The Wickerman Trail
Although The Wicker Man supposedly takes place on an island off the West Highlands of Scotland, much of the filming actually took place in mainland South West Scotland. So our tour will wind its way through the nooks and crannies and stunning locations of Dumfries and Galloway.
It takes in not only highlights from the film itself but also including any new festivals or events upcoming in the area. These have been spawned by what has metamorphosed from a film into the cult of The Wicker Man.
The first sites on our tour start in Kirkcudbright, a town in the Galloway Heartland, which was the setting for an artists' colony at the turn of the last century. Many famous names were drawn to the place, including the illustrator Jessie M King, E A Taylor, Charles Oppenheimer, S J Peploe and E A Hornel.
For further information on Kirkcudbright, see www.kirkcudbright.co.uk, which gives some background information on the old artists’ colony, plus showing what is happening in contemporary Kirkcudbright. It’s a charming fishing town with 17th century buildings and narrow old closes, reflecting the town’s medieval layout.
Day 1
1. MAY MORRISON’S POST OFFICE:
A shop in the main street of Kirkcudbright
SCENE: The trap is set and Howie goes to search for clues on the trail of the missing Rowan. The shop window displays a large and strange confectionery doll.
DESCRIPTION: The Post Office is now Maureen Briggs’ Art Gallery, situated on the High Street of Kirkcudbright. If you look at the map showing the old high street, it’s number 14: http://www.kirkcudbright.co.uk/oldhighst/index.html
2. THE LANE SCENE:
Police Close and Tolbooth Arts Centre, High St, Kirkcudbright (right next door to Maureen Briggs’ Art Gallery)
SCENE: Just before the Mayday parade there were a number of scenes in this lane, the most outstanding being when the man dressed as the horse runs down it.
A few doors down from Police Close is the Tolbooth Arts Centre, which is used as the exterior for the scene where Howie follows the horse-man and spies on the islanders getting ready for their procession.
DESCRIPTION: This is a real find, one of those little interesting places you only stumble across, usually by accident, once in a while. Just take a walk down Police Close and have a look at the still life around you.
3. RUINED CHURCH/SCHOOLHOUSE/MAYPOLE COMPLEX:
Anwoth Old Kirk and the cottage opposite
Near Gatehouse of Fleet, 4 miles northwest of Kirkcudbright, Anwoth Old Kirk can be reached on foot through some fantastic scenery over Boreland Hill. To find the footpath, turn left out of the visitors’ car park in Gatehouse and cross the bridge. Follow the National Trust for Scotland sign, and keep Rutherford’s monument (dedicated to the 17th century scholar and minister of Anwoth, Samuel Rutherford) on your left. This is part of a circular walk that takes 2 hours, but you can make it there and back in an hour. Ask at the Mill on the Fleet Visitor Centre for more details.
By car, leave Kirkcudbright on the A755, and then go left when you reach the A75. You can get to Gatehouse either by turning right onto the B724 or the B796. The right turn for Anwoth is half a mile past the junction for the B796 and the magnificent Cardoness Castle, a 15th century four-storey tower house on a rocky platform overlooking the Water of Fleet.
SCENE: Schoolboys sing and dance around the maypole and the top is crowned with flowers. Meanwhile Inside the schoolhouse the schoolgirls learn about the significance of the phallus in the rites and rituals of Mayday. Howie finds Rowan’s grave in the ruined church. On a tree nearby is hanging the girl’s umbilical cord. In the church, a gravestone reads, “Here lieth Beech Buchanan, protected by the ejaculation of serpents”. A woman inside the church sits on a gravestone breastfeeding a newborn baby.
DESCRIPTION: This has to one of the most tranquil and ethereal spots on earth. A ruined 17th century church lies within an old graveyard. Step inside the church, and another graveyard lies inside. Across the road is the old Anwoth schoolhouse, now a private residence. The traditional bed and breakfast Clachan Cottage is right next door. This really is an insanely beautiful and quiet place – just watch out for the sheep!
You can take a brief detour here to visit Gatehouse of Fleet. Just carry on up the high street, heading for the clock tower. Turn right and take a look at the building on the end of the street on the right hand side.
4. GREEN MAN EXTERIOR:
Cally Estate Office, Gatehouse of Fleet
There is a shot of Howie walking to the door of the pub, which sounds very noisy.
Continue along the A75 heading west for Creetown:
4. GREEN MAN (INTERIORS):
Ellangowan Hotel, St John’s Street, Creetown
SCENE: There are three famous scenes which take place in The Green Man: The first burst of song in the film, the lewd “The Landlord’s Daughter” takes place here in the bar, as does the infamous rhythmic, writhing dance by Britt Ekland. Also the burning wax hand scene in Howie’s room
DESCRIPTION: Amazingly, walking into the bar in the Ellangowan Hotel, one does have a brief flash of how poor Howie felt. Yes, a silence descends as the locals give you the once over. After that though, it’s all plain sailing as once the ice is broken words are soon spilling from tongues. More than friendly and a great beer garden too.
The Ellangowan Hotel has its own website: www.ellangowan.co.uk and is very proud of its links with The Wicker Man, holding various events throughout the year. Latest information about this is on its website.
Day Two
Follow the A75 to Newton Stewart – a pleasant and friendly Wigtownshire town) and at the roundabout on the edge of town, take the left-hand (first) exit, heading south to Whithorn on the A746. You will pass through Wigtown, Scotland’s Booktown, which is well-worth a visit on its own account: www.wigtown-booktown.co.uk
Whithorn is the cradle of Christianity in Scotland as it was the site of the first Christian church in the country, founded by St Ninian in the 5th Century. As you will be visiting St Ninian’s Cave later in the trail, you might like to stop at the Whithorn Visitors Centre in George Street. It boasts an AV show, exhibitions, a guided tour of the archaeological dig on the site and a museum.
5. CHILDREN’S CHANT:
Outside Whithorn Library, Whithorn
SCENE: A group of children march along carrying a white puppet and singing “We carry death out of the village. We carry summer into the village”.
DESCRIPTION: Whithorn is a typical little sleepy village in the Machars of Galloway: A mellow place to while away an afternoon. The old library is right in the main street – if you’re facing the Visitors Centre in the main street, it’s up on the right hand side.
6. BURNING OF THE WICKER MAN:
Burrowhead Holiday Village, Isle of Whithorn, at the foot of the Machers peninsula.
Head out of Whithorn on the B7004 towards Isle of Whithorn, a picturesque village with a harbour. Take the first right as you reach the village towards Burrowhead Holiday Village.
SCENE: The final ominous scene – the virgin sacrifice to the Sun god is made to ensure a good harvest next year. The ultimate price is paid by the reckless police officer, who apparently had failed to see that he fulfilled the crucial criteria needed for the sacrifice: “virgin, fool, king for a day and came willingly”. The stumps of the original Wicker Man are still at this site where Howie meets his inevitable and, it has to be said, glorious, death.
DESCRIPTION: This is a bit of a wow! experience. As you walk from the car park of the holiday village down the winding path to the cliffs you get nearer to a vast expanse of blue sea and sky and you suddenly come across the two concrete posts, which the actual Wicker Man stood upon, and the actual scale is daunting.
7. HOWIE EMERGES FROM CAVE TO MEET HIS DEATH:
St Ninian’s Caves, 3 miles south of Whithorn.
Take the B7004 back towards Whithorn, but continue straight (in other words, don’t take the turn off to Whithorn). You are looking for a sign for Kidsdale car park, which will be about three quarters of a mile and on the left. The path to the cave is signposted. You walk through Physgill Glen, a very pleasant wood. The cave is about one mile away from the car park.
For the intrepid, there is a spectacular walk from St Ninian’s Cave along the cliff top to Burrowhead, which is seven and a half miles in total. The views are spectacular, the wind is bracing.
SCENE: Leading to the ultimate scene, Howie emerges from the cave following the “innocent” would-be sacrificial “virgin” Rowan, only to find that there is no escape.
DESCRIPTION: This is one of the most genuinely creepy places on the trail. Ironically, St Ninian’s Cave is where Christianity was first brought to Scotland. St Ninian floated in from Ireland some time in the mid 5th century and ever since then it has had pilgrims in the Lourdes style, each putting their little pebble at strategic places in the cave. After taking a mile long amble through the woods you will come to a desolate pebble beach, at the end of which lies St Ninian’s cave.
You really do feel like you are at the edge of the world and as you walk nearer and nearer to the cave, you will see a huge wooden cross is propped at the entrance to the cave. Strange drawings adorn the walls. This place has a real sense of “other-worldliness” to it.
8 . LOCHINCH CASTLE
Near Stranraer was used for Lord Summerisle’s home but is not open to the public.
The next best thing is to visit the castle gardens, where the fire dancing took place. The ruin of Castle Kennedy is in the castle grounds.
9. SEAPLANE SCENES, HOWIE BEING ROWED TO AND FROM THE ISLAND:
Stranraer Harbour, Stranraer.
Stranraer is the main town in the Rhinns, and can be reached via the A747 from the Machars, and then onto the A75, heading west.
SCENE: These are the shots where Howie is rowed to the island and where the seaplane takes off.
DESCRIPTION: Stranraer Harbour is the main waterway between Scotland and Northern Ireland so this is very much a working harbour. Stranraer is a bustling port town filled with bars and restaurants of every description. For more information about Stranraer visit: www.stranraer.org
10. HOWIE AND SUMMERISLE’S MEETING:
Logan Botanic Garden.
Take the A7166 heading south to the Mull of Galloway – the most southerly point in Scotland. Stay on the A7166 until after the village of Ardwell, where you take a right-hand turn to Port Logan. The Botanic Garden, part of the collection of the Royal Botanic Garden in Edinburgh, is signposted along this road on the right hand side.
SCENE: Howie and Lord Summerisle walk in an orchard covered with lush blossoms, giving the impression that this was spring time. In reality, this scene was shot in winter, which meant that every bit of blossom had to be stuck on by hand!
DESCRIPTION: Logan Gardens is on the southernmost part of Scotland, the Mull of Galloway, a beautiful drive along by the shore. The botanical gardens are, of course, incredibly fertile and ripe looking, and a perfect symbol for the pagans, a representation of reproduction in flower.
If you’ve come this far, it’s worth continuing south to see the dramatic coastlines of the most southerly point of Scotland at the Mull of Galloway, with its magnificent lighthouse. The landscape is dramatic and beautiful in this part of the region, and the coast of Northern Ireland can be seen clearly, looking west from the Rhinns. www.mull-of-galloway.co.uk has a lot of useful information about what to see, and a number of useful links.
