The Abbey of St. Bothan was a convent for Cistercian nuns. Its scanty
remains are situated about four miles south-west from Grant’s House
Railway Station, in a beautiful valley on the right bank of the
Whitadder, which here flows a calm full stream, surrounded by gently
swelling hills--an ideal situation for such a house. The modern parish
church appears to occupy the site of the ancient church of the abbey,
and probably the nunnery buildings were included within the existing
churchyard, which lies on the south side of the church. The east wall of
the
[Illustration: FIG. 1343.--Abbey St. Bathans. East Wall.]
church only is old, and is entirely ivy clad, the east window (Fig.
1343) being just visible. It is round-arched and is of two lights, each
9 inches wide, with a quatrefoil above, having rather rudely formed
cusping. The mullion is modern, and the tracery is recessed to about the
middle of the thickness of the wall, being about 18 inches back from the
outer face. There is a set-off on the gable, hidden by ivy. It is
impossible to say how much of the other walls are old, but probably the
modern church occupies the old foundations, in which case the ancient
church was
[Illustration: FIG. 1344.--Abbey St. Bathans.