Pluscarden Abbey

Pluscarden Abbey is a Roman Catholic Benedictine monastery located in the glen of the Black Burn about 10 kilometres south-west of Elgin, in Moray, Scotland. It has been for most of its history a priory and was founded in 1230 by Alexander II of Scotland for the Valliscaulian Order. In 1454, following a merger with the priory of Urquhart, a cell of Dunfermline Abbey, Pluscarden Priory became a Benedictine House. The years immediately preceding the Scottish Reformation, and those after, saw the decline of the priory. By 1680 it was in a ruinous condition. Some work to arrest decay took place in the late 19th century. In 1948 the priory sprang into new life as a house of the Subiaco Cassinese Congregation of Benedictines, and restoration began at the hands of monks from Prinknash in Gloucestershire. In 1966 the priory received its independence from the mother-house; it was elevated to abbatial status in 1974.

Pluscarden Abbey is a Roman Catholic Benedictine monastery located in the glen of the Black Burn about 10 kilometres south-west of Elgin, in Moray, Scotland. It has been for most of its history a priory and was founded in 1230 by Alexander II of Scotland for the Valliscaulian Order. In 1454, following a merger with the priory of Urquhart, a cell of Dunfermline Abbey, Pluscarden Priory became a Benedictine House. The years immediately preceding the Scottish Reformation, and those after, saw the decline of the priory. By 1680 it was in a ruinous condition. Some work to arrest decay took place in the late 19th century. In 1948 the priory sprang into new life as a house of the Subiaco Cassinese Congregation of Benedictines, and restoration began at the hands of monks from Prinknash in Gloucestershire. In 1966 the priory received its independence from the mother-house; it was elevated to abbatial status in 1974.