DUNDRENNAN, a village, in the parish of RerRICK,
stewartry of Kirkcudbright, 4 miles (E. S. E.)
from Kirkcudbright; containing 202 inhabitants. It is
situated in a beautiful valley, about a mile and a half
from the north-western shore of Solway Firth, and is
celebrated for its ancient abbey, founded in 1142 by
Fergus, lord of Galloway, for monks of the Cistercian
order whom he brought from Rivaulx, in the county of
York. This establishment, of which Sylvanus was the
first abbot, continued to flourish under his successors
till the Reformation; and after its dissolution in 1561
its revenues, amounting to £500, were, upon the death
of the last abbot, annexed by James VI. to his royal
chapel of Stirling. During the incumbency of the last
abbot (Edward Maxwell, son of Lord John Herries),
Mary, Queen of Scots, arrived at this place on her flight
from the disastrous battle of Langside, and here spent
the night previous to her embarkation for England, for
which she sailed from a small creek surrounded by precipitous
cliffs, and since called Port-Mary in commemoration
of the event. The village has a pleasingly rural appearance;
the houses are neatly built, and ornamented
with trees of ancient growth, and there are two comfortable
inns for the reception of visiters. One of two
parochial schools in Rerrick is held here. In the vicinity
)S the elegant mansion of Dundrennan, the seat of the
Maitland family; and the place derives much interest
from the venerable ruins of the abbey, and the beauty and
variety of the surrounding scenery.
The ruins are situated on a gentle acclivity rising from
a narrow vale, through which flows the streamlet called
Abbey Burn. They consist chiefly of parts of the conventual
church, originally a stately cruciform structure
in the early English style, with a central tower 200 feet
in height. Several of the monuments are still remaining,
but in a greatly dilapidated eonditimi. Among these is
the tomb of Alan, lord of Galloway, who was interred in
the church in 1233, and whose recumbent effigy in
armour, and cross-legged, is sculptured in high relief,
but much mutilated; and the tomb of one of the abbots
in his canonicals is in tolerable preservation, though the
inscription is totally obliterated. For the preservation of
the remains, Mr. Maitland some years since presented a
memorial to the commissioners of woods and forests, proposing
to relinquish all his right of property in the abbey,
on condition of its receiving from the crown protection
from further dilapidation. In accordance with this proposal,
the remains have been secured from decay, and,
with the surrounding burying-ground, inclosed with a
high fence of stone. The pavements of the church have
been cleared from all accumulations of rubbish, and reduced
to their ancient level; and many of the monuments,
and of the beautifully clustered columns and gracefully
pointed arches, have been restored. The whole, therefore,
is now one of the best preserved and most interesting
relics of monastic architecture in the kingdom.