Wikipedia's Whitekirk article says the holy well dedicated to St Mary the Virgin dried up in the 19th century after agricultural drainage, and its exact position is uncertain. Piccolomini's journey in 1435, when he was a papal legate, is described as an eight mile walk through frozen country that gave him rheumatism for the rest of his life. Later retellings have added detail.
The article also says the church was set on fire in 1914, allegedly by suffragette campaigners, though this was never proved, and that an annual pilgrimage from Whitekirk to Haddington began in 1971. The healing well is the part of the story that falls under folklore, as the shrine's reputation rested on it.
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