Whithorn, Wigtownshire : Historical writing

Descriptive gazetteer entries

These other entries in our collection of descriptive gazetteers are also about Whithorn. You may be able to find further references to Whithorn in the descriptive gazetteers by doing a full-text search here.

Place Type of entry Source
Whithorn royal and police burgh, and parish Bartholomew
Whithorn a town and a parish Groome

This additional information from our descriptive gazetteers is for locations within the parish or parishes associated with Whithorn.

Place Type of entry Source
Borough Head a promontory Groome
Carghadonn an ancient fortification Groome
Carghadoun ancient fortification Bartholomew
Castle Feather ancient fortification Bartholomew
Castle-Feather an ancient fortification Groome
Castlewigg an estate, with a mansion Groome
Castlewigg seat Bartholomew
Glasserton Road school Bartholomew
Isle of Whithorn seaport village with pier Bartholomew
Isle of Whithorn a seaport village Groome
Ket a streamlet Groome
Tonderghie an estate, with a mansion Groome
Tonderghie seat Bartholomew

Travel writing

This website includes the complete texts of books describing journeys around Britain, written between the twelfth and nineteenth centuries. Selecting one of the links below will take you to the first reference to Whithorn within the selected text. This will not always be a description of a visit: travellers often mention places other than where they are, for example as a basis for comparison.

Traveller Section No. of Refs.
William Camden Scotland: South of the Antonine Wall 4

This website includes two large libraries, of historical travel writing and of entries from nineteenth century gazetteers describing places. We have text from these sources available for these places near your location:

Place Mentioned in Travel Writing Mentioned in Historical Gazetteer
Glasserton 0 2
the Isle of Whithorn 0 2
Sorbie 0 2
Garliestown 0 2
Machers 0 2
Port William 0 2
Kirkinner 0 2
Mochrum 0 2
Bladnoch 0 2
Eldrig 0 2
Kirkdale 0 2
Wigtown 2 2
Kirkmabreck 0 2
Kirkandrews 0 2
Cardoness 1 2
Creetown 0 2
Scares Islands 0 1
Borgue 0 2
Anworth 0 2
Little Ross 0 2

Names from historical writing

The following appear as names for Whithorn. Follow the links for what the author actually said:

Name Author Source
CANDIDA CASA William Camden Britain, or, a Chorographicall Description of the most flourishing Kingdomes, England, Scotland, and Ireland (London: George Bishop and John Norton, 1610).
WHIT HEENE William Camden Britain, or, a Chorographicall Description of the most flourishing Kingdomes, England, Scotland, and Ireland (London: George Bishop and John Norton, 1610).
WHITHORN John Bartholomew Gazetteer of the British Isles (Edinburgh: Bartholomew, 1887).
F.H. Groome Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland (Edinburgh: T.C. Jack, 1882-4).

NB: These variant names come from our collections of historical travel writing and descriptive gazetteers:

  • The above links take you to the first reference to this particular version of the name within a book of travel writing, or to the relevant gazetteer entry.
  • Some names may derive from research by antiquarian writers such as William Camden and Thomas Pennant into the Roman, Saxon and medieval names of places. Their claims are not always supported by modern place-name researchers.
  • References by travel writers to the place using its "normal" name are not included. Descriptive gazetteer entries are included only if the name does not appear anywhere else.