Editing Portpatrick (section)

=== St Patrick's Church ===
[[File:Portpatrick Old Kirk - geograph.org.uk - 930883.jpg|thumb|right|Portpatrick Old Kirk]]

This ruined church, dating from 1629, may itself stand on the ruins of an earlier church, known as St Patrick's Chapel.  The circular tower may date from the 1520s, and originally stood on its own.  Its unusual shape (for Scotland) may mean that it was either a lighthouse for the harbour, or heavily influenced by Irish architecture.

In the 18th and 19th centuries, when Portpatrick was an important ferry port for passengers, postal mail and freight between Ireland and Scotland, the village was described as the [[Gretna Green]] for Ireland. There was a daily packet boat from [[Donaghadee]], and marriages for couples from Ireland were conducted by the Church of Scotland minister in Portpatrick, although according to Brack (1997) he often overlooked the rules about the publication of [[banns]] or the required period of residence.  It's believed that happy couples could disembark, complete the ceremony, and be back on board within an hour.{{citation needed||date=May 2024}}

The graveyard around the church contains memorials to many victims of shipwrecks in nearby waters. Joined to the original chapel was a district by the name of the Black Quarter of Inch. When the church was rebuilt in 1629, the Black Quarter was disjoined from [[Inch, Wigtownshire|Inch]] and erected as the Parish of Montgomorie. The name of the parish however was changed after only two or three years to that of Portpatrick.