Collection: Whithorn Trust

Collection-level records:

• Collection history (Collection development policy)

  The Whithorn Trust was founded to manage the archaeological excavations at Whithorn which began in 1986, after trial trenches in 1984 revealed deposits of great significance, relating to Whithorn’s monastic past. These excavations followed a century of investigation by archaeologists, from the 1880’s onwards, resulting in a large collection of archaeological artefacts being discovered. The excavations from 1986 to 1991 were supported primarily by Dumfries and Galloway Regional Council and secondly by Wigtown District Council, as well as by private gifts and charitable donations. As a result, the collection of artefacts was owned by the Regional Council and now by its successor authority, Dumfries and Galloway Council, although the intention was always to have a permanent museum displaying this collection on the site at Whithorn itself. The Visitor Centre, a 1901 commercial building which was radically reconstructed in 1989 and which is now operated by the Whithorn Trust, has a permanent exhibition which displays the prime artefacts unearthed by archaeologists. A significant proportion of the collection remains in Stranraer Museum stores, where its cataloguing and care is carried out by Whithorn Trust staff, supported by Dumfries and Galloway Museums Service staff. In addition, the Whithorn Trust operates in partnership with Historic Environment Scotland, which owns the Bruce Street museum, where the internationally important collection of early mediaeval carved stones, found at Whithorn in the 1880’s, is displayed. This museum is jointly staffed by the Whithorn Trust and HES personnel. The HES Bruce Street museum is located in a traditional Galloway cottage purchased by the Marquess of Bute to house the stones in the 1890’s.

  Source: Collection development policy

  Date: 2023

  Licence: CC BY-NC

• Collection overview (Collection development policy)

  The main collection on display in the Whithorn Trust Visitor Centre is owned by Dumfries and Galloway Museums Service.

  The collection includes:

  • Early Christian, Hiberno-Norse and Medieval artefacts relating to the day-to-day life and industry excavated by the Whithorn Trust between the years 1984-91 from the area of the ecclesiastical settlement at Whithorn.
  • Artefacts including carved stones, porphyry and part of an iron heckle from the site of the early church site at Barhobble.

  The display in the upper Gallery, entitled “Cold Case Whithorn”, is an exhibition created by selection of items which have not previously been on public display but formed part of the reinvestigation of the collection funded by the Whithorn Trust from 2018-2022.

  Items directly belonging to the Whithorn Trust on display in the lower exhibition include models and display items which contribute to the interpretation of the artefacts, such as life-size human models and scale models of buildings on the site. They also include digital items such as commissioned films and animated facial reconstructions.

  The other collections on display include:

  • Loan of medieval Whithorn Priory stones from Historic Environment Scotland
  • Loan of material from NMS, both long term ( replica Kirkmadrine stones, a disc headed cross) and temporary loans each year.

  Source: Collection development policy

  Date: 2023

  Licence: CC BY-NC