Crossraguel Abbey With Music On History Visit To South Ayrshire Scotland

Tour Scotland short 4K travel video clip, with Scottish music, of the ruined Crossraguel Abbey on ancestry, genealogy, family history visit near the town of Maybole in South Ayrshire, Britain, United Kingdom. Founded in 1244 by Donnchadh, Earl of Carrick, following an earlier donation of 1225, to the monks of Paisley Abbey for that purpose. They reputedly built nothing more than a small chapel and kept the balance for themselves. The Earl took the matter to the Bishop of Glasgow for arbitration and, winning his case, forced the monks to build a proper abbey. Crossraguel Abbey was founded in 1244 by Duncan, 1st Earl of Carrick. The earl sought assistance from the abbot and monks of Paisley Abbey and provided them with land and funds. However, the Paisley superiors built only a small chapel for Crossraguel and kept the remainder for themselves. Upset at this, the earl took the case to law, seeking assistance from the Bishop of Glasgow, who ruled on the earl's behalf. He required not only that Paisley build the monastery at Crossraguel, but also that some of the monks from Paisley should be transferred there. These monks were given the authority to choose their own abbot. The abbot of Paisley, it was decreed, was not to interfere with Crossraguel's affairs, though he was allowed a yearly visit. All of Paisley's possessions in Carrick were to be handed over to Crossraguel, a ruling which the abbot of Paisley appealed to the pope in 1265, but to no avail. Crossraguel was sacked in 1307 by the army of King Edward I. It was rebuilt on a larger scale and remained a monastery until 1560, when the Reformation ended monastic institutions in Scotland. However, the few remaining monks were allowed to live out their time there until the last monk died in 1601. Some of the stone has been removed for local construction, but the Abbey ruins remain some of the most complete of any medieval religious house to survive in Scotland. Like Paisley Abbey, Crossraguel was of the Order of Cluny whose mission was to encourage pilgrimage. It is no accident then that Crossraguel is halfway between Paisley and Whithorn on the Ayrshire pilgrims' trail to the shrine of St Ninian in The Machars of Galloway. In 1570, the Kennedy family, Earls of Cassilis famously obtained the lands of Crossraguel Abbey through the torturing by Gilbert Kennedy, 4th Earl of Cassilis of Allan Stewart, the commendator at his castle of Dunure. A feud followed including a number of families and lasted until at least 1611. King James VI intended to rebuild the abbey or abbot's house in 1603 for the use of his son, Prince Henry. In December 1612 King James VI granted the former abbey to Peter Hewat, minister at St Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh who owned it until his death in 1645. Of interest to folks with ancestry, genealogy or Scottish Family Roots in Scotland who may wish to visit one day. Find things to see and do in Scotland where you are always welcome All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.

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