Seeking The Wicker Man
A cult-film themed journey through Southwest Scotland
In 2016, my girlfriend and I spent a day roaming around the west side of Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, seeking sites from the classic pagan horror film The Wicker Man. It’s one of my favorite films, so when I found out that it was filmed only an hour away from where we live, I decided we NEEDED to go on an adventure. We had a great day exploring these sites. It’s amazing how most of the places look exactly the same as they did back in the 70′s! We even had lunch in the same pub that Sgt. Howie stayed in, though the barmaid was not cute and they had severely remodeled the inside of the bar. Still fun and lots of Wickerman photos on the wall.
May Morrison’s Post Office
May Morrison’s Post Office in Kirkcudbright might have looked better before they gave it a monochromatic paint job. It was easily recognizable once we knew where to look though!
The Green Man Inn
The Green Man Inn seems to have gotten a new paint job and sometime after 2001 they took out the window above the double front door. This is actually The Calley Estate offices in Gatehouse of Fleet. The inside shots were done at another pub that was in the next village over.
The inside of the Green Man Inn was shot at Ellangowan Hotel in Creetown. It’s almost impossible to recognize now. Not only have they changed the carpet but they remodeled the inside of the pub and moved some of the walls so it’s a very different space now. The bar seems to be the same though and they served a delicious curry chips lunch!
The Maypole Church Ruins
The ruined churchyard was filmed at the Anwoth Old Kirk and served a dual filming function. The yard in front of the church was used for the Maypole dance and it’s surprisingly small considering how many people are dancing in this picture. Then later in the film Sgt. Howie goes through the church graveyard looking for Rowan Morrison’s grave. We found the spot but sadly, the grave was a prop.
Unfortunately we had no eggs or babies with us to properly reproduce this scene.
The Parade Investigation
The scenes that were shot around the Toll House in Kirkcudbright where Howie is looking for Rowan and following around members of the procession was easy to find. Not much has changed in 30 years which is incredible.
This was the first stop in our quest. This is one of the buildings that Howie enters when he’s looking for Rowan. It’s an old building that is now used as an art gallery.
The Rite
All the shots on the beach were done outside of St. Ninan’s Cave. The walk out to the beach is pretty far from the road and the parking lot. We we’re pondering how they got all the props and gear out there. Did they have to walk the long path like we did or did they have special permission. The path isn’t really passable for vehicles which is what really perplexed us. Maybe the horse pulled the carriage with all the film gear on it? All in all, a really great day.
