Name: SWEETHEART Location: New
Abbey village County: Dumfries and Galloway Foundation: 1273 Mother house: Dundrennan Relocation: None Founder: Lady Dervorguilla of Galloway Secularised: 1624 Prominent members: Access: Historic Scotland open to the public
Sweetheart Abbey was founded in 1273 by Lady
Dervorguilla, and was the last Cistercian abbey to be founded
in
Scotland. The abbey was founded in memory of her late husband,
John Balliol (d. 1268). Following the death of her husband, Dervorguilla
had his heart embalmed and placed in a silver and ivory casket
which she carried with her at all times. When she died in 1289
she was
laid to rest, with the casket, in front of the High
Altar of the
abbey church. The monks chose to name the abbey Dulce Cor or Sweetheart in
honour of her memory. John Balliol was a generous benefactor himself.
During his lifetime he founded
Balliol College in Oxford, which Dervorguilla continued to endow
after his death. Dervorguilla is best known as the mother of John
Balliol (d. 1313) who was set on the Scottish throne in 1292
at the behest of King Edward I. He was deposed four years later
by Edward when he failed to toe the line. The first monks arrived
at the abbey from Dundrennan and apparently worked quickly to
construct
the abbey. The buildings could hardly have been completed when,
in 1300, King Edward I stopped at the abbey for a night during
the
Scottish War of Independence. In 1308 the monks were to complain
that the kings troops had caused damage to the abbey amounting
to more than £5000 through the burning of their granges
and destruction of their goods in war. It is likely that the
monks exaggerated
the extent of the damage for the original church building of the
late thirteenth century still stands in part today. In any case
the monks never received the compensation they were looking for.
Towards the end of the fourteenth century the
abbey found a powerful patron in Archibald, earl of Douglas, known
as Archibald the Grim or Black Archibald.
He was said to have done so much for the abbey that he was regarded
as Sweethearts second founder. In 1397 the abbey buildings
were reputedly hit by lightening, and severely damaged by the
resulting
fire. In the following year, 4 July 1398, the abbot received the
mitre. The last pre-Reformation abbot, John Brown, resigned in
1565,
whereupon Gilbert Brown became commendator and titular abbot. Gilbert
remained an ardent Catholic and allowed the church to be used
for
Catholic worship for many years after the Reformation had taken
place. In 1579 it was reported that there was still a High Altar
within the abbey church, though this was removed some years later.
In 1586 the abbey was granted to William Lesley and Gilbert Brown
was exiled to France for continued participation in Catholic rites.
He returned two years later only to be exiled again in the following
year. In 1608 Gilbert returned to Sweetheart, he was once more
arrested but on account of his old age was allowed to remain at
the monastery.
It was at this time that the last of the monks were forced to leave
the monastery, although Gilbert was found still saying mass in
1609.
He was exiled for the third and last time and died in France in
1612. It is believed that it was
his obstinacy
which probably
ensured that Sweetheart was the last British monastery at which
mass continued to be said after its official abolition in Scotland
in 1560.
In 1624 the abbey was erected into a temporal
lordship for Sir Robert Spottiswoode. Following the Reformation
the monastic refectory was used as a parish church. In 1731 it
was demolished only to be replaced with another church on the
site of
the western range. This too was later demolished when the present
church was built in 1877. The abbey was used as a quarry for building
materials
for many years and the church eventually lost its roof. Fortunately,
a group of local residents acquired the church in 1779 and protected
it from further destruction. In 1928 the ruins were placed in the
care of the state.
Today the church remains substantially complete
and stands almost as it was originally constructed, apart from
some remodelling carried out after the fire at the end of the
fourteenth
century. The west front of the church stands to its full height
and the south transept still retains its ribbed vaulting. It is
in that part of the church that the sixteenth-century effigy of
Lady Dervorguilla now stands (albeit headless), clasping the casket
to her chest. This monument replaces the thirteenth-century original
which was sadly lost. The chief remains of the monastic buildings
consist of the inner wall of the south range, and the lower walls
of the parts of the east range closest to the church. To the north
and north-west
of the church is a long stretch of the outer precinct
wall, which is the most extensive survival of a precinct wall
of any
Scottish Cistercian abbey. Another point of interest is the arms
of Archibald the Grim which can still be seen above
the doorway of the west range. The site is now managed by Historic
Scotland and is open to the public on a regular basis.