Sweetheart Abbey

Sweetheart Abbey

Sweetheart Abbey
New Abbey
Dumfries and Galloway
Scotland
DG2 8BU

Tel: 0131 668 8600
E-Mail: hs.members@scotland.gsi.gov.uk

Web: Sweetheart Abbey

About Sweetheart Abbey

A place of personal devotion

In 1268, Lord John Balliol died. His grieving widow, Lady Dervorgilla of Galloway, had his heart embalmed and placed in an ivory casket. She carried it with her everywhere.

She undertook many charitable acts in his memory. These included the founding of the Cistercian abbey of Dulce Cor (Latin for ‘Sweet Heart’) in 1273. When she too died in 1289, she was laid to rest in front of the abbey church’s high altar, clutching her husband’s heart to her bosom.

Sweetheart Abbey’s conception as a shrine to human and divine love is deeply appealing. So too is its attractive setting. The graceful ruin nestles between the grey bulk of Criffel and the shimmering waters of the Solway Firth, whilst its blood-red sandstone walls contrast with the lush green grass at their feet.

A chequered history

Monks from Dundrennan Abbey., near Kirkcudbright, established the new monastery. It was the last Cistercian house to be founded in Scotland. Within seven years of Dervorgilla’s death, with the builders still working on the abbey church, the Wars of Independence with England erupted.

Edward I of England himself resided at the abbey in 1300, whilst campaigning in Galloway. After 50 years of bloodshed, the monastery was in a bad state. The bishop of Galloway bemoaned Sweetheart’s ‘outstanding and notorious poverty’. To the rescue rode Archibald ‘the Grim’, Lord of Galloway and 3rd Earl of Black Douglas, who financed wholesale repairs and rebuilding. Thereafter, little is heard of Sweetheart until its demise following the Protestant Reformation in 1560.

A graceful ruin

Despite the prolonged wars with England, and the vicissitudes of time, the beautiful abbey church of St Mary the Virgin survives almost entire, a lasting testament to the monastic ideal that was of such pivotal importance in the Middle Ages. (By contrast, the monks’ cloister to the south has almost entirely gone.)

The church was planned in the shape of a cross and divided into different areas:
•a presbytery at the east end once housing the high altar;
•the monks’ choir immediately to its west;
•flanking transepts to north and south, housing side-chapels;
•and a six-bay nave to the west.

A bell tower once soared high above the central crossing.

Although it adheres to Cistercian principles of austerity, the church has fine flourishes. These include the stone tracery in the presbytery windows, the ingenious circular window above the south transept, and the impressive west front. A stone effigy of Lady Dervorgilla lies on display in the south transept. She is shown dressed in gown and mantle and cradling her husband’s embalmed heart to her bosom.