purserd99
Pluscarden Abbey - 1st February 2017
Pluscarden Abbey as we know it today owes its foundation to King Alexander II of Scotland in the year 1230. At the same time grants were made to two other sister houses, Beauly in Ross, and Ardchattan in Argyll. The community that served these churches was one of Valliscaulians, a little-known order that shared some of the strictness of the Carthusian discipline with the spirit of fellowship that existed among the Benedictines.
After suffering many sackings and burnings through the centuries, the Priory buildings stood unmaintained against the weather; roofs collapsed and ivy grew upon the walls, woodwork rotted into mould and rubble accumulated in the church and cloisters where once the monks had walked
The property had passed in 1897 from the Earls of Fife to the third Marquess of Bute and my great-grandfather moved up from Edinburgh to work as a stonemason on the restoration until this was brought to a halt by the death of the Marquess in 1900.
The son of the Third Marquess, Lord Colum Crichton-Stuart in 1943 gave the Priory and its land to the Benedictine community of Prinknash. Life started again for Pluscarden in 1948. The central tower of the church had been roofed and the bells of Pluscarden once again rang across the valley. Independence was granted in 1966 and in 1974 the monastery was elevated to the status of an Abbey.
Pluscarden Abbey - 1st February 2017
Pluscarden Abbey as we know it today owes its foundation to King Alexander II of Scotland in the year 1230. At the same time grants were made to two other sister houses, Beauly in Ross, and Ardchattan in Argyll. The community that served these churches was one of Valliscaulians, a little-known order that shared some of the strictness of the Carthusian discipline with the spirit of fellowship that existed among the Benedictines.
After suffering many sackings and burnings through the centuries, the Priory buildings stood unmaintained against the weather; roofs collapsed and ivy grew upon the walls, woodwork rotted into mould and rubble accumulated in the church and cloisters where once the monks had walked
The property had passed in 1897 from the Earls of Fife to the third Marquess of Bute and my great-grandfather moved up from Edinburgh to work as a stonemason on the restoration until this was brought to a halt by the death of the Marquess in 1900.
The son of the Third Marquess, Lord Colum Crichton-Stuart in 1943 gave the Priory and its land to the Benedictine community of Prinknash. Life started again for Pluscarden in 1948. The central tower of the church had been roofed and the bells of Pluscarden once again rang across the valley. Independence was granted in 1966 and in 1974 the monastery was elevated to the status of an Abbey.