Saint Ninian died in the year 432. Saint Bede the Venerable (672-735) writes in his 'Ecclesiatical History of the English People' that “The Southern Picts…received the true faith through the preaching of the Word by Bishop Ninian, a most reverend and holy man of British race, who had received orthodox instruction at Rome in the mysteries of the true faith. His episcopal see, distinguished by its church dedicated to Saint Martin, where his body rests…is now under the rule of the English. The place is part of the kingdom of Bernicia and popularly known as the White House, because Ninian built a church of stone there, a style of building unfamiliar to the Britons”.