Lincluden Collegiate Church

Now standing incongruously tucked away behind a housing estate at the edge of Dumfries, Lincluden Collegiate Church was originally founded in the 1160s to serve as a Benedictine nunnery. It is thought it was most likely founded by Uchtred, the son of Fergus, Lord of Galloway.

A petition sent to the Pope by Archibald, Lord of Galloway, to have the nunnery replaced by a college in 1389 suggests the nunnery experienced a level of decline, both moral and physical. While it was clear the nunnery buildings had fallen into a state of disrepair, the local rumour was that the nuns were using the revenue created by the nunnery to provide fine clothing for their daughters “born in incest”.

The petition was successful. The Lord of Galloway had the nuns expelled from the nunnery and replaced them with a provost, 8 priests and 24 bedesmen. They were placed here to pray for the souls of Archibald, his family and any future descendants.

Lincluden Collegiate Church as it stands now was most likely constructed in the 1400s. It is believed that it was built by the Frenchman, John Morrow, considered one of the finest master masons in Scotland at the time.

The choir and part of the nave survive up until today. The beautiful choir still represents some of the best Gothic architecture found in Scotland. In the north wall of the choir is the monumental tomb for Archibald’s wife Princess Margaret, Lady of Galloway, who died in 1450.

There was also a later addition of a domestic range to the north of the church building.

The church survived the Protestant Reformation of 1560; the last mass was then celebrated not long after, in the 1580s. The last provost left the church in about 1590, when ownership of the buildings passed to the Maxwells of Terregles.

The Maxwells converted the collegiate church’s domestic ranges into a mansion house, which was then abandoned by the late 1600s. This final abandonment left the church to become the beautiful ruin that stands rather forlornly at the edge of a housing estate.