Kinloss Abbey

Kinloss Abbey stands in the county of Moray, Scotland, as the ruins of a once-great Cistercian monastery founded in 1150 by King David I. The abbey began with monks from Melrose and grew under Papal and royal protection, becoming one of Scotland’s largest and wealthiest religious houses. It held valuable salmon fishing rights on the River Findhorn granted by Robert the Bruce in 1312. The abbey welcomed royal visitors such as Edward I, Edward III and Mary, Queen of Scots. Robert Reid, its most famous abbot, introduced organised education, built a fireproof library and an abbot’s house, and later became Bishop of Orkney.

Robert Reid’s time at Kinloss saw the arrival of John Ferrerius, invited from Italy to teach. Ferrerius wrote a detailed account of the abbots’ lives, much of which has since been lost. After the Reformation, the abbey’s lands were taken by the Crown and granted to Edward Bruce, who became Lord Bruce of Kinloss. In 1645 the remaining buildings were sold to Alexander Brodie of Lethen, who dismantled them for Cromwell’s citadel at Inverness. Today only fragments remain, preserved within a local graveyard.

Visitors find the abbey’s remains set among gravestones, open to the public at all times. The scheduled monument includes parts of the church and claustral buildings, though much has vanished. The site offers a quiet place to walk among stone fragments and imagine the abbey’s former scale. The graveyard setting keeps the ruins accessible without fences or barriers. The atmosphere combines history with everyday use, as local people continue to bury their dead around the ancient stones.