The abbey afterwards passed into the hands of commendators, till, in 1600, Patrick Leslie of Pitcairlie was created Lord Lindores, and endowed with the estates.
The buildings appear to have been allowed to go to ruin, and to have been gradually removed by the inhabitants for building materials. Mr. Laing gives instances to show that the ruins were regarded as a common
| A. | Presbytery. |
| B. | Crossing. |
| C. | Nave. |
| D. | North Transept. |
| E. | South Transept. |
| F. | Slype or Sacristy. |
| G. | Chapter House. |
| H. | Stair. |
| J. | Fratry. |
| K. | Tower. |
| L. | Cloister Garth. |
| M. M. | Western Side of Cloister |
| N. N. | Enclosing Wall. |
Fig. 622.—Lindores Abbey. Plan.
quarry, from which the public were accustomed to remove what they pleased. The whole place, early in this century, is described as heaped up with ruins and rubbish, so that even the ground plan could not be made out, and the abbey was known in the locality as the “Wilderness.” “This is now all changed; the rubbish has been cleared away down to the basement, and the plan of the building is distinctly seen.... About twenty-five years ago the foundations of a range of pillars, to the height of several feet, running along the north side of the nave, were laid bare by the partial removal of the rubbish by which they had been concealed. They were of the same elegant design as those fragments which remain; but very shortly after their discovery they were ruthlessly removed.”[79]
Fig. 623.—Lindores Abbey. Gateway in Enclosing Wall, from South-West.