Publication Account
Date 1986
Event ID 1017455
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Publication Account
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1017455
Laid out on the river plain of the Water ofLuce, the
ruins of Glenluce Abbey have the remote setting, the
tranquil atmosphere, and plain austerity originally
associated with the monastic ideals ofCiteaux and its
colonies. Glenluce was founded in 1191/2 by Roland,
Lord of Galloway, as a daughter-house ofDundrennan,
but little is known of its institutional history. In the
16th century its buildings and possessions were prey
to the conflicting ambitions oflocallanded families,
most notably the Gordons of Lochinvar and the Earls
of Cas sill is, through their proteges, the Hays of Park
(see no. 29). In 1560 it had a complement of16 regular
monks, including the abbot and prior, but ordinarily
the number, excluding lay brothers, may have been
closer to 20. The monastery was formally secularised
in 1602.
The slight remains of the abbey church, which lies
across the northern end of the, site, match our scant
knowledge of its history. Except for the south transept,
it is reduced mainly to wall-footings. The layout is
clear enough, however, and conforms to the usual
Cistercian model: aisled nave, sizeable transepts, each
with a pair of chapels, and a simple unaisled and
square-ended presbytery. The surviving piers and bases
are reminiscent of the link, through Dundrennan, with
the building styles of Byland and Roche Abbeys in
Yorkshire. The floor was tiled, and there are
noteworthy monuments to the Gordons and to the
Hays, rivals even in the commemoration of death.
From the corner of the south transept the night stair
ascended to the monks' dormitory on the upper floor,
and a doorway led through to the sacristy. The
adjacent inner parlour formed a tile-floored passage
from the cloister to the burial-ground on the east.
The southern half of the east range was rebuilt in the
latter half of the 15th century, and includes the chapter
house, the abbey's main surviving claim to
architectural distinction. The capitals of its moulded
doorway bear foliaceous, seaweed-like carving. The
interior, 7.3m square, is roofed with a fourcompartment
ribbed vault springing from a central
shafted pier. Part of the original tiled floor still
survives, and the stone bench-seat for conventual
meetings runs around the wall; the abbot's stall was at
the centre of the east wall between a pair of traceried
windows.
Beyond the cellars at the end of the east range is the
base of the reredorter, or latrines-block, formerly
associated with the monks' dormitory on the floor
above. The building set at right angles to the south
side of the cloister is the original refectory; it was subdivided
in the 16th century to form the service
basement of a domestic residence with a detached
kitchen to the west. The western range of the cloister
garth originally provided accommodation for the
ancillary staff oflay brothers. The water-supply system
is a rare, possibly unique, survival, retaining as it does
the jointed earthenware pipes and lidded junctionboxes
at the base of the drainage-channels.
Information from ‘Exploring Scotland’s Heritage: Dumfries and Galloway’, (1986).
