SAINT Ninian, the bishop credited with bringing Christianity to Scotland more than 1600 years ago, may have been a spelling mistake by an eighth-century scribe.

Research at Glasgow University suggests his story was based on an earlier saint whose real name was Uinniau - and the cult of Saint Ninian was introduced later as a propaganda weapon.

Saint Ninian is said to have brought Christianity to Scotland and founded an abbey at Whithorn in the fourth century. However, that story did not start circulating until 400 years later.

Dr Thomas Clancy, of Glasgow university's department of Celtic, discovered the error while researching some of the earliest Christian manuscripts.

He said: ''There are a lot of stories from the middle ages about St Ninia, as he was known then.

''But before that time there is nothing written in history to suggest that he existed. There is no mention about cults or churches which you would expect if he had been so prominent.

''We do, however, have evidence of St Uinniau, who was in the same area as the so-called St Ninian at the same time. So it appears there has been a mix-up.

''I believe that a spelling mistake has occurred somewhere along the line and it has been perpetuated by later scholars for hundreds of years.''

Dr Clancy, who has been researching St Ninian for several years, said that the people of Galloway knew that he was called St Uinniau, but later accepted the altered spelling.

He believes that Bede created St Ninian when he wrote about him in his Historia Ecclesiastica in the eighth century.

Dr Clancy thinks that the error may have occurred through translation from information given to the scholar, and so St Uinniau became universally known as St Ninia.

He said: ''It would have been very easily done. Even in later years St Ninia was called St Ninianus by Latin scholars and we now know him as St Ninian. It has happened throughout the ages.''

It is believed that the name St Ninian only became very well known in the 12th century and established a following.

He became a household name after he was said to have spread Christianity throughout Scotland. He lived from 360 AD to 432 AD, but some researchers claim he is more likely to have been around in the sixth century.

St Ninian was the son of a converted British chieftain who founded the candida casa, or Stone White Church, after training as a bishop in Rome. He is credited with bringing Christianity to Roman Scotland and is the first named Christian of Scottish record, according to Bede.

The saint inspired a cult following, and more than 100 churches, buildings and places have been named after him. But it has been claimed that Northumbrian church leaders began embellishing St Ninian's achievements.

A Church of Scotland spokesman said: ''There is certainly a lot of controversy about Ninian and little evidence - much of it slender or hearsay.

''We know we can't guarantee the facts but, if Bede did get it wrong, what is true is that in the early centuries there were people of great imagination, fortitude and courage who went throughout Scotland declaring the gospel fearlessly.''