Editing Wigtown (section)

==History==

===Name origins===
[[W. F. H. Nicolaisen|W.F.H. Nicolaisen]] offered two explanations for the place-name Wigtown. One theory was that it meant 'dwelling place', from the [[Old English]] 'wic-ton'; however, if it is the same as [[Wigton]] in [[Cumbria]], which was 'Wiggeton' in 1162 and 'Wigeton' in 1262, it may be 'Wigca's farm'.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YyIJAQAAIAAJ  |title=Scottish Place-names: Their Study and Significance|first= W. F. H. |last=Nicolaisen|publisher=Batsford|year=1976|isbn=978-0713432534}}</ref> Other sources have suggested a [[Old Norse language|Norse]] root with 'Vik' meaning 'bay', giving the origin as a translation of 'The town on the bay'.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://www.electricscotland.com/books/placenames/scottishlandname00maxw.pdf|title=Scottish Land-Names: Their Origin and Meaning|page=90|first=Sir Herbert|last=Maxwell|publisher=William Blackwood|year=1894}}</ref>

===Neolithic Age===

[[File:Torehousekie Stone Circle - geograph.org.uk - 1098160.jpg|thumb|right|'''Torhouse Stone Circle''', dating from the 2nd millennium BC, is one of the best preserved sites in Britain. It is {{circa}} {{cvt|20|ft|m|order=flip|0}} in diameter.]]

The surrounding area (the [[Machars]] peninsula) is rich in [[Prehistory|prehistoric]] remains, most notably the [[Torhousekie]] Standing Stones, a [[Neolithic]] [[stone circle]] set on a raised platform of smaller stones.  It consists of nineteen boulders up to 5 feet high aligned to the [[winter solstice]], surrounding a [[ring cairn]] 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.<ref>{{Historic Environment Scotland|num=SM90304|desc=Torhouse Stone Circle|access-date=29 March 2019}}</ref>

===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]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Symson|first=Andrew|title=A large description of Galloway &#91;ed. by T. Maitland&#93;.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4mYLAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA148|year=1823|publisher=W. and C. Tait.|page=148}}</ref> 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]].<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LcIxAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA24|title=Wigtown and Whithorn: Historical and Descriptive Sketches, Stories, and Anecdotes, Illustrative of the Racy Wit & Pawky Humour of the District|first=Gordon|last= Fraser|year=1877 |page=24|publisher=Gordon Fraser}}</ref>

[[Blackfriars, Wigtown|Blackfriars]], the [[Dominican Order|Dominican]] friary, was founded at "Friarland" north of the mouth of the Bladnoch, south-east of the town of Wigtown, by [[Dervorguilla of Galloway|Devorgilla]] in around 1267.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CnY_AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA67|title=A History of Dumfries & Galloway
|volume= 5|page=67|year=1896|first=Sir Herbert|last=Maxwell|publisher=William Blackwood}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=b0gNAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA18|title=Tours in Scotland 1747, 1750, 1760|page=18|first1=Richard |last1=Pococke|year=1887|publisher=T. and A. Constable}}</ref>

[[Wigtown Castle]] was in existence by 1291, on flat land down by the [[River Bladnoch]], (outlines clearly seen on an aerial view), whilst the town and church were on a hill, "an inversion of the usual arrangements".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/stream/wigtownwhithornh00frasrich#page/18/mode/2up|title=Wigtown and Whithorn : historical and descriptive sketches, stories and anecdotes, illustrative of the racy wit & pawky humor of the district|page=18|first=Gordon|last=Fraser|year=1877|publisher=Gordon Fraser}}</ref> 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)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/stream/hereditarysherif01agneuoft#page/88/mode/2up|title=The hereditary sheriffs of Galloway; their "forebears" and friends, their courts and customs of their times, with notes of the early history, ecclesiastical legends, the baronage and placenames of the province|page=88|first=Sir Andrew|last=Agnew|publisher=David Douglas|year=1893|location=Edinburgh}}</ref> 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]]'' wrote that a [[Moat|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.<ref>{{canmore|num=63343|desc=Wigtown Castle|access-date=6 November 2022}}</ref>

The town developed as port<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FaY0fSQclG4C|title=Irish University Press Series of British Parliamentary Papers|year=1830|page=170|publisher=Irish University Press |isbn=9780716508397 }}</ref> and became a [[royal burgh]] in 1292.<ref name=vob>{{cite web|url=https://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/unit/10362477|title=Wigtown Burgh|publisher=Vision of Britain|access-date=6 November 2022}}</ref> Medieval Wigtown was built on a rectangular pattern with [[burgage]] plots around the present day Square (Main Street) and later, the West Port.
<ref name="Hunter1">{{cite book | last=Hunter | first=Jack | title=Old Wigtown | date=1998 | isbn=978-1-84033-025-0 | page=1}}</ref>
The royal burgh was granted to [[Malcolm Fleming, Earl of Wigtown|Sir Malcolm Fleming]] by [[David II of Scotland|David II]] in 1341. In 1372 Wigtown was purchased by [[Archibald the Grim]] Lord of Galloway. When he later became [[Earls of Douglas|Earl of Douglas]] 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]] in 1457.<ref name=vob/>

===Wigtown Martyrs===
[[File:Covenanters' Graves - geograph.org.uk - 937570.jpg|thumb|[[Covenanters]]' graves, in the graveyard of St Machutus's Church, Wigtown. The recumbent stone in the foreground is the grave of [[Margaret Wilson (Scottish martyr)|Margaret Willson]], and, behind it, the upright stone on the right is that of "Margrat Lachlane" (Margaret McLaughlin), these being the two women who were executed by drowning (according to tradition, at the location of the present-day Martyrs' Stake). The upright stone on the left is that of the three Covenanter men who were hanged at the same time.]]

Monuments to the [[Wigtown Martyrs]] exist in Wigtown. During "[[The Killing Time]]" of the [[Covenanters]] in the 17th century, Margaret McLachlan, an elderly woman in her 60s, and [[Margaret Wilson (Scottish martyr)|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]] to be [[drowning|drowned]] 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, 1st Baronet|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]] and published in his ''History of the Sufferings of the Church of Scotland from the Restoration to the Revolution''.  The [[Church of Scotland]] [[synod]] 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."<ref name=morton>{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/stream/cu31924029476003#page/n411/mode/2up|title=Galloway and the Covenanters; or, The struggle for religious liberty in the south-west of Scotland|page=409|first=Alex S.|last=Morton|location=Paisley|publisher=Alexander Gardner|year=1914}}</ref>

===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.<ref name="Hunter4">{{cite book | last=Hunter | first=Jack | title=Old Wigtown | date=1998 | isbn=978-1-84033-025-0 | page=4}}</ref> Wigtown Bowling Club was established in 1830 and continues to run, being one of the oldest in Scotland.<ref name="Hunter8">{{cite book | last=Hunter | first=Jack | title=Old Wigtown | date=1998 | isbn=978-1-84033-025-0 | page=8}}</ref> 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).<ref name="Hunter19">{{cite book | last=Hunter | first=Jack | title=Old Wigtown | date=1998 | isbn=978-1-84033-025-0 | page=19}}</ref> 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.<ref name="Hunter24">{{cite book | last=Hunter | first=Jack | title=Old Wigtown | date=1998 | isbn=978-1-84033-025-0 | page=24}}</ref>

An early reference to a [[tolbooth]] 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.<ref>{{cite web|url= https://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/descriptions/145020 |title=Wigtown|first= F. H. |last=Groome|publisher=Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland |year=1884| access-date=3 August 2021}}</ref> This municipal building in its turn gave way to the [[Wigtown County Buildings]] which were erected in 1862.<ref>{{Canmore|num=215461|desc= Wigtown, The Square, County Buildings|fewer-links=yes| access-date=3 August 2021}}</ref> The buildings served as the county Headquarters of Wigtownshire and are built of red sandstone from north-west England.<ref name="Hunter9">{{cite book | last=Hunter | first=Jack | title=Old Wigtown | date=1998 | isbn=978-1-84033-025-0 | page=9}}</ref>

Wigtown removed its first [[mercat cross]] 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.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XjskDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA105|title=Scottish Town in the Age of the Enlightenment 1740-1820|first1= Bob |last1=Harris|first2= Charles |last2=McKean|year=2014|page=105|publisher=Edinburgh University Press|isbn=978-0748692583}}</ref><ref name="Hunter2">{{cite book | last=Hunter | first=Jack | title=Old Wigtown | date=1998 | isbn=978-1-84033-025-0 | page=2}}</ref>

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."<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=w4kIAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA190  |title= Ancient and modern Britons, a retrospect|first=David|last=Ritchie|year= 1884 |page=190|publisher=Kegan Paul, Trench and Company}}</ref>

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]] were not slow in taking advantage of this: however after a barracks was built "the trade and those who conducted it were ruined".<ref>{{cite book|url=https://electricscotland.com/books/Smuggling-Days-And-Smuggling-Ways.pdf|title=Smuggling Days and Smuggling Ways or, The Story of a Lost Art| first=Henry N.|last=Shore|publisher=Cassell & Co. |year=1892 |page=64}}</ref>

Robinson, describing Wigtown, also noted that "the greatest number of houses were of a homely character, thatched and one storey high".<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=djJ5tePOJ9cC|title=Reminiscences of Wigtownshire|first= Samuel|last= Robinson|year=1872|page=54|publisher=G.C. Book Publishers |isbn=9781872350516 }}</ref>

The Newton Stewart to Whithorn branch railway line had a [[Wigtown railway station|station at Wigtown]] which opened in 1877.<ref>{{Butt-Stations}}, p. 250</ref>

===Recent history===
Wigtown was described by William Learmonth in 1920 as the quaintest county town in Scotland.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/stream/kirkcudbrightshi00learuoft#page/50/mode/2up|title=Kirkcudbrightshire and Wigtownshire|first=William |last=Learmouth|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=1920|page=51}}</ref>

[[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.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.abct.org.uk/airfields/airfield-finder/wigtown-baldoon/ |title=Wigtown (Baldoon) |publisher=[[Airfields of Britain Conservation Trust]]|access-date=15 September 2022}}</ref>[[File:RAF Wigtown (2).jpg|thumb|right|Aerial view of RAF Wigtown/Baldoon Airfield (April 2023)]]

In the 1990s Wigtown became Scotland's "[[book town]]". However, in contrast to [[Hay-on-Wye]], Wigtown's status as a book town was planned, in order to regenerate a very depressed town (the main employers, the [[creamery]] and [[distillery]], having closed in the 1990s), although the distillery ([[Bladnoch distillery|Bladnoch]]) has now re-opened and is distilling its own [[malt whisky]]. There was a national search in Scotland for a candidate town. The [[Wigtown Book Festival]] was first held in 1999<ref name=":0">{{Cite news|url = http://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/arts/news/wigtown-book-festival-to-set-sail-on-solway-firth-1-3523025|title = Wigtown Book Festival to set sail on Solway Firth|last = Ferguson|first = Brain|date = 27 August 2014|work = The Scotsman: Scotland on Sunday|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140830212939/http://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/arts/news/wigtown-book-festival-to-set-sail-on-solway-firth-1-3523025|archive-date = 2014-08-30}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title = The Edinburgh history of the book in Scotland|publisher = Edinburgh University Press|year = 2008|isbn = 978-0-7486-1829-3|location = Edinburgh|page = 453|url =https://books.google.com/books?id=2CmkBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA453|volume = 4: Professionalism and diversity 1880-2000|editor-last = Finklestein|editor-first = David|editor-last2 = McCleery|editor-first2 = Alistair}}</ref> and grew to be the second largest book festival in Scotland.<ref>{{Cite book|title = Lost in location: arts development and policy in rural Scotland|last = Lu|first = Yu Tonia|publisher = University of Glasgow (PhD thesis)|year = 2015|pages = 152|url = http://theses.gla.ac.uk/5899/1/2014LuYTphd.pdf}}</ref> There are currently around a dozen bookshops in the town.