This monastery was situated in a beautiful valley on the banks of the
river Ugie, one mile and a quarter south-west of Mintlaw Railway
Station. It was founded in the year 1218 by William, the first Earl of
Buchan, who, by his marriage in 1210 to Marjory, the only child of the
last Mormaer of Buchan, became the founder in the north of the powerful
family of the Cumyns. He died in the year 1233, and was buried in the
abbey. In consequence of the accession of the Earl of Carrick to the
Scottish throne, the Cumyn family, who had opposed the Bruce, were so
completely overthrown that, says Fordun, “of a name which numbered at
one time three earls and more than thirty belted knights, there remained
no memorial in the land, save the orisons of the Monks of Deir.” Now not
one stone of the abbey church is left standing, and only a few fragments
of the conventual buildings remain. This is much to be regretted,
especially as it is known that considerable remains of the church
existed down till 1854.
About the year 580 a church was founded in Deer by St. Columba and his
nephew Drostan, on ground supplied by the Mormaer of the district as a
return for the prayers of the saint in favour of his sick child. This
Columban establishment survived till the time of David I., and was
superseded by the monastery founded, as above stated, by the Earl of
Buchan for a colony of monks of the Cistercian order from Kinloss. The
site of the church (Fig. 689) is marked on the ground by an excavation
over its whole area. The structure consisted of a nave about 98 feet
long by 40 feet wide, including a north aisle, an aisleless choir or
presbytery about 25 feet long and 24 feet wide, and north and south
transepts. The total length of the church over all was 157 feet. The
nave had a north aisle, and was divided into five bays. The bases of the
pillars remained in position till 1854. The south transept was 39 feet
wide, or about 6 feet 2 inches wider than the northern one, and it had
probably a narrow eastern aisle.
[Illustration: FIG. 689.--The Abbey of Deer. Plan.]
The conventual buildings lay on the south side of the church, and are
built on ground sloping southwards towards the Ugie, so that a basement
story was required. The interior of the whole range of buildings is so
overgrown with vegetation and filled with debris that it is with the
utmost difficulty one can make his way through the ruins, and thus an
accurate examination of the place is hardly possible.
The cloister was about 70 feet from north to south by about 90 feet
from east to west. On the south side there is a range of buildings about
125 feet long by 31 feet wide, divided into four apartments, forming the
basement story, over which the refectory was probably built. To the east
of this, lying north and south, is the fratry, measuring 35 feet in
length by about 19 feet in width inside. Projecting southwards beyond
the fratry by its full width a long range of buildings extends 80 feet
eastwards, and measures about 21 feet in width over the walls. At the
west end of this range there is an apartment about 20 feet from east to
west by about 16 feet wide, which may probably have been the kitchen. In
the north wall of this apartment there is a flue about 10 inches square.
The room enters from a passage adjoining on the east side. There appears
to have been a stair in this passage leading down to the lower
buildings, and probably up to the dormitory, but the block of ruins at
this part is so great as to render further observation impossible. Of
the buildings which occupied the east side of the cloister all traces
have now disappeared.
[Illustration: FIG. 690.--The Abbey of Deer.