A Cistercian abbey in the lowlands of Scotland - Dundrennan Abbey

Near Kirkcudbright in the lowlands of Scotland stands a tranquil and beautiful monastery once home to Cistercian monks, Dundrennan Abbey.

Dundrennan was founded in 1142 by monks from Rievaulx in Yorkshire and was one of the largest monastic sites in Scotland. It is built in the typical Cistercian layout with the church to the north and the domestic buildings to the south. King David I granted the foundation of Dundrennan and likely saw it as a way of expressing his support of the reform of the Scottish Church.

The abbey went on to become the mother house of two more Cistercian houses in Scotland - Glenluce Abbey, founded in 1191, and Sweetheart Abbey, founded in 1273.

Dundrennan was the place that Mary Queen of Scots spent her last hours in Scotland. She had been imprisoned in Lochleven Castle, having been forced to abdicate the Scottish throne. She managed to escape and raised an army of 6,000 to go into battle to reclaim the throne. She was defeat at the Battle of Langside and retreated south. This brought her to Dundrennan on May 15th 1568. It was Mary's intention to cross the Solway firth into England so she could appeal for help from her cousin, Queen Elizabeth I. She managed to do this the following morning, sailing to Workington in modern day Cumbria in a small fishing boat. She would never return to Scotland.

Interesting features:

  • The grave cover of an unknown former abbot - interesting as it gives a fantastic depiction of how an abbot would have dressed and how a crozier would have looked. Also interesting due to the fact that the abbot is depicted with a knife in his heart. It is possible that this depicts an abbot of Dundrennan who was assassinated.
  • Grave slab of a nun, not something common in a monastery like this. The nun may well be Blanche, one of the last nuns serving at near by Lincluden Nunnery. She, and her sister, were removed from the nunnery when it was suppressed in the 1300s.

Location: Dundrennan, Kirkcudbright DG6 4QH, UK

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Salty Business in Cheshire - Lion Salt Works, Marston

Image
In the small village of Marston, in Cheshire, there is a reminder of the areas (salty) industrial past, the Lion Salt Works . I really enjoyed my visit to this little gem. I had never heard of it before but while visiting my mum and dad, over towards Manchester, they suggested a visit. Why not! I love history, so a visit to an old industrial site and museum was right up my street. The first thing that struck me on arrival was the large red brick chimney, rising into the sky above the lower buildings - I do love a chimney. It reminded me a lot of the chimney at a site nearer to my home (and where I worked for a time), Stott Park Bobbin Mill. Passing by the chimney we entered the lovely little shop and cafe to pay then enter the site. The salt works is a mix of a recently renovated museum and more run down parts of the original works. The museum really helped to bring the site to life with excellent displays and videos telling the story of salt production in the area from as ea...
Read more

An Anglo-Saxon ruin on the Lancashire coast - St. Patrick's Chapel, Heysham

Image
Standing on a headland just outside the seaside village of Heysham in Lancashire is the ruins of a small Anglo-Saxon chapel,  St. Patrick's Chapel. Dating back to around the 8th Century this chapel would have been a rectangular construction and is made from local sandstone. Folklore dictates that St. Patrick once came ashore here following a shipwreck in the fifth century and set up a chapel. True or not the chapel, still visible today, was built some two centuries later in his name to encourage pilgrimage. Interesting features: The curved Anglo-Saxon doorway built into the south wall. A beautiful piece of ancient architecture. The stone cut tombs. Cut from the rocks that create the headland these tombs would have held human bones. At the head of each tombs are square sockets, it is believed that this is where wooden crosses would have been placed.
Read more