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Publication Account

Date 1985

Event ID 1016589

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Publication Account

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1016589

This small Cluniac monastery (only ten monks are on record in the 15th century) was founded in the early 13th century by Duncan, Earl of Carrick, and it was a daughter house of Paisley Abbey (no. 57). Now somewhat reduced by the ravages of time and the stone-robber, the abbey is an interesting example of a compact medieval monastery with a number of features of particular note.

As it stands today, the abbey consists of a church flanked by a cloister and a courtyard (The Inner Court), and separating the two there is a range of buildings which contains (from north to south) the sacristy, chapter house and treasury. To the south-east of the cloister there is a second courtyard)(The South Court) which is flanked by buildings and a strongly defended gatehouse. Acting as sentinels to the whole complex there is a tower-house on the east and a beehive dovecote on the west.

Although the earliest stone buildings were erected in the 13th century, little now remains from this period (the lower courses of the south church wall and its west angles) as the abbey was devastated during the Wars of Independence (1296-1357). In the following century the church was rebuilt, the cloister and Inner Court were erected and, during the 15th century, as the wealth of the abbey increased, buildings were added around the South Court. Perhaps the most interesting of the 15th century buildings are the Corrodiars Houses which occupy the south range of the South Court; such houses are relatively common in England but are only rarely found in Scotland. Corrodiars were retired clerics or laymen who wished to spend their old age within the security of a religious foundation; one such grant of corrody was made to Abbot Roger of Crossraguel who, in 1370, retired to the Abbey of Dunfermline.

Crossraguel's last regular abbot was William Kennedy (1520-47). During his abbacy the nave and choir of the church were divided by a stone wall and the towerhouse, gatehouse and dovecote were added. The tower-house is an unusual feature for a monastery and, together with the gatehouse, may have been built to accommodate the Earl of Cassillis who, as a minor, stayed at Crossraguel for eleven years under the guardianship of his uncle, Abbot William.

Information from ‘Exploring Scotland’s Heritage: The Clyde Estuary and Central Region’, (1985).

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