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Sweetheart Abbey                        
                          

Lady Devorgilla founded Sweetheart Abbey (known originally as 'New Abbey') in memory of her husband in 1273CE.  Lady Devorgilla was reputed to be so devoted to her husband that after his death, she kept his heart in a small casket and carried it with her wherever she went.  more>>     

Sweetheart Abbey
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Sweetheart Abbey
              Sweetheart Abbey or New Abbey, Dumfries Scotland.  Photo by Ron Waller, 2006.


Order:  Cistercian.  The last Cistercian monastery founded in Scotland.

Location:  Built near the river Nith, next to the village of New Abbey, south west of Dumfries, Scotland.  

Founded:  Lady Devorgilla founded Sweetheart Abbey (known originally as 'New Abbey) in memory of her husband in 1273CE.  Lady Devorgilla was reputed to be so devoted to her husband that after his death, she kept his heart in a small casket and carried it with her always.  When she died, she and her husband's heart were buried together in the abbey.  Sweetheart is a 'daughter' abbey of Dundrennen Abbey nearby.  It was largely constructed by and populated with monks from Dundrennan.  Scotland's "Archibald the Grim," earl of  Douglas, was a steadfast patron of Sweetheart Abbey and often credited as a second founder.

Short History:   The last of the Cistercian Abbeys in Scotland, Sweetheart Abbey also managed to hold out against the English enforcers of reformation. Much of rural Britain and Scotland, supported Catholicism steadfastly and in the face of suppression and violence.  The local Scots people and the local Lord all supported both Sweetheart Abbey and its Abbot and in so doing, the Abbey functioned as a place of worship much longer than many other abbeys of the time.  The last Abbot was taken prisoner by the Crown in the early 1600s, and Sweetheart Abbey fell into decay, its relics & treasures plundered, and the very stones of its once great walls picked away by scavengers for use elsewhere.   

                              

Sweetheart Abbey Links:
  • Information on Sweetheart Abbey through The Cistercians of Yorkshire. 
  • Photographs and Sweetheart's Gothic history from the University of Glasgow's Department of History of Art.                       
  • As ever, Undiscovered Scotland has a lovely and informative Guide to Sweetheart Abbey.
  • Future Scotland's Key People page with artifacts and information on Lady Devorgilla Balliol.

       
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Copyright (c) Richenda Fairhurst and historyfish.net, 2007
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