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St Mary's Nunnery
Nunnery (Period Unassigned)
Site Name St Mary's Nunnery
Classification Nunnery (Period Unassigned)
Alternative Name(s) Abbeymill Farm
Canmore ID 56492
Site Number NT57SW 10
NGR NT 53613 74731
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/56492
- Council East Lothian
- Parish Haddington
- Former Region Lothian
- Former District East Lothian
- Former County East Lothian
NT57SW 10 NT 53613 74731
See also NT57SW 5 and NT57SW 9.
(NT 5345 7466) Site of St Mary's Nunnery (NR) (Cistercian)
OS 6" map (1969)
This was one of the largest Scottish nunneries. It was founded by Ada, countess of Northumberland and Huntingdon, for Cistercian nuns, before 1159. It was burned by the English in 1335/6 and in 1554, and was secularised in 1621. Though no trace of it remained in 1853, remains were extant within living memory, and the site was pointed out by local informants who could remember them.
I B Cowan and D E Easson 1976; Name Book 1853; D E Easson and G Donaldson 1955
There is nothing to be seen at the published site though the farmer, Mr Steadman, Abbeymill Farm, states that the ground in the vicinity is very stony.
Visited by OS (BS) 7 July 1975
Aerial Photographic Transcription (8 December 1995 - 15 January 1998)
An aerial transcription was produced from oblique aerial photographs. Information from Historic Environment Scotland (BM) 31 March 2017.
Geophysical Survey (27 April 2013)
NT 53613 74731 A geophysical survey was undertaken on 27 April 2013, at the request of Haddington’s History Society, of a 2400m2 area of arable land at Abbeyhill Farm on the site of St Mary’s Nunnery. This was one of the largest Scottish nunneries, founded by Ada, Countess of Northumberland and Huntingdon, for Cistercian nuns, before 1159 and closed in 1621. The survey identified an L-shaped higher resistance anomaly located to the S of the graveyard measuring 28m E–W and 13m N–S at its widest point. Traces of possible outlying structures were also noted.
Archive: East Lothian HER and RCAHMS (intended)
Funder: Russell Trust, Haddington’s History Society and Edinburgh Archaeological Field Society
Ian Hawkins, Edinburgh Archaeological Field Society, 2013
(Source: DES)
Aerial Photographic Transcription (1 August 2019)
An interpretative transcription, or mapping, of information on oblique aerial photographs was produced on 1 August 2019.
