Dryburgh Abbey. Dryburgh Abbey, near Dryburgh on the banks of the River Tweed in the Scottish Borders, was nominally founded on 10 November 1150 in an agreement between Hugh de Morville, Constable of Scotland, and the Premonstratensian canons regular from Alnwick Abbey in Northumberland. The arrival of the canons along with their first abbot, Roger, took place on 13 December 1152. It was burned by English troops in 1322, after which it was restored only to be again burned by Richard II in 1385, but it flourished in the fifteenth century. It was finally destroyed in 1544, briefly to survive until the Scottish Reformation, when it was given to the Earl of Mar by James VI of Scotland. It is now a designated scheduled monument and the surrounding landscape is included in the Inventory of Gardens and Designed Landscapes in Scotland. David Steuart Erskine, 11th Earl of Buchan Earl of Buchan bought the land in 1786. Sir Walter Scott and Douglas Haig are buried in its grounds. Their respective tomb and headstone, along with other memorials, are collectively designated a Category A listed building. Main article: Premonstratensian The Premonstratensian order was founded by St Norbert of Xanten who was firstly a canon at Xanten Cathedral. Unhappy with the way of life of his fellow canons, he left the Rhine lands for the diocese of Laon, in the north of France where the reforming Bishop Bartholomew was transforming his see into one that was more apostolic. Bartholomew persuaded Norbert to form a canonical order at Premontre, in Aisne in 1120 and while the order was Augustinian in form, the canons wore the white habit and not the black. They followed an austere monastic life, but had a duty to preach and teach to those on the outside of the monastery walls. The order spread rapidly across Europe with the Abbot of Premontre becoming Abbot-General for all the daughter-houses. Even before the first Abbot-General Hugh of Fosse died, one hundred and twenty abbots attended the annual general chapter. The Premonstratensians took on many of the methods of the Cistercians including land management and the use of lay-brothers to undertake the labour-intensive work of the communes. Unlike the situation at nearby Melrose Abbey with its royal patronage, Hugh de Morville, although a very wealthy noble, could not endow Dryburgh on the same scale as that of a monarch. However, it seems that King David I of Scotland was not unsympathetic to the monastery; it is recorded in a charter that as well as confirming various donations from de Morville's wife, Beatrice de Beauchamp, the king allowed the abbey to take freely, timber from his forests for the building work. Hugh gave the lands of Dryburgh containing the forests, grasslands and accompanying waters; the fishings from Berwick; the churches with their lands at Mertoun and Channelkirk in his lordship of Lauderdale and Asby in Westmoreland; and the earnings from the mills of Saltoun and Lauder. Beatrice gave the income from the church at Bozeat, Northamptonshire to the abbey as well as lands at Roxburgh that she bought solely for the purpose of subsequent donation. Hugh, in around 1162, like some other magnates of the period, turned his back on worldly affairs and entered the abbey-church, adopting the habit of the canons. He gave his elder son, Richard, his large Scottish estates while his younger son, Hugh, received those in England. Hugh, the senior, died at Dryburgh Abbey that same year. Following Hugh's death, his son Richard carried on as patron to the abbey. However, in c. 1170 he founded the hospital of St Leonard near his castle at Lauder and then sometime between 1169 and 1187, the abbey of Kilwinning in the lordship of Cunningham. Although Kilwinning Abbey was built on a grand scale, it was inadequately provided for and so Richard ensured that some of the expense of its construction and upkeep was met from his holdings in Lauderdale; indeed a long running argument broke out between Kilwinning and Dryburgh over the former's share of the tythes from the church of Lauder. Richard de Morville's establishment of this second monastery ensured that both establishments would remain in a state of relative poverty. Dryburgh Abbey, despite this underfunding, managed to attract a continuous flow of novices to bolster the numbers of canons, so much so that by closing years of the 12th century the abbey was overcrowded necessitating the establishment of colonies. John de Courcy, the earl of Ulster installed a colony at Carrickfergus and a second at Drumcross but neither flourished in the longer term and this is put down more to the constant political convulsions throughout 13th century Ulster rather than any problems at the mother house.