About
Wigtown Museum occupies part of the County Buildings on the square at Wigtown, in the Machars of Dumfries and Galloway. The building alone justifies a look: raised in 1862 in a flamboyant French gothic manner as the administrative centre of the former county of Wigtownshire, it is a considerably grander piece of Victorian civic architecture than a town of this size would normally command, and its spire dominates one of the largest town squares in Scotland. Renovated some years ago, it now houses the town library, a wildlife interpretation room and the museum, and is run by Dumfries and Galloway Council.
The museum itself is a small display telling the story of the Burgh of Wigtown, with an assortment of town memorabilia. Its outstanding holding is a collection of bronze weights and measures acquired by the Burgh in 1707 — the most complete set of early eighteenth-century town weights surviving anywhere in Scotland. Objects of this kind are easy to walk past, but they represent the practical machinery of burgh authority: the standard against which every sack of meal and every measure of ale sold in the town was checked, and the physical guarantee of honest trade in a pre-industrial market economy where short measure was a genuine and frequently prosecuted offence. That the set survives complete, and that it was acquired in 1707, the year of the Union, gives it a particular resonance.
On the ground floor of the County Buildings are the remains of an eighteenth-century prison cell, known locally as the Martyrs' Cell for its supposed association with the Wigtown Martyrs. The cell is open to visitors. In 1685, during the Killing Time, two Covenanting women — Margaret Wilson, aged eighteen, and the elderly Margaret McLachlan — were, according to long-established tradition, tied to stakes in the Bladnoch estuary and drowned by the incoming tide for refusing to swear the oath of abjuration. Their monument stands on the saltmarsh and their memorials in the kirkyard.
Wigtown has been Scotland's National Book Town since 1998, with a remarkable concentration of bookshops around the square and a major literary festival each autumn, so the museum sits within a town that already draws visitors.
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Plan Your Visit
⏱️ Recommended Visit Duration
💡 Visitor Tips
- Check the opening pattern carefully. Monday and Wednesday are afternoons only, Friday mornings only, and Tuesday and Thursday close between 12:00 and 13:00. It is shut at weekends entirely.
- Go down to the Martyrs' Cell on the ground floor. It takes five minutes, costs nothing, and is the part of the building most visitors remember.
- Look properly at the 1707 weights. They are easy to walk past as a case of dull metal objects, and they are in fact the most historically important thing in the town.
- Walk out to the Martyrs' Stake on the saltmarsh below the town, and look at the memorials in the kirkyard, to complete the story the museum begins.
- Build the visit into a day of bookshop browsing. Wigtown has been Scotland's National Book Town since 1998 and the square is ringed with shops.
- Avoid festival week if you want quiet, or come precisely then if you want the town at its liveliest — the Wigtown Book Festival runs each autumn and fills the place.
- Bring binoculars for Wigtown Bay, the largest local nature reserve in Britain, which holds internationally important numbers of wintering geese and waders.
- Whithorn, fifteen kilometres south, is essential for anyone interested in early Christian Scotland, and pairs naturally with Wigtown for a full day in the Machars.
Highlights
The 1707 Burgh Weights and Measures
The collection of bronze weights and measures acquired by the Burgh of Wigtown in 1707 is the most complete set of early eighteenth-century town weights surviving anywhere in Scotland, and it is the single reason a specialist would travel here. These were the standards against which every transaction in the burgh market was checked — grain, meal, ale, butter — and possessing them was both a practical necessity and a mark of burghal authority.
That Wigtown acquired its set in the year of the Union with England, when Scottish weights and measures were being brought into line with English standards, gives the group an additional historical edge.
The Martyrs' Cell
On the ground floor of the County Buildings survive the remains of an eighteenth-century prison cell, known locally as the Martyrs' Cell for its supposed association with the Wigtown Martyrs, and open to visitors. The attribution is traditional rather than documented — the cell postdates the events by decades — but the space itself is genuine and gives an immediate physical sense of eighteenth-century imprisonment: cramped, dark and unheated.
It costs nothing to see and takes only a few minutes, and most visitors find it the most affecting part of the building.
The Wigtown Martyrs
In 1685, during the period Covenanting tradition calls the Killing Time, Margaret Wilson, aged eighteen, and the elderly Margaret McLachlan were, according to long-established local tradition, tied to stakes in the Bladnoch estuary below the town and drowned by the rising tide for refusing the oath of abjuration.
The episode became one of the defining martyrdoms of Scottish Presbyterian memory, endlessly retold and depicted through the nineteenth century. The Martyrs' Stake monument stands on the saltmarsh and memorials survive in the kirkyard, both a short walk from the museum.
The County Buildings
Built in 1862 in an exuberant French gothic style as the administrative centre of Wigtownshire, the County Buildings are a far grander piece of civic architecture than the town's size would suggest, and their spire dominates the square and the surrounding Machars landscape for miles. Victorian county administration expressed itself in architecture with real confidence, and this is a good example of a county asserting its dignity in stone.
Renovated some years ago, the building now accommodates the library, the museum and a wildlife interpretation room.
Collections
Wigtown Museum is a small display within the County Buildings on Wigtown's square, telling the story of the royal burgh through items of town memorabilia. Its most significant holding by far is a collection of bronze weights and measures acquired by the Burgh in 1707, the most complete set of early eighteenth-century town weights surviving in Scotland.
The museum interprets burgh government, markets and civic life, and the Wigtown Martyrs of 1685, whose memory is central to the town's identity.
On the ground floor of the same building are the remains of an eighteenth-century prison cell, locally called the Martyrs' Cell, which is open to visitors. The building also houses the town library and a wildlife interpretation room.
The Story of the Burgh
Displays of Wigtown memorabilia covering burgh government, markets and civic life, centred on the 1707 collection of bronze town weights and measures.
The Martyrs' Cell
The surviving remains of an eighteenth-century prison cell on the ground floor of the County Buildings, traditionally associated with the Wigtown Martyrs and open to visitors.
Themes
Time Periods
Current Exhibitions
No current exhibitions. Please check the museum website for updates.