IT is an area known as Scotland's "cradle of Christianity" and has attracted pilgrims for centuries.

However, trustees of a museum that depicts the story of St Ninian, who was born in the Solway region in the south-west of the country, claim its future is under threat due to council cutbacks.

The Whithorn Trust says this may be the last summer the Whithorn Story Visitor Centre, which promotes the archaeology and heritage of the area in Dumfries and Galloway, can open its doors.

It would mean making redundant the sole full-time employee, plus the loss of six seasonal jobs and an estimated £500,000 a year to the local economy, for the sake of £10,000, according to the trust.

St Ninian, generally accepted as being the first Christian missionary in Scotland, is thought to have established the first Christian church in Scotland at Whithorn in 397 AD. His shrine won fame as a destination for pilgrims throughout the middle ages, including King James IV of Scotland.

The trust's operation is the gateway for around 7000 visitors to the site, where an audiovisual history and a collection "of national importance" explain its historical significance.

Visitors can then gain access to remains including the cathedral ruins, an archaeological dig site and Historic Scotland's exhibition of early Christian stones.

Donna Brewster, one of the trustees, said: "If the collection is dismantled and the centre closed, there will be no welcoming place for visitors, and no explanation of the Whithorn story. What will this say about Scotland?"

The only full-time employee is project manager Helen Butterworth. She said the "crisis" facing the trust is due to the fact that Dumfries and Galloway Council has changed the way it funds cultural organisations.

Instead of there being a central pot open to independent museums, all the money is now given to area committees to distribute.

"So we are now in with the likes of day centres and the local bowling club," she said. "And in March our area committee took the policy decision to only fund up to 30% of core funding.

"It meant we were looking at an £18,500 shortfall. We have narrowed that down and are now looking at £10,500, but I go at the end of September.

"I currently do everything from health and safety to marketing, HR to fund-raising."

She said it costs around £107,000 a year to run the centre and, while that may appear high, it is because the museum needs a high level of security so it can be trusted to host prestigious exhibitions.

"Our permanent exhibition is of the artefacts we excavated from the site. The importance of those is that Whithorn is the only continually settled ecclesiastical site, as opposed to other archaeological sites that will tell one story from one period of time. We can take the story from 450AD to the modern period."

A spokesman for the council said the Whithorn Trust was last year allocated £46,000 from Wigtown Area Committee. However, £16,000 of this award was held back pending the trust producing a business plan.

He said councillors have to be sure public money is properly accounted for. "Our council has made it clear to organisations seeking funding they must become businesslike and sustainable, and be able to source core funding from elsewhere."

But the trust requested a greater level of funding from the 2013/14 discretionary budget than it had done during 2012/13, and it had not shown any progress towards financial sustainability.

He said this year the Whithorn Trust received £32,125, the maximum award it could receive from the committee.

"It was also the largest award given to any voluntary organisation by Wigtown Area Committee this financial year," he said. "Recently, the Whithorn Trust has started to work with council finance officers to develop a sustainable business plan."