W is for...

... Wigtown

Settlement

Dumfries & Galloway

422

Pop: 1117

A Royal Burgh and formerly the principal town of the old district of Wigtownshire, Wigtown is a village above a derelict pier on Wigtown Bay. The wide main street has an enclosure in the centre which was used to pen cattle. In 1685 two women, Margaret McLauchlan and Margaret Wilson were drowned in the bay because of their covenanting beliefs and a stone commemorates their martyrdom on the shore. In 1858 a further memorial was erected on a hill above the town. In recent years the town has advertised itself as Scotland's Book Town and with a growing number of bookshops is worth a visit.

... Wishaw

Settlement

North Lanarkshire

25

Pop: 29791

Despite its industrial past Wishaw's name probably means "Willow wood", a suggestion backed up by the trees which still grow on South Calder Water. The town was amalgamated with Motherwell into a single burgh in 1920 and has enjoyed the past success and endured the present troubles of its partner ever since.