Circaries:  Fearn having severed ties with Whithorn, the circary consisted of 5 southern Scottish houses with 7 northern English ones.  The wars put an end to this.  The 1498 general chapter records Scotland as a separate circary.  All abbots were summoned to a reforming chapter at Premontre in 1505 but only the Soulseat abbot attended and was made Visitor.  This changed to the Whithorn abbot next year.  A great row between King James and the Pope ensued, with the Dryburgh abbot also having a claim to be visitor, but McDowell remained Visitor until 1515.  From 1515 to 1523 records say it was the Whithorn abbot, but that seems unlikely.  By 1534 there is little holding the Premontre chapter and the Scottish abbeys together (DILWORTH).
Dependency:  Fearn, in Ross (c. 1225)  (RICHARDSON AND WOOD).

Community:
1235 22 canons elected a bishop
1408 the complement was said to be just 12, but that is suspect
1508 the prior and 26 canons signed a document
1533 20 canons
1553-59 documents were signed by 19 canons in all, 17 of whom occur in 1555-1556.  
In the 1550s 10 are mentioned for first time, so are probably young newcomers;  there was 1 senior man
Oct 1555 John Rig could not sign his name, but he could by 1556
One D.H.  (David Herring, signing 1532-46?) was expelled but reinstated late 1520s by the abbot of Dryburgh as Visitor
William Vaus at Clayshant was illegitimate
Bartholomew McIvan at Cruggleton was a notary
1530 Andrew Stevenson the subprior sold land and a house in Edinburgh.

Income and government:
1561 the minimum annual income was £2540 Scots (1/5 of sterling), slightly more than Dryburgh’s.  This was middle income for abbeys:  1/5 of St Andrew’s but more than Crossraguel.  £20 was an adequate income for a priest at that time.

The land holdings were large enough to constitute baronies, the local unit of rural life:  a barony could have a mill, fix prices, regulate land management etc;  its trading centre, the burgh, had a court, a market and an annual fair.  Whithorn clachan was a burgh from at least 1326, and from 1459 its annual fair lasted 4 days.  The prior was the superior of the barony, the baron who ruled local life (DILWORTH).  Trade from the burgh exported skins, wool, hides and cloth, imported wine, wax and corn, owning ships for this purpose  (RADFORD).