The ancient town of Arbroath stands on the east coast of Forfarshire,
and the massive ruins of its great abbey, as seen from the sea, rising
above the houses of the town, present an image of decay and desolation.
The abbey was founded by King William the Lion towards the end of the
twelfth century. It was richly endowed, and soon became one of the
wealthiest and most powerful monasteries in the kingdom. The inmates
were of the Tironensian order, and the first monks were brought to
Arbroath from Kelso Abbey.
King William, having been taken prisoner at Alnwick in 1174, was
confined at Falaise, in Normandy, but regained his liberty, and returned
to Scotland, in 1176. Immediately on his return he proceeded to found
the Abbey of Arbroath, which he dedicated to Saint Mary and St. Thomas à
Becket. The latter had been murdered at Canterbury only four years
before, and it is doubtful whether King William was attached to his
memory by personal friendship or by sympathy with the saint in his
opposition to the King of England.
By the year 1178 part of the church was ready for dedication. William
the Lion died in 1214, and was buried in the east end of the edifice,
which was then finished. Shortly afterwards the south transept was
sufficiently well advanced to admit of the burial within it, before the
altar of St. Catherine, of Gilchrist, Earl of Angus. On the 18th of
March 1233, during the time of Abbot Ralph de Lamley, the church was
dedicated. The time occupied in the erection and completion of the
structure was thus a little over fifty-five years, and when its
dimensions are considered, it will be found in comparison with other
churches to have been carried on with great rapidity.
The above dates are useful as indicating the progress of the transition
and pointed styles in Scotland. The choir and transept, although still
retaining a few reminiscences of the transition in the round arches
interspersed among the pointed arches, are essentially first pointed in
style. The retention of the round arch here, as elsewhere in Scotland,
is a common feature throughout the whole course of Gothic art. In the
west doorway, and also in the gallery over it, there are distinct
elements of transition work; but the external and internal windows of
the gallery, and the main features of the towers, are decidedly first
pointed in style. Possibly the west doorway and gallery were begun at an
early stage of the building, and the west end, after being stopped for a
time, was completed at a later date.
As showing the eagerness with which King William pushed on the
buildings, Hollinshed mentions[25] that “the king came by the Abbey of
Aberbrothoc to view the work of that house, how it went forward,
commanding them that were overseers and masters of the works to spare
for no cost, but to bring it up to perfection, and that with
magnificence.”
The abbey church (Fig. 461) consisted of a choir of three bays, with
side aisles and an aisleless presbytery; a nave of nine bays, with
aisles and north and south transepts, with eastern aisles. There were
two western towers, and one large tower over the crossing.