TIME to SHRINE

Step by muddy – or dusty – step they came, from kings to criminals, and many thousands in between. Because rich or poor, this was a journey that had to be done in the same way – on foot for more than 140 miles. It was a levelling that was very apt – after all, the trappings of wealth and privilege would mean nothing when their souls came to be judged before God. And that was the point of this particular journey.

For centuries, the route between Glasgow and Whithorn, in the far south-west of Scotland, was alive with a constant stream of pilgrims, wending