The Abbey is a uniquely important site in North Berwick’s heritage. It has been in public ownership for the last 65 years initially acting as a holiday home for elderly residents, then more recently as a care home. Our research suggests many residents of North Berwick may be largely unaware of the house and gardens and its significance to the town’s history.

The Abbey site includes St Mary’s Priory, North Berwick’s first stone building dating back about 850 years. On the oldest maps of North Berwick the ‘Priory’ appears as the only building in the local area. Some of its walls still survive yet you could easily wander along Old Abbey Road without realising it was there.

The Abbey grounds are a designated scheduled monument of national significance as a medieval nunnery and burial grounds which supported a small farming community and acted as a stopover for early Christians on route to St Andrews.

More detail on the history of the Abbey is available at:

http://www.northberwick.org.uk/story.html

https://portal.historicenvironment.scot/apex/f?p=1505:300:::::VIEWTYPE,VIEWREF:designation,SM760

To view the extent of the scheduled monument designation see:

https://pastmap.org.uk/map

For the last 65 years the site has been in public hands acting as a holiday home for the elderly and latterly as a care home. Peripheral areas of the site have already been sold some years ago for private housing. The B listed main building is surrounded by ancient walled gardens. Today the gardens host North Berwick in Bloom and Herbspace supporting local young people.