Editing Wigtown (section)

==Landmarks and culture==
Wigtown lies less than {{convert|1|mi|km|0|abbr=off}} from [[Bladnoch, Wigtownshire|Bladnoch]], a village with a distillery producing malt whisky of the same name. The River Bladnoch can be fished for [[Atlantic salmon]] and has historically been well known as one of Scotland's finest rivers producing spring fish. It meets the [[River Cree]] in Wigtown Bay, meandering through a large area of [[salt marsh]] which has been designated as a [[Local Nature Reserve]] (LNR). Wigtown Bay is the largest LNR in Britain, and is home to a wealth of wildlife, particularly birds. Some people come to admire them from the comfort of the viewing hides situated near the [[Wigtown Harbour|harbour]], others, wildfowlers, come to harvest some of the plentiful ducks and geese attracted by the extensive conservation work carried out by the Wigtown Wildfowling Club. The first pair of [[osprey]]s to return to Galloway in over 100 years arrived in 2004. A live camera link to their nest was created and can be viewed in the [[Wigtown County Buildings]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wildseasons.co.uk/uploads/pdfs/Wigtown-Ospreys.pdf|title=A wildlife success story in Galloway|publisher=Wild Seasons|page=2|access-date=3 August 2021}}</ref>

To the east of Wigtown is The Martyrs' Stake, a monument marking the traditional site where the Wigtown Martyrs were drowned in the 17th century. Their graves are in the Parish Church [[cemetery]]. There is a small cell in the County Buildings in which they were imprisoned prior to their execution. This cell is all that remains of a much older building which was largely destroyed to make way for the County Buildings (built in 1862).<ref>{{cite web|url= https://canmore.org.uk/site/215461/wigtown-the-square-county-buildings  |title= Wigtown, The Square, County Buildings|publisher=Canmore| access-date=3 August 2021}}</ref>

===Events===
The [[Wigtown Book Festival]] is a ten-day literary festival held annually in Wigtown.<ref name="ITV">{{cite web | title=How becoming Scotland's National Book Town transformed Wigtown's fortunes | website=ITV News | date=2023-12-07 | url=https://www.itv.com/news/border/2023-12-07/how-becoming-scotlands-national-book-town-transformed-wigtowns-fortunes | access-date=2024-08-08}}</ref> The first event took place in 1999.<ref name="ITV"/>

The Wigtown Agricultural Show is an annual event held in August, having been held since 1811.<ref name="Hunter11">{{cite book | last=Hunter | first=Jack | title=Old Wigtown | date=1998 | isbn=978-1-84033-025-0 | page=11}}</ref>

===Bookshops===
[[File:The Book Shop, Wigtown - geograph.org.uk - 5336409.jpg|thumb|right|The ''Bookshop'' on N Main Street in Wigtown]]
In 2018, Wigtown had 13 retail bookshops, one of which was mail-order.<ref name="BBCBrighter">{{cite web | last=Muir | first=Debbie | title=Wigtown: The place with a brighter future thanks to books | website=BBC News | date=2023-09-22 | url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-south-scotland-66867202 | access-date=2024-08-08}}</ref> The town has its own bookseller's association.<ref name="BBCBrighter"/> The bookshops mean that Wigtown is estimated to have several hundred thousand books in the town.<ref name="BBCBrighter"/>

The ''Old Bank bookshop'' is located in a former bank and customs house. As the Customs House fell out of use with the decline of the port, it was bought and expanded as a branch of the City of Glasgow Bank, later the National Bank.<ref name="Hunter18">{{cite book | last=Hunter | first=Jack | title=Old Wigtown | date=1998 | isbn=978-1-84033-025-0 | page=18}}</ref><ref name="BBCBrighter"/>

The ''Bookshop'' in Wigtown is Scotland's largest second-hand bookshop.<ref name="INews">{{cite web | title=Confessions of a Bookseller: the quirky customers and odd requests | website=inews.co.uk | date=2019-08-27 | url=https://inews.co.uk/culture/books/confessions-of-a-bookseller-shaun-bythell-bookshop-wigtown-330801 | access-date=2024-08-08}}</ref> It is reported to have a mile of shelving and some 100,000 books.<ref name="INews"/> The owner, Shaun Bythell, has written a book about his experiences selling books in the town.<ref name="WashingtonPost">{{cite web | last=Duncan | first=Dennis | title=What’s it like to own a bookstore in our digitized age? | website=Washington Post | date=2022-12-29 | url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/2022/12/29/bookstore-owner-bythell/ | access-date=2024-08-08}}</ref><ref name="SundayPost">{{cite web | title=Me, my shelves and sigh: Scotland’s grumpiest bookseller on the seven customers he loves to hate (but mostly loves) | website=The Sunday Post | date=2020-11-03 | url=https://www.sundaypost.com/fp/me-my-shelves-and-sigh-scotlands-grumpiest-bookseller-on-the-seven-customers-he-loves-to-hate-but-mostly-loves/ | access-date=2024-08-08}}</ref>

The ''Open Book'' is a bookshop that is operated by customers who can take temporary charge of the shop and live in the accommodation above.<ref name="CNN">{{cite web | last=Street | first=Francesca | title=Would you pay to work in a Scottish bookstore on your vacation? | website=CNN | date=2018-03-30 | url=https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/wigtown-bookshop-vacation/index.html | access-date=2024-08-08}}</ref><ref name="Guardian2019">{{cite web | last=Parr | first=Freya | title=Browsing the dream: why I paid £400 to run a bookshop for a week | website=the Guardian | date=2019-12-18 | url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/dec/18/browsing-the-dream-why-i-paid-400-to-run-a-bookshop-for-a-week | access-date=2024-08-08}}</ref>