Description:

Sweetheart Abbey, founded in 1275 as a Cistercian religious house, was a daughterhouse of Dundrennan Abbey and originally called "Novum Monasterium" ("new monastery"). The name "New Abbey" stuck, and the village still bears it today.

Lady Dervorguilla of Galloway established the abbey in memory of her husband, John Balliol, who died in 1268. After his death, she carried his embalmed heart in an ivory box wherever she went. Upon her death, she was buried at the abbey with the heart beside her, and the monks renamed it "Dulce Cor" (Sweetheart Abbey) in her honor.