Luffness Friary

Luffness Friary is located half a mile northeast of Aberlady in East Lothian.^[4] It sits south of the A198 on Bickerton’s Walk.^[5]

The church of the friary is in ruins, but the foundation remains. The church measures about 31 m. (101 ft.) by 8 m. (26 ft.). and is laid out in the customary east-west orientation, comprising a nave to the west and choir to the east. There are no aisles. The walls of the ruins are about 0.7 m. (2 ft.) in both width and height, though on the east end and north side, the wall is about 1.7 m. (5.5 ft.) high.^[6]

Also indicated are buttresses at the east and west ends of the church, and there appears to have been a wall separating the nave and choir. In the northeast corner of the choir is an arched recess containing the effigy of an recumbent knight in late thirteenth-century armor.^[7] Though the effigy is very much weathered, still apparent are the sword, being held in the right hand, and shield, resting on the chest.^[8]

A few feet south of the knight’s tomb, on the remaining pavement of the choir is a flat monumental slab marking a sixteenth-century grave. The inscription can still be read: “Hic jacet honorabilis vir Kentigernus Hepburn (dominus) de Wauchtoun” (Here lies the honorable man Kentigern Hepburn, lord of Waughton). The shield in the center of the cross displays the arms of the Hepburns. Kentigern Hepburn, also known as Mungo Hepburn, (1470-1519) was connected to the friary in that he held a charter of the lands and barony of Luffness from his father^[9] and used the signature “Kentigern Hepburn de Lufness [sic].”^[10]

Two fishponds, now overgrown, are situated about 80 m. (262 ft.) to the northeast of the friary.^[11]

The Carmelite order, known also as the Whitefriars, was founded by Berthold of Calabria, a French Crusader, on Mount Carmel in what is now northern Israel in the late twelfth century. When the Kingdom of Jerusalem (also called the Crusader Kingdom) collapsed in 1230, the hermits associated with the order returned to Europe, where they began to establish Carmelite friaries.^[12] By about 1260, they had reached Scotland with the founding of the Carmelite house at Berwick, followed by friaries at Perth in 1262 and at Aberdeen in the 1270s.^[13]

Historian and archaeologist Chris Tabraham notes the late thirteenth century is a likely time period for the establishment of the friary at Luffness since the first clear reference to the friary appears in 1335-6, when Sir John de Bickerton forfeited the lands of Luffness to Edward III. At that time, the friary was receiving ten marks per year from the lands of Luffness, leading to the conclusion that the friary was well established at that time.^[14] It received its charter from David II in 1361.^[15]

The position of the tomb in the choir is that generally associated with the founder of the establishment,^[16] who, in the case of Luffness, remains obscure. Therefore, in trying to determine the identity of the founder, one must also consider the names suggested for those whose effigy can be seen in the arched recess at Luffness.

A list of those suggested as founder and/or knight includes the following:

DAVID DE LINDSAY: According to legend, the friary was founded by Sir David de Lindsay, grandson of William de Lindsay, the first person to be called “of Luffness.” The narrative is based on the idea that Sir David died in 1249 while on Crusade in Egypt. It is said that, after receiving his fatal injury, David was in the care of the Carmelites and made a mutually beneficial agreement with one of the monks. The monk would see to the safe return of David’s remains to Luffness, and in exchange David would guarantee the monk lands at Luffness for the establishment of a Carmelite house.^[17]

Scottish novelist Nigel Tranter also espoused this view, naming Sir David as the knight and his uncle, Sir John de Lindsay, as the founder.^[18] However, the history of the Lindsay family does not mention such a scenario.^[19]

GERARD DE LINDSAY, LORD OF LUFFNESS. Chris Tabraham has placed Gerard de Lindsay (d. 1249) high on the list of possible founders of the friary. Gerard was a grandson of William de Lindsay (d. 1200) and had the wherewithal to found a house of religion, as his father had done by establishing a Cistercian nunnery at Elcho in Perthshire in the 1230s. Though the style of the effigy’s armor was not current in Gerard’s generation, his sister Alice could have arranged for the tomb and effigy in recognition of his bringing the Carmelites to Luffness.^[20]

PATRICK, EARL OF DUNBAR. David MacGibbon and Thomas Ross in their book on the ecclesiastical architecture of Scotland state without equivocation that Patrick, Earl of Dunbar, founded the friary in 1286.^[21]

SIR ROBERT DE PINKENEY: After reviewing all candidates, Chris Tabraham concludes that the most likely candidate as the founder of the friary and the knight in the tomb is the Anglo-Scot Sir Robert de Pinkeney, grandson of Alice de Lindsay and Sir Henry Pinkeney, an English baron.^[22] His argument is associated with Sir Robert’s royal ambitions following the death of Margaret, Maid of Norway, hopes that would be strengthened by displaying his deep attachment to his Scottish lands as well as his devotion to religion.^[23]