Beauly Priory

  • Beauly, Inverness-shire

 

Overview

Explore the ruined church of a little-known order of monks in a wooded, riverside location.

Beauly Priory is one of three priories founded in Scotland in about 1230 for monks of the Valliscaulian order. The Valliscaulians came from Val-des-Choux (‘Valley of the Cabbages’) near Dijon in France, and adhered to strict ideals of poverty, chastity and obedience.

Beauly, meaning ‘beautiful place’, must have seemed to the monks a wonderful location in which to devote themselves to worship. Only the abbey church still stands today, housing some fine funerary monuments.

Opening times

The Priory is closed for conservation works. The grounds are open all year round.

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