Skulferatu #133 - Lincluden Collegiate Church, Lincluden, Dumfries

On a recent trip down to Dumfries, I ventured away from the main thoroughfares and into a large housing estate where I cut through to a peaceful bit of land sitting just outside it.  On this bit of land, that sits on a curve where the River Nith and the waters of the Cluden meet, are the ruins of an ancient abbey and church by the name of Lincluden. Once a hive of religious activity, and a bit of scandal, the ruins are now mainly a hangout for bored kids, where in the evening and away from disapproving eyes, they go to drink cheap booze and smoke and vape.  During the day however, the ruins also attract the occasional tourist like me.

 

Lincluden Collegiate Church

 

College Tower

 

The history of Lincluden Abbey goes way, way back to 1164 when it was founded by Uchtred, Lord of Galloway.  It was originally a Benedictine nunnery and though small, it was endowed with various gifts from Uchtred such as farmsteads and land from which it could benefit and derive wealth.     It was probably just as well that Uchtred had given them land rather than cash, as his life ended suddenly and brutally. From 1161 to 1174 he had ruled Galloway along with his half-brother, Gilbert.  In 1174 both Uchtred and Gilbert took part, along with William I of Scotland, in an invasion of Northumberland.  This ended in disaster and King William was captured.  The brothers, seeing a way to be free of William, seized his properties in Galloway and then petitioned King Henry I of England to ‘take them from the authority of the King of Scots, and govern them himself.’  Before this could happen, the brothers fell out and things between them got quite heated.  So much so, that Gilbert and his son Malcolm, seized Uchtred at his home, tortured him horribly and then killed him.  King Henry, on hearing of Uchtred’s murder decided that Gilbert was not a man to be trusted and refused the request to remove Galloway from King William.  Gilbert then had to apologise to both kings, promise not to get up to any mischief again, and pay out a wodge of cash to make amends for killing his brother.

 

College Tower at Lincluden

 

Inside the College Tower

 

Inside the College Tower

 

In the late 14^th Century, the abbey and its lands became part of the fiefdom of another Lord of Galloway, Archibald Douglas.  He was known as Archibald the Grim, a nickname given to him because of his sinister looks and evil deeds.  As you may guess, his arrival did not bode well for the nuns at Lincluden.  Archibald decided he didn’t want a nunnery there, he wanted monks praying for his soul, proper blokes, not woosie women.  So, he started some rumours that the nuns were all a bit naughty.  He spread round lies that they weren’t virgins and rather than praying they were bonking their brains out with any man who would have them, the abbey was no longer a house of God, but rather a nursery full of the nuns’ illegitimate children.  Turning the local populace against the nuns, he then had them expelled, rebuilt the abbey and also had a large church built there.  Amongst the clergymen who resided there, Archibald paid for twenty-four bedesmen, men whose soul purpose was to pray for Archibald’s soul.

 

When Archibald died, his son, also called Archibald, took over his lands.   He married Princess Margaret, the daughter of King Robert III of Scotland, and the pair spent a great deal of money on the church at Lincluden.  They had various heraldic symbols relating to their families carved into the stone there, some of which can be seen around the buildings today.  In 1424, Archibald left for France with a large force of troops to assist Charles VII of France in his war against England.  There the King made him Marshal of France and Duke of Touraine. Unfortunately for Archibald, despite being given these grand titles, he was killed a few months later during the Battle of Verneuil when the Franco-Scottish force was heavily defeated by the English army. 

 

After Archibald’s death, Margaret bestowed even more wealth on the church at Lincluden and had carvings of the heraldic symbols showing Archibald’s French titles added.  On her death, Margaret was buried in the church, her tomb still a prominent feature there.

 

Tomb of Princess Margaret

 

Doorway to the Sacristy

 

The Sacristy

 

A view to the heavens above

 

Looking up

 

Windows in the wall of the Nave

 

Window in the wall of the Nave

 

Lincluden stayed with the Douglas family and survived the Reformation.  In 1585 the last Mass was held there, this being organised by a Catholic nobleman, John Maxwell, the Earl of Morton.  This did not go down well with Protestant authorities who had him summoned before the Privy Council and imprisoned for several months.  On his release Maxwell promptly travelled off to Spain to help plot the Spanish Armada.

 

The Abbey passed through various owners, and at one time part of it was converted into a house.  It was eventually abandoned in the early 1700s and quickly fell into disrepair.

 

View of the abbey from the motte and gardens

 

View of the abbey from the motte and gardens

 

In 1775 Lincluden was visited by the traveller and writer Thomas Pennant.  He described the buildings as looking desolate with much of the roofs gone.  Inside the church he found that the figure on Princess Margaret’s tomb had been mutilated and wrote that – ‘the bones of the deceased had been scattered about the floor of the choir by some wretches who broke open the repository in search of treasure.’

 

Lincluden Abbey and College by William McDowall - 1886

 

Princess Margaret's Tomb by William McDowall - 1886

 

The ruins were later cleaned up and a caretaker installed to look after them.  Then in 1922 they were taken into state care and are now looked after by Historic Environment Scotland.

 

After wandering around the ruins in the afternoon sunshine, I left the Skulferatu that had accompanied me on a mossy stone in one of the old, vaulted chapels.

 

Skulferatu #133

 

One of the old, vaulted chapels

 

Skulferatu #133 on a mossy stone in one of the old, vaulted chapels

 

Skulferatu #133 on a mossy stone in one of the old, vaulted chapels

 

Map showing the location of Skulferatu #133

 

The coordinates for the location of the Skulferatu are -

 

Latitude 55.084991

Longitude -3.620781

 

what3words: analogy.sprouted.wolf

 

I used the following sources for information on Lincluden Collegiate Church –

 

Chronicles of Lincluden

William McDowall

1886

 

Scotland's Ruined Abbeys

Howard Crosby Butler

1900

 

The Scots Peerage

David Douglas

1907

 

National Art Survey Of Scotland

Examples of Scottish Architecture from the 12^th to the 17^th Century

Volume II

Thomas Ross & Robert Lorimer

1923

 

Historic Environment Scotland - Lincluden Collegiate Church

 

 

Skulferatu #132 - Old Railway Path, South Queensferry

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Skulferatu #130 - Tynemouth Priory, Tynemouth, Tyne and Wear

 

A few years ago, I was on holiday in the Netherlands and came back home on the Amsterdam to Newcastle Ferry.  In the morning, as we approached our home port, we passed the rather impressive ruins of Tynemouth Priory sitting high on the cliffs overlooking the sea.  At the time I said to myself that I’d have to come down and have a wander around them, and several years later I did just that. 

 

Tynemouth Priory, as seen from the sea

 

Tynemouth Priory, as seen from the sea

 

So, on a rain soaked and foggy morning I left Newcastle and took the Metro down to Tynemouth. A quick walk from the station and through the town took me to the craggy headland on which the ruins of the priory sit.  There, I roamed around the medieval gatehouse building, the historic ruins of the priory, through the weather worn gravestones of the graveyard and over to the Second World war gun emplacements.  Every so often the fog and mist would roll in, then I’d be lashed by rain, and then dried and scorched by the sun.  Basically, I had a day out in good old Northern weather, and yes, before anyone asks, like anyone who is from Britain I am obsessed by the weather.  But moving on …

 

The Gatehouse

 

The headland on which Tynemouth Priory sits has been inhabited on and off for a couple of thousand years.  This probably being down to the fact that it is a bit of land that was almost impregnable from attack given that it is connected to the mainland only by a narrow strip of rock, with steep cliffs on all other sides.  So, up until canon and big guns came along it was a relatively safe place to live, if not the most hospitable.  Remains of a settlement pre-dating the Roman occupation, probably from the Iron Age, have been discovered there, along with another from around the 2^nd Century.  The land, however, does not appear in the written record until the 8^th Century, when a monastic community was established there.  Their original wooden buildings were destroyed during the 9^th and 10^th Centuries, in the Viking invasions, which shows that even the safest places weren’t that safe back in the good old days. 

 

The stone ruins of Tynemouth Priory that stand there today date from the late 11^th Century and on being built were dedicated to St Oswine, with his remains kept in a shrine within the building.

 

Tynemouth Priory with Coastguard Station in background

 

Tynemouth Priory

 

View from the Priory to Gatehouse

 

Tynemouth Priory

 

Who was St Oswine you may wonder, I certainly did.  Well, in 644, on the death of King Oswald of Northumbria, the land was basically split into two with Oswine succeeding as King to an area called Deira, while a bloke called Oswiu became King of the other bit, Bernicia.  For a few years all was fine, but then Oswiu decided he wanted to rule over the whole of Northumbria so declared war on Oswine.  Oswine, being a good man who did not want any bloodshed, refused to do battle with Oswiu.  He then sought refuge with his trusted friend Humwald.  Unfortunately for Oswine, Humwald was a bit of a shit friend and betrayed him to Oswiu, who promptly had him murdered. After having Oswine killed, Oswiu was obliged by Ango Saxon tradition, being one of Oswine’s nearest relatives, to seek some sort of justice for his death.  This made things all a bit awkward, what with Oswiu being the one guilty of the murder, so, in order to even things out he splashed some cash and founded an abbey at Gilling in North Yorkshire.  There monks offered up prayers for Oswin’s soul and a cult gradually grew up around the slain king.  It was said that after his death he had carried out various miracles, and at some point he became venerated as a saint.  He is now the patron saint of those who have been betrayed, so if your girlfriend/boyfriend/non-binary other half has ever done the dirty on you, he’s the one to pray to.  Not sure what he’d do, maybe get a seagull to poo on their head or something like that.

 

 

The Priory graveyard

 

The Priory graveyard

 

Weather worn

 

A weather worn gravestone by the Priory

 

Tynemouth Priory thrived up until the Reformation in the 16^th Century, though appears not to have been the most popular posting for monks with the abbots of St Albans sending misbehaving monks there as a punishment.  One monk sent there in the 14^th Century wrote a letter complaining of the relentless noise of the sea and the seabirds, the rough sea sending many ships onto the rocks below, that the monastery was a ‘comfortless place’ and that though food was plentiful it was mainly just fish.  He did however find that the church there was of ‘wonderous beauty’.

 

Talk of food leads me on to another story, in the grounds of Tynemouth Priory stands a stone known as the Monks Stone.  It originally stood in the village of Monkseaton, but was moved to the priory in 1935.  The tale behind this stone is that long, long ago a monk from Tynemouth was paying a visit to the home of one of the noble families in the area, the Delavals.  On arriving there, he found that dinner was being prepared for the master of the house who was out hunting.  One of the dishes was a roast pig, and on seeing this the monk’s mouth began to water.  Oh, what he’d give for some delicious pork, so much tastier than the boring fish dishes he was used to at the monastery.  The monk was offered some food, but told that the pig had been specially prepared for Mr Delaval, and should therefore not be touched.  The monk didn’t listen though, and when no one was around he cut off the head of the pig, which was considered to be the tastiest part of the animal in those days, stuck it in his bag and snuck off back towards the priory.  Mr Delaval, on returning home, saw that the pig’s head was missing and flew into a rage.  He demanded to know who had taken it and on being told about the monk, he ran out of the house to chase after him.  He soon caught up with him, as the monk had only gone a short distance before he’d sat down to gobble up his ill-gotten gains.  Delaval then beat the monk up so badly that he could not even walk and had to crawl his way back to the priory.  There he was nursed back to health, but then died the following year.  It was said that his beating had not been the cause of his death, but the monks at the priory, spotting a way to get some cash out of this, charged Delaval with murder.  He was then absolved of this on the condition that he gave them a hefty chunk of the land that he owned and also that he erect a stone at the spot where he had ‘murdered’ the monk.  The stone was erected and on it was inscribed – ‘O Horor to Kill a man For a Piges head’.    

 

In 1539, stooges acting for King Henry VIII forced the Prior to surrender Tynemouth Priory and all its possessions to the king.  All the valuables were seized, and the shrine of St Oswine was broken up with his bones being removed and scattered.  However, one small part of the priory survived pretty much intact, a small chapel called the Percy Chantry.  A place I found gave welcome shelter every time the rain came in.

 

Presbytery wall & entrance into Percy Chantry

 

Once there were windows

 

Interior of the Percy Chantry

 

Detail of the Chantry roof

 

Stained glass windows in the Chantry

 

Chantry door hinge

 

The headland on which Tynemouth Priory stands was, up until the 1950s, seen as having strategic importance in guarding over the mouth of the Tyne.  It was quite heavily fortified with various buildings added for its defence.  Of these all that now remain are the Gatehouse, which was built in the 14^th Century, and various gun emplacements built up from the 19^th Century through to World War II. 

 

In the 17^th Century a lighthouse was built on the headland to guide ships into the Tyne and away from nearby rocks.  By all accounts a spectacular building, it sat there until 1898, when having become obsolete due to the construction of the piers at the entrance to the Tyne, it was demolished.

 

Illustration of Tynemouth Priory from the Antiquities of England & Wales

 

Illustration showing Tynemouth Priory and the lighthouse

 

The ruins of Tynemouth Priory

 

Weather worn wall

 

Tynemouth Lighthouse

 

At the end of my soggy trip to Tynemouth, I left the Skulferatu that accompanied me in one of the pockmarked and weathered stones in the priory wall.

 

Skulferatu #130

Skulferatu #130 in a weathered & pockmarked stone

 

Skulferatu #130 in a weathered & pockmarked stone

 

Map showing location of Skulferatu #130

 

The coordinates for the location of the Skulferatu are -

 

Latitude 55.017694

Longitude -1.417866

 

what3words: trials.erase.punchy

 

I used the following sources for information on Tynemouth Priory –

The Antiquities of England and Wales, Volume 4

Francis Grose

1783

 

History of Tynemouth, its Priory & Castle, and Strangers Guide by railway or turnpike to places of interest in the vicinity of this justly celebrated bathing place

1869

 

Tynemouth Priory and Castle

Grace McCombie

2008