New Abbey

Overview

New Abbey is a tidy one-street village, eight miles south of Dumfries, that originally evolved in order to service its giant neighbour, Sweetheart Abbey.

The abbey takes its unusual name from its founder, Devorgilla de Balliol, Lady of Galloway, who carried the embalmed heart of her husband, John Balliol (eponymous founder of the Oxford college) around with her for the last 22 years of her life. Her stone effigy, clutchng a heart casket, can be seen in the south transept.

One and a half miles south of New Abbey, Ardwell Mains Farm marks the start of the walk up Criffel, a hump-backed whale of a hill, which at 1871 feet is the biggest for miles around. The summit offers great views of the Borders and the Lake District.

A couple of miles further on at Kirkbean, a small turning on the left leads to John Paul Jones Cottage, where the 'father of the US Navy' was born into extreme poverty in 1747. Here, you can learn about his eventful and adventurous naval career, which began when he went to sea at the age of thirteen, and which, interestingly enough, included a spell in Russian navy.