St Ethernan’s Priory, Isle of May

St Ethernan’s Priory, Isle of May

The priory of May was founded by David I, sometime around the year 1140. It was dedicated to St Ethernan, and was affiliated to a mother house located at Reading in Berkshire. The monks were initially Cluniacs, followers of a reformed and stricter version of the Benedictine rule, before following the lead of their mother house and reverting back to the general Benedictine rule sometime after 1207. It is likely that the monks were attracted to the site on the Isle of May because it had an existing church and a connection to an important local saint. The excavation of the site in the 1990s found that there was already quite a substantial building on the site when monks arrived in the twelfth century, and that it was not until c.1250 that they constructed their own larger church. Of this church, the main survival today is the west wing, which was converted to secular use in the sixteenth-century. One other important discovery during the excavation was the grave of a young man dating from the early fourteenth century, which included a scallop shell placed in his mouth. This was a clear indication that the man, who had been buried in a prestigious location close to the high altar, had travelled to Santiago de Compostela on pilgrimage.

sacredlandscapesoffife

tt27@st-andrews.ac.uk

Site

99

16/06/2021

(1) Heather F. James & Peter Yeoman, Excavations at St Ethernan’s Monastery, Isle of May, Fife 1992-1997 (Perth, Tayside and Fife Archaeological Committee, 2008), (2) R. Anthony Lodge, Pittenweem Priory (Strathmartine Press, St Andrews, 2020)

cm x cm x cm

current,56.186409584479534,-2.557468413433526;

St Ethernan’s Priory, Isle of May

TEXT

Building

204

1

Catholic