Dundrennan, Abbey of
DUNDRENNAN, ABBEY OF
Former Cistercian abbey in Kirkcudbrightshire, Diocese of Galloway, Scotland, founded by david i in 1142 and colonized from the English abbey of rievaulx. Being well endowed it quickly expanded, and two daughterhouses were founded from it, Glenluce in 1192 and Sweetheart (new abbey) in 1273. Its easy access to England across the Solway Firth made it particularly vulnerable to raids, and in 1299 the abbey sought £8,000 compensation for damages in recent English attacks. The distinguished theologian Thomas Livingstone was abbot of Dundrennan before becoming bishop of Dunkeld in 1440. It was from Dundrennan that Queen mary stuart left Scotland in 1568, never to return. Erected into a temporal lordship in 1606, the abbey revenues were later annexed to the chapel royal at Stirling. It is now a ruin.
Bibliography: h. talbot, The Cistercian Abbeys of Scotland (London 1939). j. s. richardson, The Abbey of Dundrennan, Berwickshire (2d ed. Edinburgh 1948). d. e. easson, Medieval Religious Houses: Scotland (London 1957) 64.
[l. macfarlane]