Crossraguel Abbey - a Cluniac site
With a name that is found in only one other place in Scotland (a farm in Lanarkshire now called Hiecorsehill - high cross hill) it is no surprise that scholars have been uncertain of its origins. One theory is that the abbey was built near a high cross dedicated to St Riaghail or Rule. A possible explanation is that the patron saint of the abbey church was once St Riaghail, an Irish monk who along with others, accompanied St Columba to Iona in the year 563.
View an interactive 360 degree panorama from the abbey gatehouse.
Hold down the left mouse button to navigate. © Bill Ward Crossraguel
St Andrews
Riaghail is Irish Gaelic for Rule or in Latin, Regulus. Now St Andrews comes into the picture. According to legend, a monk, Regulus was instructed in a vision to carry the relics of the apostle, St Andrew from his burial-place in Patras, Greece to the furthest west point he could reach. He was shipwrecked off the coast of Fife, and later the relics were miraculously discovered and a great cathedral arose in the town now called St Andrews. Formerly know as Kinrymont (meaning the end of the King's muir), the place had probably been an important Pictish site, pre-dating the arrival of the relics.
The cult of St Andrew may have been introduced in the middle of the 8th century by Bishop Acca of Hexham in northern England. It was initially a local one but by the year 967, Kinrymont was taking on national significance as a place of pilgrimage. There were only two places in western Christendom that pilgrims could come into contact with relics of a martyred apostle of Christ; here and at the shrine of St James the Greater in Compostela. St Andrews cathedral, for many years the largest building in Scotland, is now a much-diminished ruin, dominated by the tall square tower known as St Rule's Tower.
Although by the end of the 11th century, the saint with the widest following in Scotland was Columba, it became inevitable that St Andrew would become the nation's patron saint and that his saltire cross would form the style of the national flag, believed to be the oldest in the world. In July, 1318, King Robert the Bruce witnessed the consecration of the completed cathedral.
Connecting Andrew and Rule with Ayrshire's Crossraguel Abbey
One obvious connection to rule out, so to speak, is that of Bishop Kennedy of St Andrews. He was born about 1406 as the third and youngest son of Sir James Kennedy of Dunure, Ayrshire (about 7 miles from Crossraguel) and cousin of James II, King of Scots. He celebrated his first Mass as Bishop of St Andrews on 30th September, 1442. Another close connection was the discovery over 100 years ago of a hoard of coins, dubbed "Crossraguel pennies". It was believed that these had been minted at the abbey but later research re-attributed them to Bishop Kennedy. As we shall see below, Bishop Kennedy's time was much later than the foundation of the abbey.
With Crossraguel being closer and more accessible to Ireland and Iona than St Andrews, it seems unlikely that the abbey's patron would be St Rule. However, Robert the Bruce had one of his main castles (possibly his birthplace) at Turnberry, just six miles from the abbey, so he may have had a hand in influencing the choice of patron saint. King Robert the First lived from 1274-1329, becoming King of Scots in 1306, about half a century after the founding by Duncan, Earl of Carrick, of Crossraguel as a daughter house of the great Cluniac abbey of Paisley.
Traces of the cruciform stone church of the middle to late 13th century can still be seen and they indicate that the surviving church which probably dates from the 15th century, retained the same alignment and that is the key to unlocking some unrecorded history of the abbey.
Sunrise on the patronal feast day
It is widely believed that Mediæval churches were aligned in such a way that the High Altar faces the point of sunrise on the feast day of its patron saint. This was even the basis of a poem by William Wordsworth. However, an English historian, Ian Hinton has surveyed 1,747 sites in every rural Mediæval parish in 13 counties of England and Wales. He concludes that this does not hold true.
A similar survey was carried out in Aberdeen and Banffshire at the beginning of the 20th c. by F.C. Eeles and published in the Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland in 1914, vol. 12, p. 169-183.
At Crossraguel the church, dedicated to the Virgin Mary, is aligned about 7 or 8 degrees north of east to the point where the sun rises at 05:57 hrs on 30th March, the feast day of St Regulus according to the Calendar of the Aberdeen Breviary!
But sunlight plays a further part in the ritual of worship. A rectangular window below the abbey belfry (see picture above, right) allows sunbeams to play directly on to the High Altar at 5:30 pm on two particular days of the year; 1st May (start of the month named for and dedicated to, the Blessed Virgin Mary) and on 10th August, feast day of St Oswald, king of Northumbria and St Blane, born on the Isle of Bute in the Firth of Clyde.
Group of patron saints
Paisley Abbey which had been established like Crossraguel, by monks from Much Wenlock, Shropshire in England, had several dedications; the Virgin Mary, St James the Greater of Compostela, St Milburga and St Miren, whose burial site became the focus for the founding of the monastery in 1163 by Walter Fitz Alan, High Steward of Scotland and founder of the royal house of Stewart.
St Milburga was Abbess of Wenlock in the 8th century and St James was patron saint of the Stewarts.
Similarly at Crossraguel we find a local saint, Bláán (Blane) and a minor saint from further afield, St Oswald. Their links are reinforced with two place-names within two miles of Crossraguel; Auchinblane (Gaelic for field of Bláán) and Kirkoswald (church of St Oswald). But that leaves the controversy over Riaghail and Regulus. Did either ever exist? Were they one and the same person?
Confusion is compounded by the dates given for each saint's feast day. Depending on which calendar is consulted, Riaghail's is given as 13th April, 11th June and 16th October. Regulus (or Rule) is given as 30th March and 16th October. The latter date is an alternative if the former date fell within Lent.
This fascinating subject is part of ongoing research into the hidden history of Crossraguel.
Crossraguel is pronounced Kross-ray-gill to rhyme with bagel.
Crossraguel Abbey is a Scheduled Ancient Monument in the care of Historic Scotland and is open from spring to autumn (Fall). More information at:
http://www.historic-scotland.gov.uk/properties_sites_detail?propertyID=PL_079
Further reading (all published by Historic Scotland):
Pilgrimage in Mediaeval Scotland Peter Yeoman ISBN0 7134 8174 9
Mediaeval Scotland Peter Yeoman ISBN 0 7134 7465 3
Scottish Abbeys and Priories Richard Fawcett ISBN 7134 7440 8
Federation of Cluniac Sites
Between 2009 and 2010 there will be Europe-wide celebrations of the 1,100th anniversary of the Mother House of Cluny Abbey in Burgundy, France. Further information is available from: http://www.sitesclunisiens.org/