Visit Lindores Abbey

As the first Community worker in Newburgh, I had the
pleasure and privilege of organizing a performance of Macbeth in Lindores Abbey in 1981. I was also involved in carving the Bear Sculpture which can still be seen looking down upon Lindores Abbey.
Sandy Stevenson

Home of the Black Monks

Sad are the ruins of the Abbey of Lindores. No one can see them without mourning the passing, for whatever cause, of such beauty and grandeur as must have been here. All that now remains of the great and gracious 12th-century building which once stood here at one of the loveliest spots on the banks of Tay's estuary are segments of the mighty walls, standing isolated in tottering ruin and so wrapped and weighed with ivy and split by trees that for the most part the ruins-except for the portion of a tower and the arch of the main entrance-look more like fantastic natural growths than the work of man's hands.

Beyond these tatters of past greatness one can see the broad majesty of the widening estuary and the noble outline of the Sidlaw Hills across the water. The abbey has crumbled, but that fine landscape remains little changed perhaps from what it was in the days when the abbey was built or what it was in the days of the Reformation of which these pathetic remains so eloquently speak.

John Knox came to Lindores with his Congregation of the Godly in 1559, and sternly he tells how the wave of Reformation swept to the walls of that proud abbey on Tay banks. "We came to the Abbey of Lindores, a place of Black Monks, distant from St Andrews twelve miles. We reformed them. Their altars overthrew; their idols, vestments of idolatry and mass books we burned in their presence, and commanded them to cast away their monkish habits."

But before Knox descended upon it the abbey had enjoyed nearly 400 years of rich life. David, Earl of Huntingdon-the "Sir Kenneth" of Scott's Talisman-founded it in 1178 for the Benedictine Order. Records indicate that it was a place of peculiar elegance and charm. It was built of red and white sandstone in the forest of Parkhill; the grounds were laid with sacred earth from Ireland-to keep away adders; it was endowed with five mills and a farm grange. The chartulary is still preserved and in Newburgh museum we can see a carved wooden panel from the building.

Here Wallace Celebrated

Lindores Abbey played its part as the scene for many an event in Scottish history. Within its walls died Prince Alexander, only son of Alexander III. Here Edward I summoned all classes to bow before him and swear allegiance to him as their liege lord: perhaps he had even then in his baggage the Coronation Stone he had stolen from Scone. But here also Sir William Wallace celebrated his victory on the nearby field of Black Earnside. And here also it was that Sir Gilbert Hay of Errol-who led 1,000 horse to victory at Bannockburn-vowed to defend Bruce to the death.

The sons of its founder were buried under its High Altar. Also buried here was the young Duke of Rothesay who had died so mysteriously in the grim tower at Falkland, and it was said that his tomb was a source of miracles until James I took steps to avenge his death. Wyntoun writes:

In Lindores his body lys,
His soul is intil Parodys.

Lindores' first Abbot was Guido, but the most famous Abbot in its history was Lawrence who, as Grand Inquisitor in Scotland, was responsible for the burning of Paul Craw.

The last Abbot was John Lesley, faithful friend of Queen Mary. After the suppression of the monasteries the Abbey of Lindores became a temporal Lordship of Lindores, but gradually the building fell into decay and at last suffered the fate of many such places- that of serving as a "quarry" for local builders.

Near the ruins used to stand the Old Pear Tree, one of the oldest trees in Fife and said to have been planted by the monks. The principal limbs of it were blown down in the gale which wrecked the Tay Bridge in 1879. It was, in fact, the monks of Lindores who started the industry of fruit-growing for which the Newburgh district is noted.

Stone of the Sun-worshippers

In the village of Lindores is a relic of even earlier times. Built into the wall at the roadside, near the western entrance to the village on the road from Newburgh, is an old stone, the faded carving on which is believed to establish it as a stone wrought by the sun-worshippers.

Also near Lindores is the site of an ancient castle, supposed to have belonged to Macduff, Thane of Fife. More than 100 years ago men working in its ruins discovered in a tiny recess "a piece of cloth, which, on exposure to the air, soon dissolved and disappeared".

Almost hidden from the main road is the pleasant little Loch of Lindores. Near the loch, in the grounds of Abdie Church, stands the roofless pre-Reformation church of St Magridin. On this site was a Culdee settlement, and the Church of St Magridin was dedicated on 5th September, 1242, by David de Bernham, Bishop of St Andrews. It was used until 1827. An interesting discovery was made in this ruin when a grave was being dug. Below the earth was a stone in which were carved a cross and two shields. This stone now stands against the north wall of the church. Another interesting carving is the stone statue of a woman with arms folded across her breast which stands in the chancel of the old church. In the aisle are monuments to the Balfours of Denmilne. A Den-milne aisle was built as an addition to Abdie Church in 1661.

In the old churchyard are buried the Bethunes, John and Alexander, the Newburgh poets who supported themselves by breaking stones at the roadside. Here too are the remains of Rear-Admiral Frederick Lewis Maitland, who captured Napoleon. He lived at Lindores House and was a founder of the Caledonian Curling Club.

Lindores Overview

Return to sample itinerary