Overview of New Abbey

An attractive village in Dumfries and Galloway, New Abbey lies near the mouth of the New Abbey Pow, 6 miles (10 km) south of Dumfries. Its situation in the lee of Criffel attracted Cistercian monks to establish here in 1273 a daughter foundation of Dundrennan Abbey called Sweetheart Abbey. This was erected at the insistence of Devorguilla, widow of John Balliol, the founder of Balliol College in Oxford. The village largely comprises a single winding street and buildings of interest include the late 18th-century New Abbey Mill, beside which is a monastic fishpond used to keep carp to provide fish for the monks who once occupied the abbey.