Newbotle Abbey or, as it is now called (without the name having any
special meaning), Newbattle Abbey is situated on the river Esk, about
two miles south from Dalkeith. It was founded by David I. in the year
1140, for monks of the Cistercian order, who were brought to Newbotle
(or new residence) from Melrose. The “leader of the colony” appears to
have been Ralph, the first abbot, who obtained numerous gifts and
privileges for the convent, and consecrated a “cemetery within the
precinct of the monastery.” The second abbot, Alfred, who died in 1179,
was also a great benefactor to the abbey. He brought to it many relics,
which he enclosed in a silver chest. “He adorned the chapter house with
handsome seats, and also erected proper stalls, with convenient desks or
_menologies_ of wood, in the cloisters on the side where the ‘collation’
or reading of the lives of the saints was held, for the use of the
brethren during the reading of collation before compline at the washing
of feet at Maunday.”[91]
During the time of the tenth abbot, Constantine, the church was
dedicated by Andrew de Moravia, Bishop of Moray, in March 1233.
In the year 1241, Mary de Couci, queen of Alexander II., “looking to her
time of peril, and impressed with the frail tenure of life, bequeathed
her body to be buried in the church of Newbotle.”[92] This would seem
to indicate that the fabric of the church, if not finished by this
time, was far advanced. Mary de Couci survived for about thirty years,
when her desire to be buried here was carried out; and Father Hay
describes her tomb, apparently from the record of an eye-witness. “In
the midst of the church was seen the tomb of the queen of King
Alexander, of marble, supported on six lions of marble. A human figure
was placed reclining on the tomb, surrounded with an iron grating.”[93]
In 1275 Waldeve, the seventeenth abbot, “going the way of all flesh,
with blessed end, departed to the Lord, leaving his house in full peace
and excellent condition.”
Gervase, the nineteenth abbot, who demitted office in 1323, settled for
ever on the infirmary of the abbey an annual rent of three merks, “to be
expended for the uses of the sick and the recreation of the feeble.”[94]
These few notices seem to show that about the middle of the fourteenth
century the abbey was in a fairly complete state. It possessed great
estates in the counties of the Lothians, Lanark, Peebles, and Stirling.
Father Hay writes that, about this time, he “finds, from the books of
receipts and expenses, the annual income of the monastery could maintain
eighty monks and seventy lay brethren, with the corresponding
establishment.”[95]
But evil days were at hand. In 1385, during the expedition of Richard
II., “the English,” writes Father Hay, “burnt the monastery of Newbotle;
and, at the same time, several of the granges and farms of the monastery
were destroyed, and the others were deserted, while the lands were left
untilled. The towers or peles, built by the monastery for protection
against English marauders, fared in the same way. Some of the monks were
carried away prisoners; others fled to other monasteries. The few who
remained in the abbey, having scarce sufficient food, were compelled, by
great distress, to sell twenty-nine excellent chalices, nine crosses of
exquisite workmanship, and other sacred ornaments, with their silver
household plate. At that time the greater part of the abbey tower was
ruined by the falling of the cross.” These events happened during the
time of Hugh, the twenty-third abbot.
The work of restoration was, doubtless, gone on with as soon as
convenient; and, in 1390, Sir James Douglas of Dalkeith, by his will,
gave his body to be buried in the monastery of St. Mary of Newbotle. “At
the same time he bequeathed to the abbey a ‘nowche,’ or jewel of St.
John, worth 40 merks, or its value, and, in addition, £23, 6s. 8d. for
the building of the church and wages of the masons employed upon it. For
the service of the monks’ refectory he gave twelve silver dishes,
weighing eighteen pounds, six shillings sterling, enjoining his heirs
to see that they should not be abstracted from the use of the refectory
or sold.”[96] Two years later Sir James, in another will, bequeaths
similar sums to the abbey, without appropriating a part to the building
or to the payment of workmen, which seems to show, as Mr. Innes remarks,
that the rebuilding of the abbey church had been completed in the
meantime.
In 1419 Edward of Crechton paid a sum for the restoring and building of
the monastery.
In the Hertford expedition of 1544, “upon the 15th day of May the
horsmen raid to Newbottill and brynt it.”[97] As is remarked by Mr.
Innes,[98] this was, perhaps, but a partial destruction, as, three years
afterwards, Mary of Lorraine held at Newbotle a great convention of the
lords of her party, preparatory to declaring war with England.
The last so-called abbot was Mark Ker. He is styled Commendator of
Newbotle in 1560; and the lordship of Newbotle, being conferred on his
son, has remained with their descendants to the present day.
Such is the scanty history of this great abbey, so far as relates to the
structure and ornaments; but of the former almost nothing remains above
ground except part of the monastic buildings on the east side of the
cloisters.
The abbey, including the church, appears to have been almost completely
demolished shortly after the Reformation, the only parts of the monastic
buildings allowed to remain being the fratry and portions of the
chapter house, which were incorporated with the mansion house, and of
the former of which a view has already been given.[99]
The accompanying Plan (Fig. 653) has been prepared by Mr. John Ramsay,
the resident Clerk of Works to the Marquis of Lothian, showing the
result of considerable excavations recently carried out at the building,
together with some details which have been discovered. The Plan shows
that the buildings extended about 400 feet from north to south by about
270 feet from east to west, and that the monastery was of the usual
plan.
The recent excavations deal chiefly with the foundations of the abbey
and church, although explorations within the mansion have also brought
to light some old work hitherto concealed from view. The first discovery
of the existence of buried portions of the abbey was made in 1878, when
some works were in progress; and again, in 1892,
[Illustration:
A. Presbytery.
B. Crossing.
C. Nave.
D. North Transept.
E. South Transept.
F. Slype or Sacristy.
G. Chapter House.
H. Fratry.
I. Large Hall.
J. Necessaria.
K. Kitchen.
L. Refectory.
M. Passage with Stair.
N. Cellars.
O. Entrance to Cloister.
P. Perhaps Porter’s Room.
Q. Cellars or Workshops.
R. Necessaria of the Conversi.
S. S. Arched Culverts, separated by a Wall.
T. South Boundary Wall.