Description
The monument consists of the Cistercian abbey of Dundrennan, founded as a daughter house of Rievaulx Abbey in Yorkshire, probably by Fergus, Lord of Galloway, in 1142.
Although a mere fragment of its former grandeur, the architecture of Dundrennan Abbey is the most accomplished medieval workmanship in Galloway. The church is reduced to footings except for the central W door, part of the W wall, the transepts and part of the square-ended presbytery. The aisled nave was 8 bays long and two storeyed, incorporating a range of clerestore windows. The transepts each had three chapels. The E side of the transepts were remodelled in the last quarter of the 12th century, when among other changes, a triforium was introduced above the arcades of the chapels.
Of the claustral buildings only parts of the three ranges are now visible, although these clearly follow the standard Cistercian pattern. The chief feature is the late 13th-century arcaded frontage of the chapter house which has a cusped doorway and flanking two- light windows. It possessed a grand, aisled and vaulted interior, sub-divided into twelve vaulted compartments and contains fine, mainly abbatial, grave-slabs. The W range was built for the lay brothers, but was altered as a dwelling in the 16th century. Recent excavation of the S range has demonstrated that the plan varies from the standard by the range's extension to the E, possibly to accommodate the drainage for the reredorter.
An abbey of this wealth would be expected to have a large precinct with additional, ancillary buildings, including an infirmary, workshops and a mill. The scheduled area takes account of this and includes the abbey and an area around in which it is likely that archaeological evidence of structures ancillary to the abbey will be preserved, as shown in red on the accompanying revised map. The area excludes all modern fences and walls and associated gates, the top 300mm of all paths and roads to allow for their maintenance, all modern signage, the modern play park, all telegraph poles, the custodian's hut and shop, the refurbished stone store and tractor shed, the top 200mm of all gravel surfaces within the abbey to allow for their maintenance and all modern timber stairs and fittings within the abbey.