The History of Pluscarden Abbey

The road to Pluscarden winds south-west across the wooded countryside round Elgin. Six miles are all that separate the busy High Street of the county town from this peaceful valley, but those six miles take us back well over six centuries in time.

The atmosphere of quiet reflection and of work dedicated to the glory of God is the same today as it was in the thirteenth century when an organised community of monks first came to this part of Morayshire; and under the skilful hands of the present-day brethren Pluscarden Abbey is a living entity that is returning again to something approaching its former splendour after so long a period of pillage and decay.

If we are privileged to visit the Abbey today, we can enjoy not only the beauty of its architecture and its setting but also something of the restful atmosphere of devotion that has so deeply permeated this little corner of Scotland.

Profound the peace of Pluscarden, As if the pine-green closing hills Shut in the grace Of God and all his holy Saints. The Lauds and Matins of the past, In that calm place, Still seem to linger on the air Half-heard, half-dreamt, so wholly felt There is no time, The soul is raised above the now, Beyond the then. Eternity Of faith sublime Outlasts all the moods of fate And savage treacheries of man, To rise again Triumphant from defeated stone, And draw within its sanctuary All human pain.