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.
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.
In
the late 14th 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.
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.
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.’
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.
The
coordinates for the location of the Skulferatu are -
I
used the following sources for information on Lincluden Collegiate Church –
