Dundrennan Abbey

Today's the day  . . . . . . . to visit

A long-promised visit to Dundrennan Abbey today.

We'd heard a lot about it recently because it was here that Mary Queen of Scots on 15th May 1568, spent her last few hours on Scottish soil.  The following morning,  she set sail in a fishing boat bound for Workington, Cumbria - and was fated never to return to her native land.

Dundrennan Abbey was founded in 1142, probably by King David I of Scotland.  Its first monks almost certainly came from Rievaulx Abbey, one of the great Cistercian monasteries in Yorkshire . . . . .