Undiscovered Scotland

 

The village of Kirkinner can be found some three miles south of Wigtown where it stands astride the main A746 road to Whithorn. The lines of largely white-painted single or two storey cottages and houses give the village an attractive feel whatever the light, and it looks especially good if you catch it on a day like those illustrated on this page.

The village comes complete with a community hall, a school, a bowling club, and a hat and basket making business: but the post office appeared to have closed on our last visit, the church closed in 2020 (and was subsequently sold) and the Kirkinner Inn closed in 2013.

The settlement here was originally known as Carnsmoel and grew up around an early chapel used by pilgrims en route south to Whithorn after they had forded the River Bladnoch. The name change came in the 1500s and seems to have followed the dedication of a predecessor of the church here to St Kennera, who had been martyred at Cologne a thousand years earlier. (Continues below image...)

 

The focal point of the village is the axis formed by the community hall on the west side of the road and the school opposite it. Outside the community hall is a transparent box containing the Kirkinner Cross, a disc-headed Celtic carved cross of the Whithorn School dating back to the 900s. It was found in the churchyard in the 1800s and until its closure was on display in the church.

A mile to the north of Kirkinner, close to the remains of RAF Wigtown, are the ruins of Baldoon Castle. They are reported to be haunted by the ghost of Janet Dalrymple Dunbar. On 24 August 1669, Janet Dalrymple married David Dunbar, heir of Sir David Dunbar of Baldoon, in a ceremony in Old Luce before the party returned to the Dalrymple family seat at Carsecreugh Castle, two miles north-east of Glenluce. The marriage had been arranged by the parents of the bride and groom, and Janet was an extremely reluctant bride as she was in love with Archibald, the penniless 3rd Lord Rutherford.

In the bridal chamber on the night of the wedding, David Dunbar was stabbed and Janet lost her mind. Dunbar survived, but never spoke of how he came by his injuries. Janet Dalrymple died, still insane, nineteen days later on 12 September 1669. Opinions differ as to whether Dunbar was stabbed by Janet or by Archibald and the mystery later formed the basis of the plot of The Bride of Lammermoor by Sir Walter Scott. Why Janet should then have gone on to haunt Baldoon Castle rather than Carsecreugh Castle is another mystery, but she is widely believed to do so.