Field Visit
Date 3 June 1954
Event ID 1112244
Category Recording
Type Field Visit
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1112244
Cambuskenneth Abbey.*
The ruins of Cambuskenneth Abbey lie on the left bank of the Forth, just opposite the NE. part of Stirling. The site is flat carseland, enclosed on three sides by a loop of the river. The monastery, which for the first half-century or so of its existence was known as the Abbey of St. Mary of Stirling, was founded in or about 1140 by David I. The community followed the Augustinian rule, but as a daughter house of the church of St. Nicholas, Arrouaise, no doubt observed the more rigorous constitutions of the order of Arrouaise for as long as the connection with the motherhouse was maintained. The endowments of the Abbey were extensive, and included not only property within Stirlingshire, but also grants of land and privileges in the counties of Perth, Angus, Fife, Aberdeen, West Lothian, Midlothian, Dunbarton and Berwick. Largely no doubt because it stood in close proximity to the Royal Castle of Stirling, the Abbey was the scene of a number of important political events. In 1314, for example, there was held at Cambuskenneth a Parliament at which all who had fought on the English side at Bannockburn and who had not come into the "faith and peace" of Robert I were forfeited; while fourteen years later, during another Parliament at Cambuskenneth, there was drawn up the well-known indenture whereby the earls, barons, burgesses and free tenants of Scotland granted a "tenth penny" to the king, In the 14th century the Abbey was frequently visited by Scottish kings, and in 1488 became the burial place of James III, who was killed during his flight from the battlefield of Sauchieburn. The most notable of the abbots of Cambuskenneth, who had received the mitre in 1406, were Patrick Pantar, Secretary to James V, and Alexander Mylne, the first President of the College of Justice. In the middle of the 16th century the Abbey passed into the hands of the Erskine family and, with the Abbey of Dryburgh and the Priory of Inchmahome, was erected into a temporal lordship for John, 2nd Earl of Mar, in 1604 and 1606.
The paucity of the surviving structural remains and the inadequacy of the documentary evidence make it impossible to say much of the architectural development of the site. No doubt a temporary church and some domestic buildings were erected soon after the foundation of the Abbey, but such remains as exist today suggest that the main period of building activity lay within the 13th century. The church, now represented by. little beyond its foundations, appears to have comprised a nave with a N. aisle, a choir, transepts, each with two eastern chapels, and a short presbytery. The W. doorway of the nave remains, and may be ascribed to the first part of the 13th century; assuming that the normal building-sequence was adopted, it may be supposed that at this period the presbytery and transepts were already complete and that work was beginning upon the nave. No doubt the whole church was finished before the builders turned their attention to the free-standing bell-tower, now the most conspicuous feature of the site, which dates from the turn of the 13th and 14th centuries. Even less is known of the development of the monastic buildings, scant traces of which now survive, but if the cloister was laid out at the same time as the church, they too are likely to have been completed during the course of the 13th century.
In 1350 it was reported that the monastery had been seriously damaged by certain "diabolici homines" while in 1378 the abbot and convent stated that "their monastery had suffered from constant wars, their chalices, books, and other altar ornaments and other goods having been stolen, and their bell-tower struck by lightning, whereby the choir is greatly ruined". These complaints may have been exaggerated, and there is no architectural evidence to suggest that the bell-tower was extensively damaged at this time, but the misfortunes that were suffered by the Abbey in the latter part of the 14th century may well have made necessary the extensive scheme of reconstruction that seems to have been carried out in late mediaeval times, when the N. wall of the nave, the transept and the chapterhouse were to some extent rebuilt. A reference to the abbot's new hall in 1520 suggests that the abbot's lodgings, which appear to have been situated to the west of the main complex of monastic buildings, were reconstructed or extended at about the beginning of the 16th century. The Abbey is said to have been "ruined and cast down" at the Reformation, and the site was soon put to use as a quarry. Building materials may have been removed from Cambuskenneth for use in Mar's Work, Stirling, in about 1570, while in the 17th century the ruins provided dressed stones for Cowane's Hospital; it is said, too, that the village of Cambuskenneth is to a large extent constructed of materials obtained from this source.s Slezer's view of about 1693 suggests that considerable remains of the church still existed in his day, but by the time that Grose visited the site, a century later, there was nothing to be seen "except a few broken walls, the bell tower, and staircase. . . ; some remains of the garden are also to be seen, and the burial place of K. James and his Queen: no traces of the church remain".
In 1864 the site was excavated under the direction of William Mackison, Town Architect of Stirling, who prepared a detailed and well-illustrated report of the excavations together with an account of the restoration of the bell-tower, which was carried out to his specifications at about the same time. Not all the excavator's conclusions are acceptable, but the report is a valuable one and has been extensively used in the preparation of the following architectural description. In 1908 the site was acquired by the Crown, and it is now under the guardianship of the Ministry of Works.
RCAHMS 1963, visited 3 June 1954.
*See RCAHMS 1963, 120-129 for the full account with illustrations and references of which this is the introductory paragraphs.
