Crossraguel Abbey

The ruins of Crossraguel are among the most complete of any medieval religious house surviving in Scotland. The monks’ church, their cloister (the covered walkway round a monastery’s central courtyard) and their dovecote all stand; the chapter house is still complete, with benches for the monks and an arched seat for the abbot; and fine architectural detail of the fifteenth century survives within. Visitors can climb the stairs to the top of the gatehouse tower.

The name refers to the ancient Cross of Riaghail — St Regulus in Latin form — which stood on the spot. The house was Cluniac, a branch of the Benedictines, and its monks were known as the Black Monks after the colour of their habits.

Duncan, 1st Earl of Carrick, founded the abbey in 1244, seeking help from the abbot and monks of Paisley Abbey and giving them land and funds for the purpose. Paisley built only a small chapel at Crossraguel and kept the rest for itself. The earl went to law over it, appealing to the Bishop of Glasgow, who ruled in his favour: Paisley was required not only to build the monastery but to transfer some of its own monks there, and those monks were given authority to elect their own abbot. The abbot of Paisley was not to interfere in Crossraguel’s affairs, though he was allowed one visit a year, and all of Paisley’s possessions in Carrick were to be handed over. Paisley appealed to the pope in 1265, without success.

The army of Edward I sacked the abbey in 1307. The opportunity was taken to rebuild on a grander scale, work that occupied much of the rest of the Middle Ages.

Its position was chosen for pilgrims. Like Paisley, Crossraguel belonged to the Order of Cluny, whose mission was to encourage pilgrimage, and the abbey stands halfway between Paisley and Whithorn on the Ayrshire pilgrims’ trail to the shrine of St Ninian in the Machars of Galloway.

In autumn 1506 Montjoie — Gilbert Chauveau, French King of Arms — visited Crossraguel, probably in connection with his diplomatic missions over Scottish military support for King Hans of Denmark. He had already spent time at the court of Henry VII of England before moving to Scotland and going on to Denmark. The visit is recorded in the Treasurer’s Accounts of James IV, in a payment to John Beg, messenger, to go to Corsragwell and other places with writings to warn of Montjoie’s coming.

Around 1510 the monks, directed by David Kennedy, 1st Earl of Cassillis and encouraged by James IV, developed the production of salt by boiling sea water in pans, and the grinding of charcoal for gunpowder.

The abbey’s lands changed hands by torture. In 1570 the Kennedys, Earls of Cassillis, obtained them after Gilbert Kennedy, 4th Earl, tortured Allan Stewart, the commendator, at his castle of Dunure. A feud followed involving a number of families and lasting until at least 1611.

The Reformation of around 1560 destroyed many Scottish abbeys but did not badly damage this one. Monastic life ended here only when the last monk died in 1601.

James VI intended in 1603 to rebuild the abbey, or the abbot’s house, for the use of his son Prince Henry. In December 1612 he instead granted the former abbey to Peter Hewat, minister at St Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh, who held it until his death in 1645. Some of the stone has been removed for local construction since the Reformation.

The site is maintained by Historic Environment Scotland as a scheduled monument and is open to the public with an entrance charge.