(Based on and used with permission from the wicker-man.com site which was written circa mid-2000s.)
They shot here from Oct 31 - Nov 6, Nov 21 and Nov 24, 1972.
See also Andy Taylor's location footage from 2000 and 2009.
A Google aerial map of the locations.
For information about the site this link will tell you everything you want to know: This one with pics! and this one with gravestone transcriptions.
A few miles east of Creetown is the small village of Anwoth.
Anwoth is clearly one of the most evocative of all The Wicker Man's filming locations.
The maypole dance, schoolhouse, ruined kirk, and graveyard scenes were filmed here. These locales are situated in relation to each other exactly as you would expect from viewing the film. The 'harvest festival photographs' seen in the film were shot here as well as some of the pictures Howie sees in the darkroom. A brief shot of Howie riding in the trap was also shot in front of the schoolhouse.
Despite some tidying of the ruined kirk, the area is instantly recognizable.
The debris we saw in the church when Sergeant Howie examined it has since been removed, as has the small alter where Howie placed his make-shift cross.
The large cross seen in in the left of the 'harvest festival photographs' is also gone. The back gate is also missing, however, it has been saved and is placed outside to the back of the building.
The 'Memento mori' skull-and-crossbones motif is still there. However, the smaller skull and cross bones motif seen behind the breastfeeding woman is no longer there.
The church graveyard exists today as it did during filming ( with the exception of Beech Buchanan's grave which was a prop ), although the area is now a lot tidier than it was in 1972. The couple watering the graves was shot here too as you can see the maypole and the distinctive headstones in the shot as well.
This is where we see Howie meet the Old Gardener.
This pic shows it from another angle.
In front of the graveyard gates is the spot where the maypole sequence was performed. There is even a dent in the grass in
the exact centre of the area, which is where the maypole prop stood.
Opposite the ruined kirk and graveyard is the old Anwoth school house.
This building's interiors and exteriors served as Summerisle school. The building can be rented.
The shot of Howie peering over the graveyard wall to see, depending on which version you watch, the couples watering the graves and the nude woman weeping on a grave, was shot in the graveyard looking across to the schoolhouse.
Some behind the scenes shots of Anwoth: The maypole. The schoolhouse.
Unlike many of the other locations, no use of clever editing was employed to create the geography of the area on screen. It is fair to say that if you intend on visiting any of The Wicker Man's filming locales, you must visit Anwoth.
