Red walls of a medieval monastery - Sweetheart Abbey
Just off the main street in the lovely village of New Abbey in Dumfries, Scotland, is the beautiful remains of a Cistercian Monastery with the sweetest of names - Sweetheart Abbey . Sweetheart was established in 1273 by Lady Dervorgilla. Dervorgilla was the widow of Lord John Balliol who in life was Lord at Barnard Castle in County Durham. Following his death Dervorgilla had his heart embalmed and placed in a casket made of ivory, which she kept on her dining table. She then invited the poor and needy to come to her table as an act of charity. Just one of many she would undertake in her life, including the foundation of Sweetheart Abbey in memory of her late husband. Sweetheart was established as a daughter house to Dundrennan Abbey, which I wrote about in this previous blog post , and was conceived as a shrine to human and divine love. The church, as with all churches in the Cistercian order, was dedicated to St. Mary and is in the typical cruciform shape, symbolising the