Tongland Church and Churchyard - geograph

Tungland or Tongland Abbey was a

Premonstratensian The Order of Canons Regular of Prémontré (), also known as the Premonstratensians, the Norbertines and, in Britain and Ireland, as the White Canons (from the colour of their habit), is a religious order of canons regular of the Catholic Church ...

monastic community located in

Tongland Tongland is a small village about north of Kirkcudbright, in the historic county of Kirkcudbrightshire in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. It lies on the west bank of the Dee near its confluence with the Tarff Water. History Tongland ...

in the historical county of Kirkcudbrightshire in

Dumfries and Galloway Dumfries and Galloway ( sco, Dumfries an Gallowa; gd, Dùn Phrìs is Gall-Ghaidhealaibh) is one of 32 unitary council areas of Scotland and is located in the western Southern Uplands. It covers the counties of Scotland, historic counties of ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. It was probably founded circa 1218 by

Alan, Lord of Galloway Alan of Galloway (before 1199 – 1234), also known as Alan fitz Roland, was a leading thirteenth-century Scottish magnate. As the hereditary Lord of Galloway and Constable of Scotland, he was one of the most influential men in the Kingdom of S ...

, although the church of Tongland had previously been granted to

Holyrood Abbey Holyrood Abbey is a ruined abbey of the Canons Regular in Edinburgh, Scotland. The abbey was founded in 1128 by David I of Scotland. During the 15th century, the abbey guesthouse was developed into a royal residence, and after the Scottish Ref ...

by his grandfather Uchtred in the early 1160s. Few of its early abbots are known and its history is more generally covered by a cloud of obscurity. One notable abbot (1504-1509) was the Italian

alchemist Alchemy (from Arabic: ''al-kīmiyā''; from Ancient Greek: χυμεία, ''khumeía'') is an ancient branch of natural philosophy, a philosophical and protoscience, protoscientific tradition that was historically practiced in Chinese alchemy, C ...

John Damian John Damian de Falcuis (Italian: Giovanni Damiano de Falcucci) was an Italian at the court of James IV of Scotland. His attempts at medicine, alchemy, flying, and his advancement by the king encouraged a satirical attack by the poet William Dunbar. ...

, (in Italian ''Giovanni Damiano de Falcucci''), who was, if a satirical account in two poems by

William Dunbar William Dunbar (born 1459 or 1460 – died by 1530) was a Scottish makar, or court poet, active in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries. He was closely associated with the court of King James IV and produced a large body of work in ...

is based in fact, may have made an attempt at

human-powered flight A human-powered aircraft (HPA) is an aircraft belonging to the class of vehicles known as human-powered transport. Human-powered aircraft have been successfully flown over considerable distances. However, they are still primarily constructed a ...

from the walls of

Stirling Castle Stirling Castle, located in Stirling, is one of the largest and most important castles in Scotland, both historically and architecturally. The castle sits atop Castle Hill, an intrusive crag, which forms part of the Stirling Sill geological ...

. The fabric and discipline of the abbey had degenerated by the early sixteenth century. There is no evidence that John Damien ever resided in the abbey and he may have resigned his title in 1509 when King

James IV James IV (17 March 1473 – 9 September 1513) was King of Scotland from 11 June 1488 until his death at the Battle of Flodden in 1513. He inherited the throne at the age of fifteen on the death of his father, James III, at the Battle of Sauchi ...

made a petition to

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

for the title to pass to "David

bishop of Galloway The Bishop of Galloway, also called the Bishop of Whithorn, was the eccesiastical head of the Diocese of Galloway, said to have been founded by Saint Ninian in the mid-5th century. The subsequent Anglo-Saxon bishopric was founded in the late 7th ...

" with a commission to "reform the discipline and repair the ruins".Priscilla Bawcutt, ''The Poems of William Dunbar'' Volume 2, Notes and Commentary. Association for Scottish Literary Studies, Glasgow, 1998. pp.295-6 This petition was repeated under King

James V James V (10 April 1512 – 14 December 1542) was King of Scotland from 9 September 1513 until his death in 1542. He was crowned on 21 September 1513 at the age of seventeen months. James was the son of King James IV and Margaret Tudor, and duri ...

and Tongland was eventually granted to the bishop in 1529, and confirmed in 1541. Tongland remained a possession of the bishop until the commendatorship of William Melville (1588-1606), but afterwards reverted into the bishop's hands. The village of

exists now at the site.

Bibliography

* Cowan, Ian B. & Easson, David E., ''Medieval Religious Houses: Scotland With an Appendix on the Houses in the Isle of Man'', Second Edition, (London, 1976), p. 103 * Watt, D.E.R. & Shead, N.F. (eds.), ''The Heads of Religious Houses in Scotland from the 12th to the 16th Centuries'', The Scottish Records Society, New Series, Volume 24, (Edinburgh, 2001), pp. 210–13

References

{{reflist Listed monasteries in Scotland Premonstratensian monasteries in Scotland Christian monasteries established in the 13th century Religious organizations established in the 1210s History of Galloway Listed churches in Scotland Category B listed buildings in Dumfries and Galloway Former Christian monasteries in Scotland

Bibliography

See also

References