214 



FIELD MEETINGS. 



12th June, 1909. 



A DAY IN ST xMNIAN'S COUNTRY AND AT MONREITH. 



A party of the Dumfriesshire and Galloway Natural History 

 and Antiquarian Society spent a memorable day on Saturday 

 in the Machars of Wigtownshire, in a visit to Whithorn and 

 as the guests of the Right Hon. Sir Herbert Maxwell, Bart., 

 F.R.S., D.C.L., LL.D., Lord Lieutenant of the county, at his 

 mansion of Monreith. To the number of thirty-four they 

 travelled by the 8.30 train from Dumfries, and reached Whithorn 

 at about a quarter to twelve. There Sir Herbert (who is a past 

 president of the society) was waiting to receive them, and had in 

 attendance four motor cars and a two-horse brake for their con- 

 veyance. Driving first to the ancient Priory associated with the 

 name and work of St. Ninian, they had the advantage of the 

 skilled guidance both of Sir Herbert and of the Rev. D. M. 

 Henry, the parish minister, who took in hand separate companies 

 and explained some of the many points of interest. The royal 

 burgh of Whithorn is a tidy little town, that stretches itself along 

 the road in one long street for almost a mile, with short off-shoots 

 here and there. A windmill tower, now occupied as a dwelling- 

 house and shming with whitewash, forms an unusual feature in 

 the line of the High Street, which on the opposite side is domi- 

 nated by the square tower of the old Town Hall. The most 

 recently established industry appears to be a creamery of the 

 Scottish Co-operative Wholesale Society; and an occasional new 

 house of substantial character affords evidence, if not of growing 

 prosperity, at least of arrested decadence. The Priory lies a 

 short distance west of the principal street, and is closely neigh- 

 boured by the modern parish church, a plain square edifice that 

 was built in 1822, superseding one that abutted on the old Priory 

 Church and hid the fine Norman doorwa\' on the south side, which 



