Crossraguel Abbey

Crossraguel Abbey stands in the South Ayrshire countryside near Maybole, founded in 1244 by Duncan, first Earl of Carrick, as a house for Cluniac monks. Its name is said to preserve the memory of an ancient cross of St Regulus that once marked the spot. The earl turned to Paisley Abbey for monks and support, but the two houses fell out over how much Paisley owed; the Bishop of Glasgow eventually settled the quarrel, ordering a full monastery to be raised and granting the new abbot his own authority. English forces under Edward I sacked the place in 1307, after which it was rebuilt on a grander scale. The abbey later became entangled in the violence of the Kennedy family: in 1570 Gilbert Kennedy, Earl of Cassillis, seized and tortured the commendator Allan Stewart at nearby Dunure Castle to force him to surrender the abbey’s lands, sparking a feud that dragged on for decades. Monastic life faded as the last monk died in 1601, and the buildings passed into private hands. Today the surviving church, cloister, chapter house, gatehouse and dovecote are cared for by Historic Environment Scotland, counted among the most complete medieval religious ruins in the country.