Sweetheart Abbey and New Abbey Corn Mill
The idyllic little village of New Abbey is the perfect setting for such a romantically named abbey and the red sandstone ruins of Sweetheart Abbey stand as a shrine to human and divine love.
The Abbey was founded in 1273 by Lady Devorgilla of Galloway in memory of her late husband John Balliol. They were a devoted couple and when Balliol died in 1269 the grieving widow had is heart embalmed and placed in an ivory and silver casket. She kept this with her constantly and when she died in 1289 she had it buried with her before the high alter of the abbey. The monks named the abbey Sweetheart in her memory, and the abbey contains an effigy of Lady Devorgilla clasping the heart of her husband that can still be seen today.
John Balliol himself established Balliol College, Oxford in 1282 and to this day this prestigious institution maintains connections with the abbey. Lady Devergilla and John Balliol had a son also John Balliol, who would be King of Scotland in 1292, however his reign was disasterous and ushered in war with the English King Edward I .
The abbey was to be the last Cistercian abbey to be established in Scotland and its order were connected with that at nearby Dundrennan Abbey . However the reformation of the 16th Century saw the demise of Sweetheart Abbey, though its last Abbot Gilbert Broun, put up a defiant struggle in giving it up which is perhaps why much of it still stands. The church itself is almost perfectly formed and Sweetheart has some of the finest surviving architecture of any abbey in Scotland, its a shame its preservers couldn't put the roof back on.
At the other end of the village is the Corn Mill, a beautiful whitewashed building dating back to the 18th Century. Though the original mill was built 700 years ago by the monks at Sweetheart Abbey, the water powered mill has been has been restored to its later condition and is in full working order with regular demonstrations throughout the summer months.
Together with neat little cottages, a village pond, two great olde pubs and a magnificent mountain overlooking the village, New Abbey has a lot to offer for a day trip.
