Saddell Abbey facts for kids
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| Monastery information | |
|---|---|
| Order | Cistercian |
| Established | 12th century |
| Disestablished | 1507 |
| Mother house | Mellifont Abbey |
| Diocese | Diocese of Argyll |
| Controlled churches | Inchmarnock; Kilchattan; Kilkivan |
| People | |
| Founder(s) | Somerled, Lord of Argyll, Kintyre and Lorne |
Saddell Abbey was a Cistercian monastery in Argyll, Scotland. Somerled (or Somairle), Lord of Argyll, Kintyre and Lorne, and founder of Clan Donald, founded the Abbey but was killed in 1164 before the Abbey was completed. It was finished in 1207 by Ragnall, son of Somairle mac GilleBride and peopled by monks from Mellifont Abbey in Ireland.
Somerled's descendants, the MacDonalds, Lords of the Isles, continued to be patrons of Saddell abbey. Monastic life seems to have come to an end when James IV of Scotland forfeited the Lordship of the Isles. It was proposed to the Pope that the bishopric of Argyll should be moved from Lismore to Saddell as the former was in ruins. Nothing ever came of the idea, but the Bishops of Argyll did sometimes take the title "Commendator of Saddell".
The remains of the abbey complex is now a scheduled ancient monument.
