Whitekirk Remains of Pilgrims' Houses Around Tithe Barn Whitekirk and Tyninghame, Scotland

Text courtesy of Historic Environment Scotland. © Crown Copyright, reprinted under the Open Government License.

The monument comprises the remains of early 15th-century pilgrims' houses associated with the pilgrimage centre which developed around the medieval parish church of St Mary, and its nearby healing well, in the late medieval period.

Documentary sources indicate that the houses were built in the early 15th century and demolished in the early 16th, with much of the masonry being re-used in the construction of a tower house, built for Oliver Sinclair ca. 1540. The tower house was extended and adapted in the 17th century to form the parish's tithe barn and was converted to a permanent dwelling in the late 1990s.

Excavation to the immediate W of the tithe barn in 1995 revealed the in situ and demolished structural remains of two buildings believed to form part of the pilgrims' houses complex. A watching brief to the immediate S of the tithe barn identified similar evidence of other demolished structures. The tithe barn stands near the centre of a long ridge of high ground with the holy well lying 200 ENE. It is likely that the pathway which linked the houses with the well followed the crest of the ridge.

The area to be scheduled is approximately oval in shape and follows the contour at the base of the ridge of ground on which the tithe barn sits. It has maximum dimensions of 38m N-S and 95m ENE-WNW and includes the excavated remains and the remainder of the ridge, on which associated remains are expected to survive. Excluded from the scheduling is the tithe barn itself and an area around it which extends 3m beyond its walls. The area is marked in red on the accompanying map extract.