OS1/13/38/17

Continued entries/extra info

[Page] 17
Parish of Newburgh

LINDORES ABBEY.-
Northeast of the town and at the extremity of the parish on gentle rise in
in the middle of the rich clay land near the Tay stand the ruins of the ancient abbey of
Lindores. This monstery was founded in 1178 by David Earl of Huntingdon brother of William
the Lion and heir-presumptive to the Scottish throne after his return from a Crusade in the
Holy Land in commemoration of his escape from Shipwreck and of his having taken Ptolemais
from the Saracens. He planted it with monks of St Benedict of the order of Lyronensis
and dedicated the church to the virgin mary and St. Andrew the apostle. The monks were brought
from the Abbey of Kelso. The monks of Lindores drew the tithes of twenty two parish churches
which belonged. In 1208, Sibbald says, he finds that there resided in the monastery an abbot
and 26 monks. The site of the monastery of Lindores on the fine Carse-land which here bor-
ders the Tay and was formerly part of the forest of Black Earnside must have peculiarly
beautiful commanding a view of the valley of Strathearn and the Several buildings it Contained
were no doubt in a Style of grandeur Commensurate with its wealth and importance. The
latter however is a great matter of conjecture as little of the ruins now remains to
give any idea of its extent or the beauty of its architecture. The first outburst of the Reformation
was no doubt attended with an equally destructive attack on the monastery of Lindores as
that experienced by many other venerable buildings throughout the Kingdom but Lindores abbey
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