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Photo: The National Churches Trust, CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons
A Benedictine monastery was founded at St Abbs in about 640, the same time as Lindisfarne, governed by Durham. It was re-founded here in 1100 with a new church and upgraded to a priory in 1150. In 1376 it became a pawn in the Anglo-Scottish conflicts, as Robert II wrested it from Durham and awarded it to Dunfermline. Both sides appealed to the pope, who backed their cause, easily done as they recognised different popes. The priory was abandoned in 1606 after the Reformation, smashed up by Cromwell, and the ruin passed into secular hands. The present church occupies the choir of its 13th century predecessor.
Coldingham Priory was a house of Benedictine monks. It lies on the south-east coast of Scotland, in the village of Coldingham, Berwickshire. Coldingham Priory was founded in the reign of David I of Scotland, although his older brother and predecessor King Edgar of Scotland had granted the land of Coldingham to the Church of Durham in 1098, and a church was constructed by him and presented in 1100. The first prior of Coldingham is on record by the year 1147, although it is likely that the foundation was much earlier. The earlier monastery at Coldingham was founded by St Æbbe sometime c. AD 640. Although the monastery was largely destroyed by Oliver Cromwell in 1650, some remains of the priory exist, the choir of which forms the present parish church of Coldingham and is serviced by the Church of Scotland.
© OpenStreetMap contributors
Exhibition on the St Abbs area.
Rocky cliffs which are home to 60,000 seabirds and a lighthouse built by the Stevensons in 1862. Park at the NTS centre and follow the lane. Leave the car there if you later visit St Abbs village, as the road is steep, narrow and congested.
Local history museum with exhibitions on farming and fishing, including the 1881 “Euroclydon” disaster when 19 fishing boats and 189 fishermen were lost.