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St. Ninian's Cave, Physgill
According to the Miracula Nyniæ,
St. Ninian would sometimes withdraw
from
the large monastery at Whithorn to "study
spiritual knowledge in a cave of horrible blackness". The cave is at
Physgill,
Scotland, overlooking the Irish Sea, and although its "horrible
blackness" appears to have a been a symbolic or rhetorical touch by the
hagiographer
(the cave is more like a niche in the cliff), it
is one of the most powerful and
moving holy sites in the British Isles. There is an uninterrupted
tradition of
pilgrimage to the cave going back to Orthodox times. Pilgrims have left
and still
leave small crosses at the site; ancient examples can be seen in the
Whithorn
Museum. Except for the crosses and an unobtrusive historical marker,
the cave is still in its natural condition, untouched by both the
mediæval and modern tourism industries.
--- Norman Hugh Redington
2
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