Scottish Cistercian Trail

The Scottish Cistercian Trail

	Cistercian Abbeys of Scotland Deer Cupar-Angus Nunraw Newbattle Saddell Culross Balmerino Sweetheart Glenluce Dundrennan Melrose Kinloss

Scottish Cistercian Trail - Nunraw and Eleven Ancient Abbeys
Introduction: Beginning of Cistercian Monks 1098
To contemplate God as perfectly as it can be done by men living in common, to contemplate God day and night, winter and summer, all the year round, not merely as individuals in a community, but precisely as a community, and that is the Cistercian vocation. Thomas Merton writing in the 'Waters of .Silence', defines for us the peculiar function of the White Monks in the Church. Whether they belonged to the far-off days of Melrose, Dundrennan, or Newbattle or Rievaulx, or whether they find themselves to-day in Kentucky, Utah, the prairies of Canada, or the Belgian Congo, in the countries of Europe or elsewhere, the Cistercian vocation is unchanged. And that is love: the love of God and the love of other men in God and for His sake. Thomas Merton goes on in his study of the Cistercian Order to remind us that there is intoxication in the waters of contemplation and that these are the waters that the world does not know. These are the waters of peace. . . that flow in silence.
The name Cistercian is derived from the Latin word Cistercium, the equivalent of the French name of their first monastery, Citeaux, which became the mother house of the Order. The first Cistercians were originally Benedictines of the Abbey of Molesmes, in France. Robert the Abbot wished to lead a life of more poverty, greater austerity and more rigorous silence than was customary in Benedictine monasteries of that period over eight hundred years ago, and in company with twenty of his monks established anew foundation at a place known as Citeaux, not far from the town of Dijon. receiving permission from the Archbishop of Lyons and Legate of the Holy See.
A rude chapel served as their oratory, and with their own hands they built a habitation of rough timber. and aided by the Duke of Burgundy the new monastery was inaugurated on St.Benedict's Day, 2lst March, 1098 - in that year Palm Sunday.
The little church, completed, was dedicated in the following year in honour of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Robert was elected Abbot of the new monastery. but later retired to Molesmes, where he died in 1100. .In that year Pope Pascal 11 gave his solemn approbation to the new- Order. .The monks of Citeaux continued under Robert's successor Alberic. upon whose death Stephen Harding succeeded to the Abbacy.
The severity of the Order might have brought it to an end but for the arrival in the novitiate of Bernard. later to become Abbot of Clairvaux. and a number of other youths who brought so invigorating an influence to Citeaux that St. Stephen Harding was to see as many as one hundred monasteries established in Europe before his -death. During the twenty-five years of his rule St. Stephen had developed the principles of the foundation and had fixed by written laws the usages to be followed in all monasteries to their most minute particulars. The work of St. Stephen Harding was extended by St. Bernard of Clairvaux, who by his exertions founded one hundred additional monasteries. -It was during the lifetime of St. Bernard, who died in 1153. that Cistercian monks. already settled in England during G, the rule of St. Stephen Harding, were introduced into Scotland.
During the twelfth and thirteenth centuries thousands of ordinary men, together with some of the intellectual and spiritual elite settled in the cloisters of the Cistercian abbeys to become peaceable and industrious men, some of them becoming great Saints, and all of them united in their diverse temperaments by the love of God, aided by the ordered sequence of work and reading and eating and sleeping--the rhythm being free and natural and attuned to the seasons. In the twelfth century the Rule of St. Benedict was given vitality in the Cistercian monasteries. The Spirit of God was abroad in that century, and St. Bernard and his Cistercians epitomize the love of Christ and His Virgin Mother that is the hallmark of the Middle Ages: a period in history during which men in legions marched along the way to God.

The Scottish Cistercians

1. Melrose

At the time of the Reformation there were eleven Cistercian abbeys existing in Scotland, four of which owed their existence to David I who lived during the period of St. Stephen and St. Bernard. The son of Malcolm Canmore and Margaret. Queen of Scotland. he established conditions of peace and prosperity during his lifetime, and was responsible for the bringing of the Cistercians to Scotland. The country was then an integral part of Western Christendom, and it is perhaps not really surprising that he should have desired the presence of the Cistercians in his country. Building work was commenced on MELROSE in 1136, and ten years later a church was completed and consecrated in honour of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
The speed of erection may have been partly due to the simplicity of Cistercian design at that time. In a later age the primitive vigour of architecture was modified. The first monks for the community came from the English house of Rievaulx, which was colonised during the lifetime of St. Stephen Harding.
At its height Melrose could count as many as two hundred monks, and even twenty years before the Reformation one hundred and thirty were present in the monastery. One of the Abbots. Waltheof, stepson of David I, was honoured as a saint after his death, and it is recorded that in a time of famine he multiplied miraculously the corn of the abbey so that it sufficed for four thousand persons for the space of three months, during which time the poor from all the country around took up their abode in huts and tents in the vicinity of the monastery. A later Superior, Joscelin, began the building of Glasgow Cathedral. The first church at Melrose was destroyed during an English invasion in the fourteenth century and was restored later by Robert the Bruce, whose heart was later taken to Melros~ for interment. Alexander II and his Queen and Alexander lU were buried there. Melrose received its death blow from the soldiers of Henry VI[[. after which it was abandoned. In 1822 the Duke of Buccleuch, with the advice of Sir Walter Scott, repaired the ruins and since then they have been well car~d for. To-day one can still marvel at the architecture and the tracery of the windows: the silence of Melrose being relieved by the cooing of the pigeons fluttering in and around th~ remains. There were two dependent priories of Melrose at Mauchline in Ayrshire and Friars Carse near Dumfries. There was also a hospital connected with the Abbey at Aldneston in Lauderdale.

2. NEWBATTLE

NEWBATTLE was founded during the same reign about six years later in the valley of the South Esk. The community at one time numbered as-many as eighty monks and seventy lay brothers. The abbey, of which practically nothing remains, was visited frequently by the Kings of Scotland, each adding to its endowment. Excavation of its foundations was carried out by the Lothian family - one lengrh of the building being estimated at approximately 239 feet. Flooring tiles similar in design to those of Rievaulx in Yorkshire were found during the work of excavation. Vaulted arches in the basement of the present dwelling showed absorption of the ancient building during the later construction. Newbattle has a special interest to-day for those in the coal industry. For the monks of Newbattle were amongst the first-if not the first-coal miners in Scotland, a fact commented upon to one of the writers recently eight hundred feet below ground in the Carberry Pit. The mines worked by the monks were on the opposite side of the Esk to the Abbey. Other mines were at Preston Grange, w.here a harbour was built by the monks for the convenience of shipping coal. James the Abbot in 1531 entered into a contract with the monks of Dunfermline undertaking to work his coal of Preston Grange in such away as to give passage for the water from the Abbot of Dunfermline's coalfields at Inveresk and Pinkie to the sea. 1'he Abbey of Newbattle was known for the production of the finest quality of wool grown in Scotland. This was exported to the Low Countries, who traded greatly with Scotland in the Middle Ages. In 1490 the wool from the Abbey's flocks topped the market at Middelburgh. Newbattle suffered much from English invasions, one incursion taking forty years to repair. The Earl of Hertford set fire to the abbey in 1544 and was responsible for its destruction in the first instance. Twenty years after the Reformation only six monks remaint:d -these were pensioned off by the Commendator.

3. SADDELL

The Abbey of SADDELL in Kintyre in Argyllshire was founded by Somerled, Lord of the Isles, in the middle of the twelfth century. Judging from the ruins the abbey was of considerable size-the church being 136 feet in length and the cloister garth 58 feet square. Little remains now, the stones, as wit II many pre-Reformation structures, being employed to build dykes, steadings and houses. Successive Lords of the IsI~s added to its endown1ents. A transcript of a Vatican document in the Register House gives confirmation of ancient grants to the Abbey of Saddell. It is dated 27th of June, 1393. .."A petition laid before us on behalf of the Abbot and convent of the monastery of Sagadyl {Saddell}. Cistercian order. Argyll diocese. contained that the. formerly late Reginald of happy memory. son of Semorlegus. King of the Isles. with licence of the Apostolic See founded the monastery of Sagadyl. Cistercian order. Argyll diocese. to the honour of God and under the name of the Blessed Virgin.wherefore we. acceding to a supplication on their behalf. confirm the above donations by Apostolic authority and with the protection of these presents: with inhibition to all attempting anything to the contrary."

4. DUNDRENNAN

DUNDRENNAN. another Cistercian abbey. was founded by King David 1 about seven miles from the town of Kirkcudbright.
The valley in which it was built was bounded by wooded hills running down to the Solwav Firth. The remains show a building of rare beauty and of considerable extent. The aisles were 15 feet wide. the entire length of the building measuring about 200 feet. The monastery itself. which stood on the south side of the church, covered an area of 300 feet square. Dundrennan is mainly noted in Scottish history in connection with Mary, Queen of Scots, who arrived there following the battle of -Langside in 1568. She was accompanied. among others, by Lord Livingstone, an ancestor of whom. Thomas Livingstone. was Abbot of Dundrennan in the previous century and who played a controversial role during the Council of Basle. The Abbot at the time of Queen Mary's arrival was Edward Maxwell, whose father. Lord Herries. refused to cast down the buildings at the order of the Lords of the Congregation.

5. KINLOSS

An old legend tells that when King David was hunting near the town of Forres, he lost his way in; dense wood and. praying for deliverance. was guided by a dove to an open space where shepherds. looking after their flocks. gave him succour. falling asleep. he dreamed that Our Lady appeared to him and bade him build a church in her honour on that spot in gratitude for his preservation. When he awoke, David traced out on the turf the outlines of the proposed building. The church was erected and an abbey also. and a body of monks came from Melrose to colonise it. Such is the popular origin of the Cistercians at KINLOSS in Morayshire. Little now remains of this foundation.
The most noted of the Superiors of Kinloss was Abbot Reid, who later became Bishop of Orkney in 1541. Bishop Reid was a very distinguished man who became a Senator of the College of Justice and was frequently employed in diplomatic missions to England. Italy and France. The son of a gentleman who fell at Flodden. he was educated at St. Andrews and afterwards at the University of Paris. He restored the Cathedral of St. Magnus at Kirkwall. The former Cistercian Abbot left by his will the . sum of 8,000 merks for the foundation of a college in Edinburgh.
This was in times after the Reformation applied by the Magistrates in 1581 to the purchase of a site for the purpose. Bishop Reid may therefore be regarded as the founder of Edinburgh University. Before his appointment to the Bishopric of Orkney, the Cistercian was responsible for the bringing to Scotland of Giovanni Ferreri (Johannes Ferrerius), the Italian scholar who taught at Kinloss and whose influence extended far beyond its cloisters. The latter added to the library of Kinloss, already established by the predecessor of Robert Reid, Thomas Chrystall. The reader is directed to the essay on 'Humanism in Scotland', by John Durkan, Innes Review, Vol. IV, No. 1, where will be found a study of the times of Bishop Reid and a list of the books of the library of Kinloss, with their present whereabouts, should he wish to pursue interest further.
6. COUPAR ANGUS
A few scattered remains to-day represent all that is left of the Abbey of COUPAR ANGUS, founded in 1164 by monks from Melrose who journeyed northwards. The members were not many and never exceeded twenty. Abbot David Bayn, the first Superior to receive the privilege of using mitre and crozier granted him by Pope Pius II, was a man of distinguished talents and was appointed visitor in 1467 for all the Scottish houses of the Order. At the period of the Reformation this house was wrecked. Some books. however, are still extant. Father David McRoberts has drawn our attention to a Psalter written in the twelfth century which was in the library of Coupar Angus in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries and is now in the Vatican library. A manuscript calendar belonging to the abbey is in the Edinburgh University library. The calendar is dated 1482 and bears the inscription, "Liber Beate Marie de Cupro." 'The Rental Book of Coupar Angus' gives us a clear account of the friendly relations between monks and tenants. Farm labourers and craftsmen employed by the monks received bread, fish, ale and meat daily from the abbey and were looked after when they were ill. Peace and contentment was the keynote around the abbey in an age of strife and turmoil.

7. GLENLUCE

Roland of Galloway, Constable of Scotland, founded an abbey for Cistercian monks at GLENLUCE in Wigtownshire. the monks probably coming from Dundrennan. The church is known to have been cruciform, about 180 feet in length, with transepts extending 88 feet to either side, a central tower completing the building. The abbey was pillaged during civil strife in 1235 and for many years leave was granted by the English king under whose protection the abbey lay, to purchase food in Ireland. James IV in his pilgrimages to Whithorn to visit the shrine of St. Ninian, spent time at the abbey. On one occasion, highly gratified by the state of the abbey gardens, he presented the gardener with a gratuity of four shillings, equivalent to a much greater sum by present-day scales of value. Following the Reformation, the property passed to the Crown in 1587.

8. CULROSS

CULROSS, a Royal burgh on the Fife shore of the Firth of Forth, is to-day known as a delightful village containing many examples of old Scottish styles of architecture. The narrow, cobbled streets and houses still retain the atmosphere of the Middle Ages. The Abbey of Culross was at one time a place of great importance; possessing extensive coal-mines and saltpans, it became a busy trade centre in the produce of each.
As many as 170 foreign vessels would layoff the coast, waiting for cargoes of coal and salt. The town, of course, shared in its prosperity and sank into insignificance, except for the antiquarian, with its ruin. At the Reformation there were only nine monks in the abbey, the abbey lands passing into lay hands. The central tower remains in a very good state of preservation, due to Ministry of Works, and it now forms the western extremity of the building. The former choir is used as a Presbyterian church. The abbey was founded in the early thirteenth century in honour of St. Mary and St. Serf, the latter being the master of the apostle of Glasgow, St. Mungo, during his childhood. The abbey was an outshoot from Kinloss. A manuscript Psalter written at Culross under Abbot Richard Marshall (d. 1470), containing Calendar, Psalter, Canticles, Litany, etc., is in the possession of the National Library of Scotland.

9. DEER

DEER in Aberdeenshire. was founded by the Earl of Buchan in 1218, continuing the monastic traditions of that part of Scotland. The ancient Celtic monastery of St. Columcille and St.
Drostan was then no longer in existence. In the thirteenth century that part of the country was nothing more than marsh and forest. and its later fruitfulness was due to the labours of the monks on their acquiring possession of it. The monastic buildings were of considerable size, the church having a nave of five arches in length. transepts and choir. The founder was buried in the church. The last real Abbot was Robert Keith, who died in Paris in 1551. The Abbey seal was recovered in June, 1930, and is now in the possession of the Cistercians at Nunraw. Deer was a subordinate house to Kinloss. A supplication to the Vatican in 1419 shows Robert Crokat asking for ratification of his appointment as Abbot on the death of his predecessor. A ninth century manuscript of selected passages from the Gospels belonged to the Abbot of Deer. and the manuscript, known as the Book of Deer is in the possession of the University library, Cambridge.

10. BALMERINO

The ruins of BALMERINO on the south bank of the Tay give little idea of the extent of what was once one of the most noted of the Cistercian abbeys in Scotland. The abbey was founded by Queen Ermengarde, widow of William the Lion, in 1229.
She endowed the abbey with a large extent of land, which was confirmed by her son by charter. King Alexander declared the possession of the monks to be granted in free right of saltworks, fishings, etc., with exemption from taxes, tolls and services, "so that nonesoever of those things can be demanded of them except by their prayers alone." Subsequent monarchs showed equal interest in Balmerino. Henry VIII, however, was less good intentioned, and his soldiers under Admiral Wyndham caused great destruction at Balmerino as elsewhere in 1547.
The building was later made habitable, to suffer however with Lindores, further along the Tay, at the hands of the mob during the Reformation. Two monks were still living on the premises more than twenty years after the wreck of their home.
In the year 1420, John de Hailes, the Abbot of Balmerino in the diocese of St. Andrews, privy counsellor of Robert, Duke of Albany, supplicates the Pope .. that he would be granted faculty for life of choosing some fit priest, secular or regular, as confessor to hear his confessions as often as need be and grant absolution as is competent to minor penitentiaries in the Roman Curia and plenary absolution once in the hour of death."

11. SWEETHEART

SWEETHEART Abbey, almost as well known in Scotland as the Border abbeys, is- the last in order of the Cistercian foundations of pre-Reformation days. The ruins that stand to-day, like Melrose, give an indication of beauty that speculation on the impression that they gave, in those bygone days, tends to leave the onlooker breathless. Sweetheart, now known as New Abbey, is situated on the road south from Dumfries towards Kirkbean and the holiday resort of Southerness. The abbey was founded by Deyorgilla, mother of John Balliol, in 1273, to enshrine the heart of her husband. His body was buried at Barnard Castle, Durham, but his wife had the heart embalmed and placed in a casket of ivory and silver, which she kept always by her side. The church was a beautiful building in early English style, measuring 203 feet in extreme length.
The central tower was 92 feet high. The "wheel tracery" of the western window is a splendid example of its kind. Deyorgilla is also known as the foundress of Balliol College, Oxford. The last Abbot, Gilbert Brown, upheld his Catholic faith long after the Reformation. He was summoned before the General Assembly of the Kirk to answer for his faith and denounced again to- them in 1588. In 1605, despite the resistance of the whole countryside, he was taken prisoner, conveyed to Edinburgh and banished the realm. He became Rector of the Scots College in Paris, where he died in 1612, aged eighty-four. The monastic buildings became a quarry for house building. In the year 1779 a parish minister sa ved the church from further destruction by collecting sufficient money to purchase the ruins, and since then any work has been that of preservation and repair.
Cistercians in Scottish Development
Scotland is indebted to the monks in many and various ways.
They were the civilizers of their time. At a period when laymen were liable to be called out to battle at almost any moment they were the tillers of the soil who could count on freedom from warlike service and often-though not always-their land escaped the depredations of the invader. Protestant writers state that their possessions were administered in a way that excites admiration. Tytler, in his History of Scotland, states that they were the great agricultural improvers of the country and in later ages they became landlords by leasing out their property, and their good example in scientific management of their farms and their estates was a practical lesson to their tenants. In the management of their fisheries they showed skill and enterprise.
We have already mentioned their work in the early coal-fields and their export of wool, hides and skins. The fairs and markets owed their origin to the greater monasteries. Monks have always been noted for their charity to the poor. When the monasteries went, the poorhouses arrived. In Scotland over one hundred and forty hospitals were attached to monasteries or had independent existence before the Reformation. These hospitals were not hospitals in the sense that we know them, but treatment was given to the sick, the aged and the infirm in the spirit of charity to one's neighbour. In many cases the monk and the lay brother were skilled in the art of medicine, and the physic garden was common to the great abbeys of Scotland-here we are speaking generally without prejudice to the raison d'etre of Citeaux. The country was in a parlous state as regards provision for the sick following the Reformation, and it did not recover until the voluntary hospital movement of the eighteenth century.
Scottish Women in the Cistercian Order
The Cistercian life was not, and is not, confined to men. Benedictine nuns from Tully, near Dijon, founded a convent in the same neighb~urhood in 1132. The expansion of Cistercian convents was rapid and widespread, so rapid indeed that the General Chapter meeting at Citeaux in 1228 decreed that no more convents for women would be accepted into the Cistercian Order. The foundations of to-day stem from La Sainte .Vo1onte de Dieu in Switzerland, where their revival began following the terrors of the French Revolution. Our Lady of the Holy Cross at Stapehill in Dorset is an example of the modern Cistercian convent arising from the Swiss cradle.
The Cistercian convents in Scotland were in the majority founded during the fervour that swept Europe in the twelfth century. North Berwick, St. Mary's Wynd, Edinburgh, Coldstream, South Berwick, Eccles, Elquho, Haddington, Gullane, St. Bothans, Trefontaines, Perth, Elbottle and Manuel are names known to us.
MANUEL, the remains of which can be seen by the railway viaduct near Linlithgow, was founded in 1156 in honour of Our Lady, in the reign of Malcolm IV, who succeeded King David I.
Charters are known to us granting land and aid by succeeding monarchs. On the 22nd June, 1224, Alexander II "grants to the nuns of Manuel one and a half chalders of salt from the tithes of his salt-pans," and in 1530 the Chapter General at Citeaux instructs the Abbot of Glenluce to collect sums levied for the needs of the Order and for him to assess amounts of the following, ". . . de Manival, de Elchok." Even from the passage of time we can discover items of a more domestic nature; the names of prioresses for example, Christina, Agnes, Alice.
Elizabeth, the prioress in 1541 was cited to appear on the 19th January at the Sheriff Court in Linlithgow to account for tenure of land. She did not appear and was fined. Dame Jane Livingstone, prioress at the Reformation, was still at Manuel four years later. The land passed to the Earls of Linlithgow and Callendar and left that family following the failure of the '45. The land then passed to the Forbes family of Callendar House, Falkirk. General Hutton, an eighteenth century antiquary making an enquiry about Manuel, received a letter from William Forbes dated 17th April, 1789. "After searching the records respecting Emanuel Nunnery, I have been able to make no discovery. the papers are not to be found. Preparation was made to defend the building from the encroachments of the river, and it was proposed to prepare the walls and plant trees in the adjoining field. Unfortunately. before the weather would permit our operation to begin. a flood carried away the east end of the building. I would rather have parted with a larger portion of my house. . ." The flood occurred the previous year and the West gable now standing to-day is all that remains. It is pleasing to record that effort was made, or at least that plans were afoot to save the building.
NORTH BERWICK was founded at about the same time in the twelfth century. and in connection with this convent we mention the Earl's Ferry between Fife and the Lothians. The remains of the chapel at North Berwick harbour have a counterpart at Chapel Green. Earlsferry, Elie. These two chapels were granted to the nuns of North Berwick by Duncan. fourth Earl of Fife for the reception and hospitality of poor people using the ferry.
This ferry was used extensively in olden times by the pilgrims traveling to St. Andrews. With the Reformation, the use of the ferry died away. In recording HADDINGTON we return to Nunraw in our short introduction to the first Cistercians to return to Scotland. The nuns' row of houses was an overflow from the Cistercian convent at Haddington, and in times of danger often a place of refuge for the nuns, particularly during the destruction of Haddington by Edward III in 1356. Two years later the river burst its banks, houses and bridges were swept away and lives lost. As the flood approached the convent the nuns redoubled their prayer to Our Lady to save them, and when all seemed lost one of the nuns, holding aloft a statue of the Virgin, menaced the flood with it, and from that moment the river subsided. From the beginning of the fifteenth century a coldness towards religion was evident among the Scottish nobility. Fighting among themselves and neglecting their estates they became envious of Church lands. and the nuns of Haddington had to appeal to the Privy Council to evict the Lairds of Yester and Makerston in 1471, and themselves found it necessary to fortify the grange of Nunraw, which failed to withstand the English invasion of 1548. At the Reformation the estate of Nunraw was transferred by the prioress, Dame Elizabeth Hepburn, to Patrick Hepburn of Beanstown; members of the community receiving a small pension.
Extract from 'The Scottish Cistercians'
by Iain Doherty and Gordon Fleming 1954

Directions:
Sweetheart Abbey
Seven miles (11.3km) south of Dumfries and Galloway in the village of New Abbey, Dumfries and Galloway & Galloway, on A710. Historic Scotland. (0) 1387 850 397. Open 1st April to 30th Sept., Mon.-Sat. 9:30am-6:30pm; 1st Oct.-31st March, Mon.-Wed. and Sat. from 9:30am-4:30pm, Thurs. 9:30am-12 noon, Sun. 2pm-4:30pm. Closed Thursday pm, Fridays and Sunday mornings in winter.
Deer Abbey
On A950 near Old Deer west of Peterhead, Grampian. Historic Scotland.
Dundrennan Abbey
At Dundrennan, Dumfries and Galloway & Galloway, 6 miles (10km) southeast of Kirkcudbright, on A711. Tel. (0) 1557 500 262. Historic Scotland. Open 1st April to 30th Sept., Mon.-Sat. 9:30am-6:30pm; 1st Oct.-31st March, Mon.-Sat from 9:30am-4:30pm, Sun. 2pm-4:30pm.
Glenluce Abbey
On minor road two miles (3km) northwest of the village of Glenluce on the A75, Dumfries and Galloway & Galloway. Tel. (0) 1581 300 541. Historic Scotland. Open 1st April to 30th Sept., Mon.-Sat. 9:30am-6:30pm; 1st Oct.-31st March, Mon.-Sat from 9:30am-4:30pm, Sun. 2pm-4:30pm.
Melrose Abbey
In the town of Melrose, Borders, on B6360. Historic Scotland. Tel. (0) 1896 822 562. Open April to Sept., Mon.-Sat. 9:30am-6:30pm; 1st Oct-31st March, Mon.-Sat. from 9:30am-4:30pm, Sun. 2-4:30pm.
Culross Abbey
In Culross, Fife & Central, on the Firth of Forth, off A985. Tel. Phone Culross Palace (0) 1383 880 359 for details. Historic Scotland. Open year round. Ruins of nave, cellars and domestic buildings. Abbey Church forms part of the present parish church.

Nunraw to Nunraw - The Great Three-Day Cistercian Motor Trail

07:00 0.0 DEPART Garvald (Lothian) on the Local road ½ mile NW
07:09 3.7 Go onto B6355 3 miles W Tranent
07:16 6.6 Turn left onto B6368 8 miles S Humbie
07:34 14.1 Turn left onto A68 21 miles E Jedburgh
08:08 34.6 Turn right onto B6361 2 miles W Melrose
08:14 36.9 Turn right onto B6374 ½ mile W Galashiels
08:15 37.4 ARRIVE Melrose (Border)
08:15 37.4 DEPART Melrose (Border) on the B6374 ½ mile W Galashiels
08:17 38.0 Bear left onto B6360 ½ mile W
08:18 38.7 Go onto A6091 ½ mile W
08:19 39.2 Turn left onto B6360 3 miles S
08:25 41.7 Turn left onto A7 3 miles S Hawick
08:30 44.3 Turn right onto A708 35 miles W Selkirk
09:29 79.2 At Moffat turn left onto A701 2 miles SW Beattock
09:32 81.2 Turn left onto A74 2 miles E Lockerbie
09:34 82.9 Turn off onto A701 19 miles W Dumfries
10:11 102 Turn right onto A780 1 mile W Dumfries
10:13 102 Turn left onto A710 7 miles S Dalbeattie
10:32 109 ARRIVE New Abbey (Dumfries+Galloway)
10:32 109 DEPART New Abbey (Dumfries+Galloway) on the Local road 6 miles W Beeswing
10:48 115 At Beeswing turn left onto A711 19 miles SW Dalbeattie
11:20 133 ARRIVE Dundrennan (Dumfries+Galloway)
11:20 133 DEPART Dundrennan (Dumfries+Galloway) on the A711 7 miles S Kirkcudbright
11:31 140 At Kirkcudbright turn left onto A755 5 miles N
11:39 145 Turn left onto A75 36 miles W
12:41 181 Turn right onto Local road 1 mile NW
12:44 182 ARRIVE Glenluce (Dumfries+Galloway)
12:44 182 DEPART Glenluce (Dumfries+Galloway) on the Local road 2 miles W
12:48 184 Bear right onto A75 6 miles W Dunragit
12:59 190 Turn right onto A751 2 miles N
13:02 192 Go onto A77 56 miles N Girvan
14:39 248 Turn off onto A78 17 miles W Greenock
15:02 264 At Ardrossan bear left onto Ferry 0 miles W *Check timetable
16:02 264 At Brodick turn off onto A841 14 miles NW Ardrossan
16:26 278 At Lochranza bear right onto Ferry 0 miles NW *Check timetable
16:56 278 At Claonaig turn off onto B842 18 miles W Campbeltown
17:41 296 ARRIVE Saddell (Strathclyde)
17:41 296 DEPART Saddell (Strathclyde) on the B842 18 miles N Dippen
18:25 315 At Claonaig turn left onto B8001 6 miles N Kennacraig
18:39 321 At Kennacraig turn right onto A83 7 miles NE Lochgilphead
18:51 *** End of day 1, Stop for 1 night ***
07:00 328 Stay on the A83 12 miles N Lochgilphead
07:19 339 Bear left onto A816 24 miles N Oban
08:00 364 Refuel before here: last refuel 364 miles ago
08:00 364 At Kilmelford stay on the A816 15 miles N Oban
08:25 378 At Oban bear right onto A85 5 miles N Connel
08:33 383 Turn right onto A828 32 miles SE Benderloch
09:28 415 Turn left onto A82 23 miles N Fort William
10:06 438 At Spean Bridge bear right onto A86 42 miles E Newtonmore
11:16 479 Turn left onto A9 13 miles N Dingwall
11:38 492 Turn right onto A95 14 miles E Grantown on Spey
12:02 506 At Grantown on Spey go onto A939 8 miles N Ferness
12:15 514 Go onto A940 15 miles N Forres
12:40 529 Turn right onto A96 1 mile E Elgin
12:42 530 Turn left onto B9011 1 mile E Kinloss
12:46 532 ARRIVE Kinloss (Grampian)
12:46 532 DEPART Kinloss (Grampian) on the B9011 1 mile S Forres
12:49 533 Turn left onto A96 21 miles E Elgin
13:32 554 Turn left onto A98 42 miles E Fraserburgh
14:43 596 Turn right onto A950 5 miles SE Peterhead
14:52 601 Turn right onto A981 4 miles SW New Deer
14:58 605 ARRIVE New Deer (Grampian)
14:58 605 DEPART New Deer (Grampian) on the A945 5 miles E Auchnagatt
15:06 610 Turn right onto A948 10 miles SE Ellon
15:23 620 Turn right onto A92 12 miles S Foveran
15:43 632 Go onto A956 9 miles S Bridge of Don
16:03 641 Turn off onto A90 51 miles S Laurencekirk
17:03 692 Turn off onto A94 17 miles SW Coupar Angus
17:32 709 ARRIVE Coupar Angus (Tayside)
17:32 709 DEPART Coupar Angus (Tayside) on the A94 ½ mile NE Meigle
17:32 709 Turn right onto A923 15 miles SE Lundie
18:03 724 Turn off onto A92 4 miles SE Newport on Tay
18:08 728 Refuel before here: last refuel 364 miles ago
18:08 728 Go onto A914 2 miles S Ladybank
18:12 730 Turn right onto B946 1 mile W Newport on Tay
18:15 732 Turn left onto Local road 3 miles W Balmerino
18:23 734 ARRIVE Balmerino (Fife)
18:23 734 DEPART Balmerino (Fife) on the Local road 3 miles S
18:31 737 Turn right onto A914 7 miles SW Ladybank
18:42 744 Turn right onto A91 9 miles W Auchtermuchty
18:57 *** End of day 2, Stop for 1 night ***
07:00 752 Stay on the A91 4 miles W M90 J8
07:06 756 At M90 J8 turn left onto M90 17 miles SW *Check access*
07:23 773 At M90 J1 turn off onto A985 9 miles W Kincardine
07:41 782 Bear left onto B9037 1 mile SW Culross
07:43 783 ARRIVE Culross (Fife)
07:43 783 DEPART Culross (Fife) on the B9037 1 mile NE
07:45 784 Bear right onto A985 9 miles E Rosyth
08:03 793 At M90 J1 turn right onto A90 2 miles S Edinburgh
08:06 795 Stay on the Forth Road Bridge 1 mile S Edinburgh
08:08 796 At Forth Bridge stay on the A90 ½ mile S Edinburgh
08:09 797 Turn off onto A8000 2 miles E
08:13 799 Turn right onto M9 3 miles W M9 J1
08:16 802 At M8 J2 M9 turn off onto A8 4 miles E Edinburgh
08:20 805 Turn off onto A720 12 miles S Loanhead
08:37 817 Turn off onto A68 1 mile SE Jedburgh
08:38 818 ARRIVE Dalkeith (Lothian)
08:38 818 DEPART Dalkeith (Lothian) on the A68 4 miles E Jedburgh
08:45 821 Turn left onto A6093 5 miles NE Haddington
08:53 826 At Pencaitland turn right onto B6355 8 miles SE E Saltoun
09:11 834 Go onto B6370 3 miles E Dunbar
09:19 837 Turn right onto Local road ½ mile SE Garvald
09:20 837 ARRIVE Garvald (Lothian)