The Abbey of Dulce Cor, better known as Sweetheart Abbey (Gaelic: An Abaid Ur), was a Cistercian monastery founded in 1275 in what is now the village of New Abbey, in the historical county of Kirkcudbrightshire in Dumfries and Galloway, south of Dumfries. History Founding The abbey, located on the banks of the New Abbey Pow (river), was founded by Dervorguilla of Galloway, daughter of Alan, Lord of Galloway, in memory of her husband, John de Balliol. After his death, she kept his embalmed heart, contained in a casket of ivory and silver, with her for the rest of her life, and it was buried alongside her when she died. In line with this devotion to her late husband, she named the abbey Dulce Cor (Latin for Sweet Heart). Their son, also John, became King of Scotland, but his reign was tragic and short. Under the first abbot, Henry, the abbey was built in deep-red, local sandstone in the Early English style. It was founded as a daughter house to the nearby Dundrennan Abbey; thus this novum monasterium (new monastery) became known as the "New Abbey ". Other abbots included - Henry, 1275; Eric, 1290; John, 1300; Thomas, 1400; William, 1470; Robert, 1503; John, 1539; Gilbert, 1565–1612. Vicissitudes The immediate abbey precincts extended to and sections of the surrounding wall can still be seen today. The abbey church, dedicated to St Mary the Virgin, in common with all Cistercian monasteries, measures , and the central tower rose to a height of . The Abbot of Sweetheart was a member of the First Estate and sat ex officio in the Parliament. The Cistercian Order—whose members were commonly known as the White Monks because of the white cowl which they wear over their religious habit—built many great abbeys after their establishment around 1100. Like many of their abbeys, the New Abbey's interests lay not only in prayer and contemplation but in the farming and commercial activity of the area, making it the centre of local life. During the First War of Scottish Independence, King Edward I of England himself resided at the abbey in 1300, while campaigning in Galloway. After 50 years of warfare in the region, however, the abbey was left in a dilapidated state. The Bishop of Galloway bemoaned Sweetheart's "outstanding and notorious poverty". Archibald Douglas, 3rd Earl of Douglas (1328-1400), often referred to as Archibald the Grim, became a