Wigtown is a town with a rich
history – it became a Royal Burgh in the fourteenth century. It long held the position of the county town
of Wigtownshire and seat of the Sheriff’s Court. The prosperity of the town declined in the
latter part of the twentieth century, particularly with the closure of the
largest local employer, The Creamery at Bladnoch. A
project to regenerate the town in 1997 saw the development of the Wigtown as
Scotland’s National Book Town. Today a
number of second hand book shops and book related businesses are well
established in this picturesque town.
Wigtown lies less that a mile
from the village of Bladnoch, which is the home of Scotland’s Southern most
distillery, producing malt whisky of the same name. The former Creamery Site at Bladnoch is now
the home of various small businesses, including G C Books Ltd at Unit 10, the
Book Warehouse which is open to the public.
The river Bladnoch can be fished for salmon and has historically been
well known as one of Scotland’s finest rivers producing Spring Fish. The river Bladnoch meets the river Cree in
Wigtown Bay, crossing an area of salt marsh which has been designated A Local
Nature Reserve (LNR). Wigtown Bay is the
largest LNR in Britain. It is home to a
wealth of wildlife, especially birds and visitors come to watch them from the
comfort of viewing huts by the harbour.
To the East of Wigtown is The
Martyr’s Stake, a monument marking the traditional site where two Covenanters
were drowned in the Seventeenth Century.
Their graves are in the Parish Church cemetery. In the County Buildings there is a small cell
in which they were imprisoned prior to their execution. This cell can be entered but is all that
remains of a much older building which was largely destroyed to make way for
the County Buildings which were built in 1862.
In recent years this building has been renovated and now houses the
Public Library and meeting rooms. A
nesting pair of Ospreys returned to Galloway in 2004. The upper floor of the County Buildings,
which offers spectacular views of Wigtown Bay, also houses a web cam link to
the nest. Local rangers and volunteers
are on hand to answer questions about the bird’s activities.
Image courtesy of Philip Dunn
