Cambuskenneth Abbey

Cambuskenneth Abbey ( also Abbey of St Mary of Stirling, Stirling Abbey ) is a ruined late medieval monastery of the Augustinian order later Arrouaise or near Stirling in Scotland. It is located in a meander loop over the city. The building fabric is now reduced except a free-standing bell tower, the remains of a portal, as well as remains of a residential or farm building on the river bank largely on the ground. The neighboring modern village Cambuskenneth was named after the former monastery.

History

Establishment and early history

King David I had Cambuskenneth Abbey build to the renewal and reform the Scottish church around the year 1140 as part of his efforts. The abbey was dedicated to the Virgin Mary and therefore originally known as the Abbey of St Mary of Stirling. Occasionally, was also the shortened naming as Stirling Abbey. The main road that leads from the castle hill to the royal residence in Stirling Castle towards the Abbey is, today St. Mary's Wynd.

Cambuskenneth among the most important abbeys in Scotland, partly due to their proximity to the royal town of Stirling, a leading urban center of the country, which represented the strategic access to the North of Scotland, and at certain times capital. Your status as a royal abbey near a large national fortress can with the Holyrood Abbey vis a vis Edinburgh are compared. The royal family, including the English King Edward and the later Scottish King Robert the Bruce, the Abbey went to often and held devotions. The Scottish national hero William Wallace in 1290 spent part of his youth with an uncle who was a cleric of the abbey. Robert I. held here in 1314, shortly after the Battle of Bannockburn, and in 1326 its parliament from; the latter one hand to confirm the succession of his son David, and ultimately also to regulate the transfer of the royal dignity to the Stuart family in the event of non- heritage death, which should take place in 1371 with the coronation of Robert Stuart. 1383 Cambuskenneth was burned down by the army of the English King Richard II and subsequently repaired. To what extent were reflected in the final appearance of this construction, can no longer be seen from the accessible floor plan today.

Died in 1486 Margaret of Denmark near Stirling Castle, and was buried in the Abbey. When her husband James III. on June 11, 1488 the Battle of Sauchieburn, just 5 km south of the abbey, fell in battle against rebellious nobles, even his body was brought for burial in the monastery. 1865, the grave was opened by Col. Sir James Alexander, who found two skeletons, but largely disintegrated. The now visible classical sarcophagi with coat of arms and Latin inscription dates from the 1860s. It was founded by Queen Victoria and situated in the area of the tomb before the former high altar. Jacob's son, James IV, also prepared his funeral in Cambuskenneth Abbey, but was probably in 1513 interred after his death at the Battle of Flodden Field in the monastery of Sheen in Surrey, where his body was lost in the turmoil of the Reformation.

Decline

The Abbey lost its importance during the Scottish Reformation. 1559 lived there only a few monks. The abbey was closed and most of the buildings were burned and looted. The former abbey was then under the jurisdiction of the Military Governor of Stirling Castle, which removed most of the masonry of the church and outbuildings in order to use them for construction work in the castle. This administrator, John Erskine 17th Earl of Mar, guardian of James V and Mary Queen of Scots, is also to large parts of the ruins to build his magnificent city palace in Stirling, Mar 's Wark, have used.

From the once prosperous abbey today only usually only knee-high ruins remain. Only who came from the late 13th century detached bell tower in the southwest of the former church with preserved figural sill area is completely intact. He is now in the state after a renovation in 1865.

The abbey was acquired in 1908 by the British Crown and is managed by Historic Scotland. The monastery grounds, a monument of category A, is fenced and summer visitors freely accessible. The ground floor of the bell tower can be visited. The stairs to the upper floors are closed, but are occasionally opened.

Abbey church and monastery buildings

In the abbey church of the early 13th century it has been a long narrow basilica with a set rectangular choir, short transept arms, a square central tower and a square chancel. The choir area was separated from the nave and the transept arms through solid walls. The floor plan is reminiscent of buildings of the Cistercian Order. The nave had only a north aisle, which possibly represents an extension of the later 13th or early 14th century, and appeared to be asymmetrical. To the east, a cloister and the residential and farm buildings of the monks, including a refectory and chapter house joined. To the east, next to a modern homestead in the bend of the Forth, are still larger wall remains of two houses and farm buildings.