Search  Updates  View Map   | Castles   Houses  Misc  People  Religious  | Links   About   Home

Dryburgh Abbey - Dryburgh, Borders (HS)

Dryburgh is one of the prettiest and most romantic of ruins (if an abbey should properly be called romantic!). Of course it helps if your arrival coincides with the outbreak of sunshine after a gloomy morning as ours did. In close proximity to the other great border abbeys of Jedburgh, Melrose and Kelso, Dryburgh was never as rich or grand as the others, but nevertheless attracted the unwelcome attention of the English armies, suffering considerable damage on at least four occasions.

The loop in the river Tweed where Dryburgh was built was from early Christian days associated with the early seventh century St. Modan, a follower of St. Columba. No archeological evidence to link the site to St. Modan exists however and the founding of the Abbey  in 1150 provides the first documented proof of the ecclesiastical use of the site. The founder, Hugh de Moreville, was an Anglo-Norman who had become friends with the Scottish King David I while he was in England and had moved north at the King's suggestion. Due to his extensive land holding on both sides of the border, his friends in high places and a good marriage, Hugh found himself constable of Scotland and the time was right to look to his future life beyond the grave. The founding and support of religious houses was considered valuable in both spiritual and social terms and Hugh obviously took his spiritual welfare seriously. He enrolled as a novice at Dryburgh in 1162 and died there. His son, Hugh, was later involved in the murder of St. Thomas a Becket in Canterbury Cathedral.

The order of monks invited by Hugh to found the abbey were Premonstratensians from Alnwick over the border in Northumberland. At that date, Alnwick was under Scottish rule, the earl was Prince Henry, King David's son. The Premonstratensians were a recently founded order, developed from the Benedictine and Augustinian orders, with a stress on austerity and a strict rule. They were known as the 'White Canons' because of their white habits. The founding of Dryburgh is mentioned in the Chronicle of Melrose and the monks first act was to consecrate the cemetery; a practical approach.

Although not as plainly decorated as some abbeys, Dryburgh has much finely carved stonework and some wall painting survives in the Chapter House. The use of the local pinkish sandstone has resulted in detailed glimpses of how the abbey might have looked. With probably never more than twenty canons at a time, the abbey nevertheless had generous benefactors such as the de Vauxs of Dirleton, who gave the island of Fidra to the canons in 1220 when they came on to the mainland to build their grand new castle.

The surviving documents of the abbey tell us about the often troublesome business of land tenanted out and the collection of rents, but nothing about the initial building. The first phase survives in parts of the remaining abbey, notably the splendid Chapter House and the east range. Rounded windows and doors provide examples of the high quality late-twelfth century stone masons work, while the elegant remains of the north transept chapels and the south transept gable show the gothic influence of the early thirteenth century coming in.

The first major attack on Dryburgh came in 1322 when the retreating and defeated army of Edward II set fire to the abbey. On the north wall of the dormitory you can still see heat-cracked stones indicating the ferocity of the fire. King Robert Bruce granted further income to the abbey and rebuilding took place, notably to the dormitory which rose to the full height of the church.

In 1385, English armies again attacked during Richard II's invasion. More funds were granted for repairs, by Robert III, the earl of Douglas, Lord Halyburton of Dirleton and Lord Maxwell of Caerlaverock. The rebuilding probably continued for some time and is evident in the round-headed West Door of the early fifteenth century, consciously echoing the Romanesque style of the original building.

By the sixteenth century, Dryburgh, like many abbeys, had become distracted from its religious life and the political appointments of its abbots to noble lay-men did nothing to reform the canons' life there. By 1541, the abbey had come into the hands of the Erskine family, in whose hands it stayed after the Reformation. But before this terminal disaster for the abbey, it endured another English attack in 1544 under the hands of the earl of Hertford's force of 700 men.

The appearance of Dryburgh today, peeping through mature trees in a tranquil parkland, is partly due to the eleventh earl of Buchan, David Steuart Erskine. He was prominent in the movement to save and preserve old buildings like Dryburgh abbey and spent much time and effort researching its history. He did however remove and add various artifacts and details and is buried in the former Sacristy. Sir Walter Scott, whose family at one time owned the ruined abbey and Field-Marshall Earl Haig, whose family were vassals of the founder, Hugh de Moreville, are also buried here.

Dryburgh is managed by Historic Scotland today.

Back to the Home Page of the UK Heritage collection.

This information has been researched and published here by: