Whithorn Priory

This is an early Christian site in Scotland that was used as such from the 5th or 6th century. There are graves that are dated to this period and archaeological findings suggest that a monastery complex may have been built in the late 6th century. It is certain that the monastery was built in the 8th to 9th centuries. Local tradition names Saint Ninian as the founder of the monastery and widely credited with bringing Christianity to the region. His shrine in the monastery church was a popular pilgrimage destination in the Middle Ages.

The ruins that remain today date from the 12th and 13th centuries, when Whithorn Priory was a Premonstratensian monastery. The property of the priory was vested in the Crown in 1587, and was granted in 1606 by King James VI to the occupant of the See of Galloway

The gateway marks the entrance to the monastery complex.