Tongland Abbey

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Tungland or Tongland Abbey was a Premonstratensian monastic community located in Galloway. It was probably founded in 1218 by Alan, Lord of Galloway, although the church of Tongland had previously been granted to Dercongal Abbey by his grandfather Uchtred in the early 1160s. Few of its early abbots are known and its history is more generally covered by a cloud of obscurity. The abbey apparently degenerated in discipline by the early 16th century, and King James IV of Scotland requested that it be bestowed upon the Bishop of Galloway in order to improve the abbeys standards. King James V repeated the request, and it was eventually granted to the bishop in 1529, and confirmed in 1541. It remained a possession of the bishop until the commendatorship of William Melville (1588-1606), but went back into the bishop's hands afterwards.

The village of Tongland exists now at the site.

[edit] Bibliography

Cowan, Ian B. & Easson, David E., Medieval Religious Houses: Scotland With an Appendix on the Houses in the Isle of Man, Second Edition, (London, 1976), p. 103
Watt, D.E.R. & Shead, N.F. (eds.), The Heads of Religious Houses in Scotland from the 12th to the 16th Centuries, The Scottish Records Society, New Series, Volume 24, (Edinburgh, 2001), pp. 210-13