Newbattle Abbey ( gd, Abaid a' Bhatail Nuaidh) was a

Cistercian The Cistercians, () officially the Order of Cistercians ( la, (Sacer) Ordo Cisterciensis, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Saint ...

monastery near the village of

Newbattle Newbattle (from Neubotle, i.e. new dwelling) is a village and civil parish in Midlothian, in the ancient Roman Catholic Diocese of St. Andrews, about seven miles from Edinburgh. There was an abbey there founded about 1140, being the second of th ...

Midlothian Midlothian (; gd, Meadhan Lodainn) is a historic county, registration county, lieutenancy area and one of 32 council areas of Scotland used for local government. Midlothian lies in the east-central Lowlands, bordering the City of Edinburgh, ...

, Scotland, which subsequently become a stately home and then an educational institution.

Monastery

It was founded in 1140 by monks from

Melrose Abbey St Mary's Abbey, Melrose is a partly ruined monastery of the Cistercian order in Melrose, Roxburghshire, in the Scottish Borders. It was founded in 1136 by Cistercian monks at the request of King David I of Scotland and was the chief house of ...

. The patron was King

David I of Scotland David I or Dauíd mac Maíl Choluim (Modern: ''Daibhidh I mac haoilChaluim''; – 24 May 1153) was a 12th-century ruler who was Prince of the Cumbrians from 1113 to 1124 and later King of Scotland from 1124 to 1153. The youngest son of Malcolm ...

(with his son Henry). Its church was dedicated in 1234. The abbey was burned by English royal forces in 1385 and once more in 1544. It became a secular lordship for the last commendator, Mark Kerr (Ker) in 1587. Newbattle Abbey was a

filiation Filiation is the legal term for the recognized legal status of the relationship between family members, or more specifically the legal relationship between parent and child. As described by the Government of Quebec: Filiation is the relationship ...

(itself a daughter of

Rievaulx Abbey Rievaulx Abbey was a Cistercian abbey in Rievaulx, near Helmsley, in the North York Moors National Park, North Yorkshire, England. It was one of the great abbeys in England until it was seized in 1538 under Henry VIII during the Dissoluti ...

) and was situated, according to Cistercian usages, in a beautiful valley along the

River South Esk :''Note: the southern headwater of the River Esk in Lothian is also known as the South Esk.'' The South Esk ( gd, Easg Dheas) is a river in Angus, Scotland. It rises in the Grampian Mountains at Loch Esk in Glen Doll and flows through Glen Clo ...

. Rudolph, its first abbot, a strict and severe observer of the rule, devoted himself energetically to the erection of proper buildings. The church, cruciform in shape, was 240 feet in length, and the other buildings in proportion; at one period the community numbered as many as 80 monks and 70 lay-brothers. The abbey soon became prosperous and famous for the regularity of its members, several of whom became well-known bishops. It was especially dear to the kings of Scotland, scarcely one of whom failed to visit it from time-to-time, and they were always its generous benefactors. One of the principal sources of income was the

coal mines Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from ...

in its possession, for these monks were among the first, if not ''the'' first, coal miners in Scotland. The earliest mention of coal in Scotland is to be found in a charter of an

Earl of Winchester Earl of Winchester was a title that was created three times in the Peerage of England during the Middle Ages. The first was Saer de Quincy, who received the earldom in 1207/8 after his wife inherited half of the lands of the Beaumont earls of Le ...

, granting to them a coal mine. In 1526 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 ...

granted them a petition to build a harbour at

Morrison's Haven Morrison's Haven is a harbour at Prestongrange, East Lothian, Scotland, UK, on the B1348, close to Levenhall Links, Prestongrange Industrial Heritage Museum, Prestonpans, and Prestongrange House. The name comes from the Morisons of Prestongran ...

, and it is from this date that Aitchison's Haven Lodge was established as a stonemason's lodge. In 1531, the Abbot of Newbattle agreed with the

Abbot of Dunfermline The Prior, then Abbot and then Commendator of Dunfermline was the head of the Benedictine monastic community of Dunfermline Abbey, Fife, Scotland. The abbey itself was founded in 1128 by King David I of Scotland, but was of earlier origin. King ...

to work his coalmine at

Prestongrange Prestongrange is a place in East Lothian, Scotland, United Kingdom, situated between Musselburgh to the west, and Prestonpans to the east. The place name derives from "Preston", meaning "priest's town", and a grange (or granary) which was wo ...

so that it would drain water from the neighbouring mines (which belonged to

Dunfermline Abbey Dunfermline Abbey is a Church of Scotland Parish Church in Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland. The church occupies the site of the ancient chancel and transepts of a large medieval Benedictine abbey, which was sacked in 1560 during the Scottish Reforma ...

) to the sea. Newbattle suffered much from English incursions at various times, particularly in 1385 when the monastery and church were burned, and the religious either carried away or forced to flee to other monasteries; it required 40 years to repair these losses. A part of the monastery was again destroyed by the Earl of Hertford, but the destruction seems to have been chiefly confined to the church. At the time of the

Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...

but few of the monks remained, and these were pensioned by the

commendator In canon law, commendam (or ''in commendam'') was a form of transferring an ecclesiastical benefice ''in trust'' to the ''custody'' of a patron. The phrase ''in commendam'' was originally applied to the provisional occupation of an ecclesiastica ...

, Mark Kerr. Kerr made a timely conversion to Protestantism and was able to retain the lands around the abbey. His son, also

Mark Mark may refer to: Currency * Bosnia and Herzegovina convertible mark, the currency of Bosnia and Herzegovina * East German mark, the currency of the German Democratic Republic * Estonian mark, the currency of Estonia between 1918 and 1927 * Fi ...

, became

Lord Newbattle Marquess of Lothian is a title in the Peerage of Scotland, which was created in 1701 for Robert Kerr, 4th Earl of Lothian. The Marquess of Lothian holds the subsidiary titles of Earl of Lothian (created 1606), Earl of Lothian (created again ...

in 1596 and Earl of Lothian in 1606. The monastery site, including burial grounds, traces of the chapel and cloisters and some associated buildings, is now a designated

scheduled monument In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change. The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage and d ...

Stately home

Part of the abbey was converted into a house which survives at the core of the current building. The house incorporates part of the south end of the monastic range, with the

dorter A dormitory (originated from the Latin word ''dormitorium'', often abbreviated to dorm) is a building primarily providing sleeping and residential quarters for large numbers of people such as boarding school, high school, college or university ...

undercroft intact. The house was modified and rebuilt successively by John Mylne in 1650,

William Burn William Burn (20 December 1789 – 15 February 1870) was a Scottish architect. He received major commissions from the age of 20 until his death at 81. He built in many styles and was a pioneer of the Scottish Baronial Revival,often referred t ...

in 1836 and

David Bryce David Bryce FRSE FRIBA RSA (3 April 1803 – 7 May 1876) was a Scottish architect. Life Bryce was born at 5 South College Street in Edinburgh, the son of David Bryce (1763–1816) a grocer with a successful side interest in buildi ...

in 1858. The drawing room was decorated by

Thomas Bonnar Thomas Bonnar ( d.1847) was a Scottish interior designer and architect of note, working in the Edinburgh area. He is particularly remembered for his outstanding ceilings. Thomas was father to William Bonnar RSA (1800-1853), artist, and Thomas ...

around 1870. The 19th century chapel was created in a vaulted undercroft that may date from the original abbey buildings. The chapel includes a 16th-century font and a fine parquet floor, made using wood from the estate, in the style of original tile-work. The library is oak-lined and features a 17th-century moulded ceiling. The garden to the rear of the house includes a pair of large octagonal 17th century sundials. The main abbey remains lie buried to the west and north of the original house. King

George IV George IV (George Augustus Frederick; 12 August 1762 – 26 June 1830) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from the death of his father, King George III, on 29 January 1820, until his own death ten y ...

visited during his Scottish tour of 1822 and the King's Gate was built in his honour.

College

Newbattle Abbey remained the home of the Marquesses of Lothian until being given to the nation in 1937 by

Philip Kerr, 11th Marquess of Lothian Philip Henry Kerr, 11th Marquess of Lothian, (18 April 1882 – 12 December 1940), known as Philip Kerr until 1930, was a British politician, diplomat and newspaper editor. He was private secretary to Prime Minister David Lloyd George between 19 ...

, to be used as a College of Education. The college was established under trustees from the four ancient Scottish Universities specifically for adults returning to education. New residential building was added in the 1960s and funding came through the

Scottish Education Department The Scottish Government Education Directorates were a group of the civil service directorates in the Scottish Government. The Directorates were titled Children, Young People and Social Care; Schools; and Lifelong Learning. They were responsible ...

. In 1987 the

Secretary of State for Scotland The secretary of state for Scotland ( gd, Rùnaire Stàite na h-Alba; sco, Secretar o State fir Scotland), also referred to as the Scottish secretary, is a Secretary of State (United Kingdom), secretary of state in the Government of the Unit ...

announced the intention to withdraw funding, threatening the college with closure. However, new forms of financial support have enabled the college to survive.

Burials at the Abbey

* Marie de Coucy

References

''Registrum S. Mariae de Neubotle'', Bannatyne Club (1849)
Newbattle Abbey charters 1140–1528, & later rentals. * 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. 77 *

External links