- Balmerino Abbey
Infobox monastery
name= Balmerino Abbey
order=Cistercian
founder=Ermengarde de Beaumont
established=1229
mother=Melrose Abbey
disestablished=1603
diocese=Diocese of St Andrews
churches= Balmerino; Barry; Cultrain; Logie-Murdoch
people=Balmerino Abbey, or St Edward's Abbey, in
Balmerino ,Fife ,Scotland , was a Cistercianmonastic community founded in 1227 to 1229 by monks fromMelrose Abbey with the patronage ofErmengarde de Beaumont and KingAlexander II of Scotland . It remained a daughter house of Melrose. It had approximately 20 monks at the beginning of the sixteenth century, but declined in that century. In December 1547 it was burned by an English force, and allegedly burned again in 1559 by ScottishProtestant s. In 1606 and 1607 it was created as a secular lordship for James Elphinstone, 1stLord Balmerino .Current condition
The abbey is now under the stewardship of the
National Trust for Scotland , and a small entrance fee is requested at anhonesty box , with no ticket booth or manned presence on-site. The ruin consists of a substantial section of the east wall of the main church. More substantial ruins of some of the associated buildings exist to the side of this but access is currently prohibited due to their poor state of repair.As of summer 2007, a sign on site states that entrance fees will be used to contribute towards a possible future stabilisation of these ruins in order to improve safety for visitors to enter once again.
Burials
*
Ermengarde de Beaumont Bibliography
* Cowan, Ian B. & Easson, David E., "Medieval Religious Houses: Scotland With an Appendix on the Houses in the Isle of Man", Second Edition, (London, 1976), pp. 72-3
* Watt, D.E.R. & Shead, N.F. (eds.), "The Heads of Religious Houses in Scotland from the 12th to the 16th Centuries", The Scottish Records Society, New Series, Volume 24, (Edinburgh, 2001), pp. 12-15ee also
*
Abbot of Balmerino
*Lord Balmerino External links
* [http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/balmerino/abbey/index.html Balmerino abbey on Undiscovered Scotland]
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
