Whithorn Manse

Whithorn Manse

I knew it as Eden,

that lost walled garden,

past the green edge

of priory and village;

and, bejond it, the house,

whithdrawn, white,

one window alight.

Returning, I wonder,

idly, uneasily,

what eyes from inside

look out now, not in,

as once mine did,

and what might grant me

a right of entry?

Is it never dead, then,

that need of an Eden?

Even this evening,

estranged by age,

I ogle that light

with a child's greed,

wistfully claiming

lost perogatives

of homecoming.

Alastair Reid was born at the manse in Whithorn in 1926. Since World War Two he has lived in the United States, France, Spain, Greece, Switzerland and Central and Southern America.

He has published over twenty books – poetry, translations, collections of prose and books for children – and has himself been much translated. Since 1951, he has contributed to the New Yorker Magazine which, with his other work has established for him a worldwide reputation.

Whithorn Business Association sought funds to have a number of plaques sited in the town to record aspects of Whithorn's history and honour its more famous inhabitants. This plaque is on Bruce Street, the road to the Church, where his father was minister, and to the manse, Alastair Reid's first home.

On 7th October 1999, as part of National Poetry Day, the poem was published as a postcard.

The Saint Ninian Reliquary

The venerated bones of St Ninian were entombed in Whithorn Cathedral and over the centuries countless pilgrims travelled to see and touch them. In the early 1500’s, James IV ensured the safekeeping of the Saints’s arm bone by paying for a silver reliquary to be made for it. Following the Reformation this reliquary was taken to the Scots Seminary at Douai in France where it remained until the Revolution in 1789. From that date to the present day, all trace of the Saint’s historic arn relic appears to have been lost.

But another reliquary, which almost certainly is from Whithorn, survives.

This gold reliquary was purchased by the British Museum in 1946. Its lettering and design date it from the last quarter of the 12th Century. It is only 5cm in diameter and is 3cm deep. The front has three small fragments from the True Cross surrounded by sea pearls and covered with a domed block of crystal, acting as a magnifying glass. The reverse was covered by a gold disc with small settings intended to hold relics. On the edging band is an inscription listing the Saints whose fragments of bone are carried in the settings.

SE XPSTI – NINIANI – ANDRE EX MAURIS – GEORGII – MERG’ – D’NOR’ – FERG’ – BO NEF – SE MARIE

The list begins with the True Cross and ends with the Virgin Mary, giving Christ and His Mother the place of honour. The second place on the list is held by St Ninian indicating that the reliquary was made for a church connected with the Saint. This is reinforced by the inclusion of Saint Norbet (D’NOR), the founder of the Order of Premonstratension canons. Whithorn was the most important centre in Scotland of this Order. St Fergus was a Pictish Bishop of the 8th century and this would point to the rebuilding of Whithorn Cathedral by Fergus, Lord of Galloway, who may have commissioned the reliquary and would have wished to see a relic of the Saint, whose name he bore, included. The other saints listed are St George, St Margaret and St Boniface.

The reliquary has recently gone on show in the new Medieval Room in the British Museum. Such a magnificent reliquary should be returned, even briefly, to its home and loaned to the Whithorn Trust for exhibition.

A Painter’s Commemoration at Whithorn

The windows flanking the pulpit of St Ninian’s Church of Scotland, in Whithorn are by Alexander Kerr. To the left of the pulpit is the Good Shepherd, while St Ninian is depicted on the right. The stained-glass was commissioned by Jane Jenkins and the Good Shepherd window carries the inscription, “To The Glory of God These windows are Gifted by Jane Weir Jenkins, Widow of Ross Townsend Jenkins and Daughter of Gemmell Hutchison R.S.A.” (Royal Scottish Academy)

It appears that Gemmell Hutchison never painted in the Machars of Galloway. Born and trained in Edinburgh, Gemmell Hutchison (1855-1936) began his working life in Edinburgh as a seal engraver but realising his talents lay in painting, he enrolled at the Board of Manufacturers School of Art. Thereafter he became a prolific exhibitor and the quality of his work was recognised by his election to numerous royal art societies. He specialised in depicting children in domestic and sea shore scenes and particularly in the latter was strongly influenced by the painter William McTaggart (1835-1910). Indeed, he often painted in the same costal areas of Macrihanish and Carnoustie as McTaggart. His first marine subject matter was, however, paintings of the harbours along the Forth with fishing boats with their distinct brown sails. In this he was clearly influenced by the work of his Dutch contemporaries in particular The Hague School.* Works by these artists were being keenly collected throughout Scotland. So influenced was he by this group that Hutchison was at the time known as the ‘Scottish Israles’ after the leader of the Dutch group. Although he was also known for his soft hues in landscapes, with his entry to the Royal Scottish Academy, his paintings illustrated his capacity to capture movement and transient light. Hucheson is now widely collected and at a recent sale of one of his paintings at Sotheby’s, it fetched over £100,000.




In 1957, the stained-glass artist Alexander Kerr also created the windows flanking the pulpit to the Old Parish Church in Church Street, Stranraer. This building’s future in now in doubt following the move of the Church of Scotland congregation.

*Three brothers were members of the Hague School of painters; Jacob, Willem and Matthijs Maris. These are the uncles the painter Josephine Broekhuizen who contributed several paintings, including the large entrance mural, to the Visitor Centre in Whithorn.

St Ninian and the Scottish Powerhouse

Perhaps the most surprising place to find an image of St. Ninian is on the entrance doors of the former Scottish Office in Edinburgh. Built between 1936-9, St. Andrew’s House now contains part of the Scottish Government, including the office of the First Minister of Scotland.

The architect was Thomas S. Tait, who also designed the futuristic Empire Exhibition in Glasgow and the piers to Sydney Harbour Bridge. St Andrew’s house is a monumental, Classical Art-Deco building, dramatically sited on the side of Calton Hill and “is by far the most impressive work of architecture in Scotland between the wars” (1). Although thought by some to be in Creetown Granite, it is actually built in Northumbrian Darney stone.

Tait used several sculptors and artists to adorn the building and add to its symbolic meaning. For the entrance doors he turned to the established sculptor Walter Gilbert (1871-1946). Gilbert’s is best remembered today for his gates designed for Buckingham Palace, the reredos in Liverpool Cathedral and the “Liver Birds” on top of the Royal Liver Friendly Society Building in Liverpool. Throughout his life, Gilbert collaborated with other sculptors to help carry out his work and in undertaking the design of the doors for St. Andrew’s House, he employed H. H. Martyn to model much of the detailing. Gilbert’s sculpture sometimes can be stiffly formal, seen in his figures for the war memorials in Troon and Clydebank, and lacking the expressive movement found in the work of his sculptor cousin, Sir Alfred Gilbert who is best known for his Eros in Piccadilly Circus. But in many ways Walter Gilbert’s formality of approach is appropriate for the great bronze doors, giving them a impressive solemnity. (2)

The doors depict four Scottish Saints, Ninian, Kentigern, Magnus and Columba; representing the spiritual fathers of the nation. Their garments merging with the background of the St Andrew’s Cross, they rise up with only the upper body seen in depth and detail. Reading from the left, St Ninian is appropriately the first saint depicted. He is dressed in episcopal vestments with mitre and crosier but oddly without his symbolic broken shackles which he is usually depicted carrying. A tree of life appears behind him and emerging, small as though in the distance, is the image of an early church building. Seen as a man in his thirties, he is shown in profile, looking across to the figure of St Columba. At the centre of the doors, a roundel shows the scene of Christ addressing St Andrew the fisherman, flanked by the words, “And I will make you Fishers of Men”.

It is indeed a surprising image, for in this age of political correctness and multiculturalism, it is inconsevable that the entrance to the main government offices in Scotland could today be sculpted to carry a representation of Christ and the nation’s saints.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjCoHR8pTnw&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Flallandspeatworrier%2Eblogspot%2Ecom%2F&feature=player_embedded


(1) Gifford, McWillaim and Walker, The Buildings of Scotland, Edinburgh, 1984.
(2) This summer (2009), on the 70th anniversary of the building, the bronze doors are to be cleaned.

John Piper and the Five Scottish Chapels (in ruins)

John Piper (1903-1992) was born in Epsom in England. He attended the Royal College of Art in London. During the 1930's he formed friendships with such artists as Henry Moore, Ivon Hitchens, Ben Nicholson, Barbara Hepworth and Paul Nash. He exhibited regularly with the London Group and the 7 & 5 Society . He also collaborated with his poet friend John Betjeman on the famous Shell Guides. During the war he was commissioned to record bomb damage, most notably in London, Bristol and Coventry and in 1944 he was made an official war artist. He is best remembered for his paintings of churches, castles & stately homes. His use of colour, texture, strong tonal contrast and perspective heighten the dramatic effect of his romantic subjects, which have wide appeal. Along with Patrick Reyntiens he designed the stained glass baptistery window for Coventry Cathedral (1952-62).

Piper rarely ventured to draw and paint in Scotland. In 1975 he completed a seriers of screenprints entitled Five Views of Scottish Chapels (in ruins). One ‘chapel’ is the ruin of Whithorn Cathedral Priory. The set was issued as a limited edition of 70, printed by Kelpra Studio, London and was published by Marlborough Fine Art, London.

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Whithorn Priory

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Skeabost, Skye

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Ruined Chapel, Isle of Mull

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Kirkmaiden-in-Fernis

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Kilmory Chapel

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In 1976, a set of the prints was purchaced for the UK Government Art Collection.

Take my Heart to Whithorn

In 1508 an ambassadorial visit arrived in Scotland from France. It was headed by Bérault Stewart and Jean Sellat, president of the Parlement of Paris.

Although born and raised in France, Bérault Stewart described himself as Scottish but by this time Bérault, was Lord of Aubigny, councellor and chamberlain of the King of France, Knight of the Order of St Michael, Captrain of the Garde Ecossaise, hero of the Italian wars, great constable of Sicily and Jerusalem and French lieutenant-general within the kingdom of Naples.

His grandfather, John Stewart of Darnley, had fought for Charles the VII of France throughout the 1420s and received the lordship of Aubigny-sur-Nère from the gratful king in 1423. His father, also called John Stewart, second Lord of Aubigny, enjoyed a distinguished career under Charles VII and Louis XI, as captain of the Garde Ecossaise, the king’s bodygaurd. John Stewart married Beatrix d’Apchier; and around 1452-3 the couple had a son Bérault, whose fame eclipsed that of all other Scots in France.

In keeping with his high status Bérault began the construction of a château at La Verrerie, a few kilometres from Aubigny. The château, with its mixture of Frence and Italianate Rennaissance styles, is now a luxury hotel.

The chapel of La Verrerie has a painted interior including fleurs-de-lys and thistles surrounding roundels of portrait heads of contemporaries, both Scots and French.

During his ambassadorial visit to Scotland in 1508, gifts were showered upon Bérault, a tournament was held in honour of the French and a grateful king of Scots, James IV, wrote to Louis XII asking permission to retain the Lord of Aubigny in Scotland long enough to accompany him on a pilgrimage to Whithorn. No records survive to tell if they made the pilgrimage together as, falling ill in the house of his friend Sir John Forrester at Corstorphine, Bérault made his will on 8 June 1508, instructing that he should be buried in the Edinburgh Blackfriars, and his heart taken to the shrine of St Ninian at Whithorn. He died a few days later, leaving his Scottish kinsman Matthew Stewart, earl of Lennox, as his chief executor.

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Bladnoch Bridge

Seal of the Princess Margaret, Duchess of Touraine,

Countess of Douglas. Daughter of Robert III of Scotland.

It was considered an act of piety to maintain the bridges and roads on the pilgrimage routes to Whithorn. In 1441, Margaret, Countess of Douglas, made supplication to the Pope for her to be granted an indulgence for offerings made in support of rebuilding the bridge over the River Bladnoch.

The single track, packhorse bridge over the river stood for over 400 years.
In 1875 the contractor, John Granger sought permission to demolish it and use the stone in the construction of the viaduct to carry the Wigtownshire railway over the Bladnoch, south of the village and distillery of the same name. The viaduct was the only major engineering structure on the railway line, it proved a costly construction, and comprised two spans of 69ft [21m], the iron lattice girders being set on a central pier. The Wigtownshire line closed completely to passengers on 29 September 1950. Goods services continued from Newton Stewart to Whithorn until the line finally closed on 5 October 1964.

The present roadbridge which carries the A714 over the Bladnoch dates from the early 19th century. Standing slightly downriver from the site of the lost medieval bridge, it is of two-spans in dressed-stone construction with fine elliptical arches and triangular cutwaters.

The photograph of the old Bladnoch Bridge is taken from Scottish Pilgrimagwe in the Land of Lost Content by Ratcliffe Barnett, published by John Grant, Edinburgh, 1942. His book Reminiscences of Old Scots Folk, published by T. N. Foulis in 1913 contains ten colour plates of paintings by Robert Gemmell Hutchison, R.S.A. Hutchison is commemorated in the widows of St Ninian's Church in Whithorn.

Reverend T. Ratcliff Barnett was the man who brought the poets Winfred Owen and Sassoon together at Craiglockheart. Owen was at first conventionally patriotic but he was soon reporting home on the 'most execrable sights on earth'. Wounded on the Somme he was invalided to Craiglockheart Hospital, where he met Siegfried Sassoon. Ratcliffe Barnett, a Presbyterian minister in the Free Church of Scotland, was serving as chaplain at Craiglockheart, the Edinburgh First World War Hospital.