of Wales and the s ...

, Wigtown's status as a book town was planned, in order to regenerate a very depressed town (the main employers, the

creamery A creamery or cheese factory is a place where milk and cream are processed and where butter and cheese is produced. Cream is separated from whole milk; pasteurization is done to the skimmed milk and cream separately. Whole milk for sale has ...

and

distillery Distillation, also classical distillation, is the process of separating the component substances of a liquid mixture of two or more chemically discrete substances; the separation process is realized by way of the selective boiling of the mixt ...

, having closed in the 1990s), although the distillery ( Bladnoch) has now re-opened and is distilling its own

malt whisky Malt whisky is whisky made from a fermented mashing, mash consisting of malted barley. If the product is made exclusively at a single distillery (along with other restrictions), it is typically called a single malt whisky. Although malt whisky ca ...

. There was a national search in Scotland for a candidate town. The

Wigtown Book Festival The Wigtown Book Festival is a ten-day literary festival held each autumn in Wigtown, Dumfries and Galloway, south-west Scotland. The festival was first held in 1999 and has grown to be the second biggest book festival in Scotland. 2024 Festival ...

was first held in 1999 and grew to be the second largest book festival in Scotland. There are currently around a dozen bookshops in the town.

Education

Wigtown Primary School is based in New Road in Wigtown. The primary school is housed in a building dating from 1850, that has since been altered and expanded. Before 1850, a grammar school provided education for all ages in the town in a building built in 1712.

Churches

Wigtown Parish Church was designed in the

Gothic Revival style Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half of the 19th century ...

and completed in 1858. Sacred Heart Catholic Church was designed in the Gothic Revival style and completed in 1879 to a design by the Edinburgh architect John George Garden Brown. Wigtown Quaker Meeting House is as at Chapel Court, South Main Street. Wigtown Baptist Church is in Southfield Lane. A Seceder's Meeting house and U.F. Church, later known as Wigtown West Church of Scotland was built in 1750 to the west of the town but demolished in the late 20th century.

Landmarks and culture

Wigtown lies less than from Bladnoch, a village with a distillery producing malt whisky of the same name. The River Bladnoch can be fished for

Atlantic salmon The Atlantic salmon (''Salmo salar'') is a species of ray-finned fish in the family Salmonidae. It is the third largest of the Salmonidae, behind Hucho taimen, Siberian taimen and Pacific Chinook salmon, growing up to a meter in length. Atlan ...

and has historically been well known as one of Scotland's finest rivers producing spring fish. It meets the

River Cree The River Cree is a river in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland which runs through Newton Stewart and into the Solway Firth. It forms part of the boundary between the counties of Wigtownshire and Kirkcudbrightshire. The tributaries of the Cree are ...

in Wigtown Bay, meandering through a large area of

salt marsh A salt marsh, saltmarsh or salting, also known as a coastal salt marsh or a tidal marsh, is a coastal ecosystem in the upper coastal intertidal zone between land and open saltwater or brackish water that is regularly flooded by the tides. I ...

which has been designated as a Local Nature Reserve (LNR). Wigtown Bay is the largest LNR in Britain, and is home to a wealth of wildlife, particularly birds. Some people come to admire them from the comfort of the viewing hides situated near the

harbour A harbor (American English), or harbour (Commonwealth English; see American and British English spelling differences#-our, -or, spelling differences), is a sheltered body of water where ships, boats, and barges can be Mooring, moored. The t ...

, others, wildfowlers, come to harvest some of the plentiful ducks and geese attracted by the extensive conservation work carried out by the Wigtown Wildfowling Club. The first pair of

osprey The osprey (; ''Pandion haliaetus''), historically known as sea hawk, river hawk, and fish hawk, is a diurnal, fish-eating bird of prey with a cosmopolitan range. It is a large raptor, reaching more than in length and a wingspan of . It ...

s to return to Galloway in over 100 years arrived in 2004. A live camera link to their nest was created and can be viewed in the

. To the east of Wigtown is The Martyrs' Stake, a monument marking the traditional site where the Wigtown Martyrs were drowned in the 17th century. Their graves are in the Parish Church

cemetery A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite, graveyard, or a green space called a memorial park or memorial garden, is a place where the remains of many death, dead people are burial, buried or otherwise entombed. The word ''cemetery'' (from Greek ...

. There is a small cell in the County Buildings in which they were imprisoned prior to their execution. This cell is all that remains of a much older building which was largely destroyed to make way for the County Buildings (built in 1862).

Events

The

is a ten-day literary festival held annually in Wigtown. The first event took place in 1999. The Wigtown Agricultural Show is an annual event held in August, having been held since 1811.

Bookshops

In 2018, Wigtown had 13 retail bookshops, one of which was mail-order. The town has its own bookseller's association. The bookshops mean that Wigtown is estimated to have several hundred thousand books in the town. The ''Old Bank bookshop'' is located in a former bank and customs house. As the Customs House fell out of use with the decline of the port, it was bought and expanded as a branch of the City of Glasgow Bank, later the National Bank. The ''Bookshop'' in Wigtown is Scotland's largest second-hand bookshop. It is reported to have a mile of shelving and some 100,000 books. The owner, Shaun Bythell, has written a book about his experiences selling books in the town. The ''Open Book'' is a bookshop that is operated by customers who can take temporary charge of the shop and live in the accommodation above.

In popular culture

Jessica A. Fox's ''Three Things You Need to Know About Rockets'' (2013) is her account of following her dream and moving from Los Angeles and a job at NASA to help run a bookshop in Wigtown and finding love. Shaun Bythell's ''The Diary of a Bookseller,'' published 2017, ''Confessions of a Bookseller'' (2019) and ''Remainders of the Day'' (2022) detail his experiences as the owner of The Bookshop, Scotland's largest second-hand bookshop. Kathleen Hart's ''Devorgilla Days'', published in 2021 is a memoir of life in Scotland's book town, it is a celebration of the community who helped heal her, including the thousands of followers on Instagram where she is known as Poshpedlar. The

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

reported on 2 October 2018 that options on Fox's book and Bythell's first book had been bought by "a Hollywood film company" with the idea of combining them to create a movie. In the

Harry Potter ''Harry Potter'' is a series of seven Fantasy literature, fantasy novels written by British author J. K. Rowling. The novels chronicle the lives of a young Magician (fantasy), wizard, Harry Potter (character), Harry Potter, and his friends ...

universe, the Wigtown Wanderers

quidditch Quidditch () is a fictional sport invented by author J. K. Rowling for her fantasy book series ''Harry Potter''. It first appeared in the novel ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'' (1997). In the series, Quidditch is portrayed as a dang ...

team come from the town. Heather Cox and Jessica Morgan's 2020 book, ''The Heir Affair'', had significant scenes set in and around Wigtown. The main characters stay in an AirBnb above a book shop that they're also able to run.

Notable people

John McConnell Black John McConnell Black (28 April 1855 – 2 December 1951) was a Scottish botanist who emigrated to Australia in 1877 and eventually documented and illustrated thousands of flora in South Australia in the early 20th century. His publications ass ...

, botanist and linguist. * Robert Cance, member of the

Wisconsin State Assembly The Wisconsin State Assembly is the lower house of the Wisconsin Legislature. Together with the smaller Wisconsin Senate, the two constitute the legislative branch of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The Assembly is controlled by the Republican ...

. *

Helen D'Oyly Carte Helen Carte Boulter (born Susan Helen Couper Black; 12 May 1852 – 5 May 1913), also known as Helen Lenoir, was a Scottish businesswoman known for her diplomatic skills and grasp of detail. Beginning as his secretary, and later marrying, impre ...

, hotelier and theatre producer and manager. * Although the actor

James Robertson Justice James Robertson Justice (15 June 1907 – 2 July 1975) was a British actor. He often portrayed pompous authority figures in comedies, including each of the seven films in the ''Doctor'' series. He also co-starred with Gregory Peck in seve ...

was not (as he claimed) born at Wigtown, he did have ancestral links with the area. *

Dave Kevan David John Kevan (born 31 August 1968) is a Scottish football coach and former player. A midfielder, he made his debut in the English Football League for Notts County in February 1986. He spent the next four years at the club, also enjoying a b ...

, professional footballer for

Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football, football club in Nottingham, England, which competes in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of Football in England, English football, following promotion and relegation, promotion ...

and

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England. The team competes in the , the second level of the English football league system. Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, the cl ...

between 1985 and 1994; ex caretaker-manager at

. *

Paul Laverty Paul Laverty (born 1 April 1957) is an Indian-born Scottish and Irish screenwriter and lawyer best known for his collaborations with Ken Loach. Birth and early career Paul Laverty was born in Calcutta, West Bengal, to an Irish mother and Scot ...

Ken Loach Kenneth Charles Loach (born 17 June 1936) is a retiredhttps://variety.com/2024/film/global/ken-loach-retirement-the-old-oak-jonathan-glazer-oscars-speech-1235956589/ English filmmaker. His socially critical directing style and socialist views ar ...

's preferred screenwriter (''

I, Daniel Blake ''I, Daniel Blake'' is a 2016 Franco-British drama film written by Paul Laverty and directed by Ken Loach. The film stars Dave Johns as Daniel Blake, a middle-aged man who is denied Employment and Support Allowance despite being declared un ...

'', ''

The Wind that Shakes the Barley "The Wind That Shakes the Barley" is an Irish ballad written by Robert Dwyer Joyce (1836–1883), a Limerick-born poet and professor of English literature. The song is written from the perspective of a doomed young Wexford rebel who is about to ...

'', ''

Carla's Song ''Carla's Song'' is a 1996 film directed by Ken Loach and written by Paul Laverty, that deals with the impact of the Contra War in Nicaragua. It is a United Kingdom–Spain–Germany co-production. Plot Set in 1987, Carla's Song tells the s ...

'', etc.), grew up in the town and was educated at All Souls' School in Wigtown. * Adrian J McDowall, BAFTA award-winning film and television director grew up in Wigtown. *

John McFadyean Sir John McFadyean FRSE LLD (1853 - 1941) was a Scottish veterinary surgeon and Professor of Veterinary Science. He was Principal of (and a Professor at) the Royal Veterinary College from 1894 to 1927. In 1906 he was the first person to isolat ...

, veterinary surgeon and professor of veterinary science was born in Wigtown. *

Louis McGuffie Louis McGuffie VC (15 March 1893 – 4 October 1918) was a Scottish recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces. He is a sol ...

Victoria Cross The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious decoration of the Orders, decorations, and medals of the United Kingdom, British decorations system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British ...

holder. He was aged 24 and the son of Mrs Catherine McGuffie of 1 North Main Street, Wigtown. He is buried at the

Zantvoorde British Cemetery Zantvoorde British Cemetery is a Commonwealth War Graves Commission burial ground for the dead of the World War I, First World War located in the Ypres Salient in Belgium on the Western Front (World War I), Western Front. It also contains the rema ...

Zonnebeke Zonnebeke (; ) is a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality located in the Belgium, Belgian Provinces of Belgium, province of West Flanders. The municipality comprises the villages of , , Passendale, Zandvoorde (Zonnebeke), Zandvoorde and Zonnebek ...

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

. *

Ian Niall Ian Niall (7 November 1916 – 24 June 2002), born John Kincaid McNeillie, was a writer from Galloway, Scotland. He wrote works under both these names. He was born in Old Kilpatrick, to parents from the Machars in South West Scotland. He moved b ...

, author. His book ''The Wigtown Ploughman'' gave its name to one of the local pubs. *

Graeme Parker Graeme Milroy Glen Parker (born 1982) is a Scottish cattle hoof trimmer, author, and YouTuber. His YouTube channel, The Hoof GP, was created in 2019 and primarily consists of videos of hoof trimming. It is the largest agricultural YouTube chan ...

, hoof trimmer and YouTubers as The Hoof GP *

Mary Broadfoot Walker Mary Broadfoot Walker (17 April 1888 – 13 September 1974) was a Scottish physician who first demonstrated the effectiveness of physostigmine in the treatment of the condition myasthenia gravis, a disease relating to muscle weakness. She was als ...

, a physician noted for first demonstrating the effectiveness of

physostigmine Physostigmine (also known as eserine from ''éséré'', the West African name for the Calabar bean) is a highly toxic parasympathomimetic alkaloid, specifically, a reversible cholinesterase inhibitor. It occurs naturally in the Calabar bean and ...

in treating

myasthenia gravis Myasthenia gravis (MG) is a long-term neuromuscular junction disease that leads to varying degrees of skeletal muscle weakness. The most commonly affected muscles are those of the eyes, face, and swallowing. It can result in double vision, ...

. *

Margaret Wilson Margaret Anne Wilson (born 20 May 1947) is a New Zealand lawyer, academic and former Labour Party politician. She served as Attorney-General from 1999 to 2005 and Speaker of the House of Representatives from 2005 to 2008, during the Fifth ...

, 17th century

Covenanter Covenanters were members of a 17th-century Scottish religious and political movement, who supported a Presbyterian Church of Scotland and the primacy of its leaders in religious affairs. It originated in disputes with James VI and his son C ...

martyr for the Free Church in Scotland.

Gallery

File:Wigtown compressed.jpg, Wigtown and the Galloway Hills, seen from Kirkinner. File:The Square, Wigtown.JPG, The Square looking West from the County Buildings. File:Square comp Wigtown.JPG, The Square prior to renovation in 2002. File:Wigtown Church.JPG, Wigtown Church and the Salt Marsh. File:Wigtown Parish Church.JPG, St Machute's church ruins, Wigtown. File:Old Mercat Cross in Wigtown.JPG, The original Mercat Cross. File:Wigtown Cross.JPG, The 1816 Mercat Cross. File:Wigtown town wall inside the moat.jpg, Wigtown town wall, Bank Street, inside the moat. File:Sacred Heart Catholic Church, Wigtown, Scotland.jpg, Church of the Sacred Heart, 1879

References

External links

Wigtown Booktown website

Video footage of Wigtown Harbour and the River Bladnoch

Video and narration of Cruel Lagg and the Wigtown Martyrs

Video and narration of The Wigtown Martyrs' Monument

Wigtown, South Main Street, Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church
''trove.scot'' {{authority control Towns in Dumfries and Galloway Wigtownshire Ports and harbours of Scotland Literary festivals in Scotland Parishes in Dumfries and Galloway County towns in Scotland