major benefactor of the abbey and financed wholesale repairs and the rebuilding of the abbey complex. The depredations suffered by the abbey in subsequent periods, however, caused the graves of the foundress and her husband to be lost. The abbey continued in quiet obscurity until it was eventually suppressed in the Scottish Reformation. Suppression Starting in 1565, the Scottish crown placed the abbey under a series of commendatory abbots. The last Cistercian abbot was Gilbert Broun, S.O.Cist. (died 1612), who continued to uphold the Catholic faith long after the Reformation. He was charged several times with enticing to "papistrie" from 1578 to 1605, until finally he was arrested in 1605, in spite of the resistance of the whole countryside, and transported to Edinburgh, where he was tried and sentenced to exile. In 1624, the last of the monks died and the abbey buildings and land passed into the hands of Sir Robert Spottiswoode, son of the Archbishop of St Andrews, who assumed the title of Lord of New Abbey. When, in 1633, King Charles I established the Diocese of Edinburgh, he pleaded with Spottiswoode to relinquish the lands of New Abbey, which he wanted to grant to the new diocese. Though Spottiswoode agreed, he was not paid for the lands, and when the royal grant to the diocese was cancelled, the king restored the estate back to Spottiswoode in 1641. He was soon forced into exile, however, so the estate continued in possession of the Crown. Burials John de Balliol and his wife Dervorguilla of Galloway James Carruthers (1759–1832) was a Catholic priest and historian. Eric Drummond, 7th Earl of Perth (1876- 1951). Hon. Angela Mary Constable-Maxwell, daughter of the 11th Lord Herries of Terregles, Countess of Perth, (1877Marmaduke Constable-Maxwell, 11th Lord Herries of Terregles - 1965 ) wife of the 7th Earl of Perth. William Paterson (banker) founder of the Bank of England. (1658 - 1719) Current status The village which stands next to the ruins today, is now known as New Abbey. At the other end of the main street is Monksmill, a corn mill. Although the present buildings date from the late 18th century, there was an earlier mill built by and for the monks of the abbey which serviced the surrounding farms. The abbey ruins dominate the skyline today and one can only imagine how it and the monks would have dominated early medieval life as