Whithorn Priory Interior

The view of the cathedral nave looking west hints at its varied career. The west end is a 13th century extension of the original while post-Reformation the whole served surprisingly but intermittently as the cathedral of the Protestant bishopric till 1689. It then became first the parish church before the construction of its successor in 1822, and afterwards a burial ground until the late 19th century intervention of the 3rd Marquess of Bute with his restoration programme. No trace is visible of the ill-starred west tower, which collapsed in the early 1700’s only 100 years after its construction.