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"putting Lesmahagow on the Map !"
Page [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21] [22] [23] [24] [25] [26] [27] [28] [29] [30] [31] [32] [33] [34] [35] [36] [37] [38] [39] [40]The order was formally constituted in 1109. Like the founders of the Order of Citeaux, Bernard wished to restore manual work to its place in monastic life.
The Order of Tiron grew rapidly and Tiron soon became the Mother House of a considerable family of abbeys and priories. In Britain the first house of the Order to be established was, c. 1113, near Cardigan in western Wales; the abbey here became known as St. Dogmael's. Later two cells from this abbey were established at Caldey and Pill. These were to be the only three establishments of the Order in the south. However in Scotland the Order was to become well established and to wield much power.
It was directly from Tiron that Earl David, later King David I (1124-1153) brought monks to settle at Selkirk in 1113. This first foundation in Scotland was, in 1128, moved to Kelso by the King. From Kelso came the monks who settled and built the priory at Lesmahagow in 1144. In all there were four abbeys of the Order in Scotland, Kelso (1128), Kilwinning (1162-1189), Arbroath (1178), and Lindores (1191), with
FIG 1. Plan of centre of Lesmahagow.
three dependent priories, Lesmahagow (Kelso, 1144), Fogo (Kelso, 1253-1297) and £yvie (Arbroath, 1285). Forits size, the Order in Scotland became remarkably wealthy; at the time of the Reformation it is known that the minimum income of the four abbeys was: Kelso (including Lesmahagow) c. £4830 p.a., Arbroath £10,924, Kilwinning £2560 and Lindores £4790 (Cowan 1976, p. 66).
It is fairly certain that there was an existing church or chapel, dedicated to St. Machutus at Lesmahagow, when in 1144, King David I, 'for the soul's weal of himself, his ancestors and successors, and by the advice and counsel of John, Bishop of Glasgow gave to the Abbey of Kelso and to the abbot and monks serving the Lord there, the church of Lesmahag, and the whole land of Lesmahagu according to their proper boundaries with all manner of lawful pertinents in wood and open, moors and marshes, pastures and waters, with mills and other buildings, with mansions to be built on their own land as they pleased, in free and perpetual alms, to be held for the weal of souls; the church to be free of all Episcopal dues and exactions, that the abbot and monks of Kelso might ordain a prior and as many monks of their own order and dress as the place would honestly support, and for the reception of poor travellers. . . ' From this Charter it also seems that the right of sanctuary was granted to the priory, a right which was only sparingly granted by the king (Bannatyne Club 1846, nos. 8 and 180).
Although the names of eleven priors between 1180 and 1554 are known, a complete list is wanting (Wilson 1936, I, p. 229) and generally the history of the priory is poorly recorded, only isolated references being made to it e.g. its burning by the troops of John of Eltham, brother of Edward III in 1335 (Wyntoun viii, 30; Bower ii, 323), and occasional information regarding the revenue and number of monks (Bannatyne Club 1846 ii, 479ff). More is known of the concluding years ofthe monastery. Sometime before 1550 the commendatorship of the priory was held by the commendators of Kelso. In 1607 the priory and its lands
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