St Ninian's Cave
54°41′38″N 4°26′59″W / 54.6938°N 4.4498°W
| St Ninian's Cave | |
|---|---|
 Entrance of the cave, 2007 | |
| OS grid reference | NX4212935962 |
| Council area | |
| Lieutenancy area | |
| Country | Scotland |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
St Ninian's Cave is a cave in Physgill Glen, Whithorn, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland.[1][2] It features in the climax of the 1973 horror film The Wicker Man.[3][4] It is a place of Roman Catholic pilgrimage by way of its association with the Scottish saint Ninian.[citation needed]
Excavations in the cave in the 1880s and the 1950s uncovered a collection of early medieval carved stones. There were 18 in total, most of them built into a post-medieval wall, others lying loose in the cave's interior or at its mouth.[5]
Rockfalls near the entrance have diminished the size of the cave over time, as seen at right.[citation needed]
References
- ^ "St Ninian's Cave". www.historicenvironment.scot.
- ^ Stell, Geoffrey (1996). Dumfries and Galloway. Stationery Office. p. 160. ISBN 978-0-11-495294-5.
- ^ Bruce, David (1996). Scotland the Movie. Edinburgh: Polygon. ISBN 074866209X.
- ^ Winn, Christopher (2012). I Never Knew That About Scotland. Random House. p. 253. ISBN 978-1-4481-4608-6.
- ^ "St Ninian's Cave: History". www.historicenvironment.scot. Retrieved 1 March 2021.
See also