Transactions. G3 



ruins of which every Dumfriesian is familiar. When in 

 good preservation the buildings must have formed a magnifi- 

 cent group ; even yet they occupy the first place among 

 the religious buildings of Eastern Galloway, a district which 

 possesses a galaxy of monastic ruins^such as few portions of 

 Scotland can boast of. Standing, isolated from men's busy 

 haunts, out on the narrow nook where Cluden's wimpling 

 waters meet IS ith's hurrying stream, the noble chancel, nestl- 

 ing closely by the side of the guardian Tower, which, even in 

 decay, bears itself proudly aloft as if in full consciousness of 

 the supreme beauty of its charge ; the transept worn and 

 dismantled ; the nave now well nigh disappeared ; the smooth 

 parterre and the pine-tipped calvary form a group well 

 worthy of its classic associations with Scotland's greatest 

 bard, and of the muses of a Macdowall, of a Walter, and of 

 a Sharpe. 



The Benedectine House of Lincluden ceased to exist in 

 the latter part of the reign of Robert III., and shortly after- 

 wards the Collegiate Church was founded. To what extent 

 the original Abbey was allowed to remain at its erection it 

 is impossible to tell. It is highly probable, however, that 

 such portions as were serviceable were converted into a 

 residence for the Provost and Canons, the portion of the 

 building known as the Provost's residence being erected at 

 some subsequent date, for apparently the Church and Sacristy 

 or Vestry were all that were erected by Archibald the Grim, 

 the other portions being in a totally different style. The 

 Church, as originally constituted, is said to have been com- 

 posed of Chancel, Nave, and Transepts ; but of these the 

 Chancel, South Transept, and a portion of the south wall of 

 the Nave only remain, the North Transept, if it ever 

 existed, being totally lost. From a careful examination of 

 the indications of the present building, however, I have come 

 to the conclusion that the Nave proper (and North Transept 

 probably) never existed, and I may briefly state a few of the 

 principal reasons which induced that belief. 1st, Total 

 absence of groining on the north side, what has manifestly 



