Sweetheart Abbey

PricingHalf price in your first year of English Heritage membership, then freeEH memberHalf, then freeNon-member£4.50

EH members: half price, then freeInfo

Half price, then free, for English Heritage members

This place is cared for by Historic Environment Scotland. First-year English Heritage members get 50% off the ticket price; members who have renewed get in free. Bring your valid membership card, and any pre-booked tickets, to ensure entry.

Pre-booking is recommended at Edinburgh Castle, Skara Brae, Stirling Castle, Blackness Castle, Urquhart Castle, Doune Castle and Maeshowe. Bookings are limited to six people per membership.
Bring the card itself: joint and family memberships admit the named holders only.
Historic Scotland does not offer reciprocal admission to National Trust properties, and a National Trust card is not accepted here.

More information

Entry

Non-member prices

Adult (aged 16 to 64)£4.50

Child (aged 7 to 15)£2.50

Concession (aged 65 and over, and unemployed)£3.50

Pricing details

Walk-up price, reduced while conservation work restricts access; Historic Scotland publishes a single walk-up table with no online column and no booking link on its page. Recheck on reopening in 2027. Children under 7 free; up to two carers free per transaction; Young Scot and National Entitlement Card holders pay £1. Explorer Pass accepted in summer. No joint ticket with New Abbey Corn Mill; no audio guide. English Heritage members: half price in your first membership year and free after your first renewal, on showing a valid card; bookings capped at six people per membership. Historic Scotland members free.

Walk-up price, reduced while access is restricted; under-7s free. English Heritage members: half price in your first membership year and free after your first renewal, on showing a valid card; bookings capped at six people per membership. Historic Scotland members free.

Walk-up price, reduced while access is restricted. English Heritage members: half price in your first membership year and free after your first renewal, on showing a valid card; bookings capped at six people per membership. Historic Scotland members free.

ParkingParking not known

The Trust's page does not say how parking is charged.

Parking details

Historic Scotland says there is a large public car park next to the abbey that can accommodate coaches, of level loose gravel with no accessible bays marked, about 90 m from the site entrance along a level tarmac road, with an adapted toilet. No charge or free statement is published by HES and no Dumfries and Galloway Council record was found, so the status is recorded as unknown; OpenStreetMap, Google and visitors describe it as free.

Driving pin: the New Abbey public car park beside the abbey, 63 m from HES's pin. The abbey is in New Abbey, close to Main Street (A710), the Solway Coast road south of Dumfries. Historic Scotland names only its journey planners for buses.

About

Sweetheart Abbey, in the village of New Abbey between the grey bulk of Criffel and the Solway Firth, was founded in 1273 by Lady Dervorguilla of Galloway in memory of her husband John Balliol, whose embalmed heart she kept in an ivory casket. The monks named it Dulce Cor, sweet heart, and when she died in 1289 she was buried before the high altar clutching his heart; her stone effigy cradling it lies in the south transept. The last Cistercian house founded in Scotland, settled from Dundrennan, it hosted Edward I in 1300 and was rebuilt by Archibald the Grim in the later 1300s. Its blood-red sandstone church survives almost complete, with a bell tower over the crossing, ornate presbytery tracery, a circular window above the south transept and an impressive west front. Visitors love the steward's welcome talk and the finds at the ticket office, and pair the visit with New Abbey Corn Mill in the same village.

ClosedPick a day for times and prices

Until 31 Mar: Closed
From 1 Apr: Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu, Sun 10:00–16:30, last entry 16:00

Today, Saturday 24 October

Sweetheart AbbeyClosed

Opening times may change at short notice.

1 April to 30 September Sunday to Thursday 10am to 4.30pm, closed Fridays and Saturdays; last entry 30 minutes before closing; closed 1 October to 31 March. Tickets are walk-up only. Historic Scotland notice on 18 October 2026: 'Parts of the abbey ruins and grounds are open for you to explore, including the nave and the cloister. While conservation work is ongoing, some areas of the abbey won't be accessible and can be viewed through protective fencing. Ticket prices have been reduced while access restrictions are in place ... the scaffolding on the tower will remain in place.'

The abbey is on relatively level ground, with gravel and short-cut grass routes that are firmer in dry weather and a good view from the gravel cloister path; archaeological remains in the grass can be hard to see, there are steps down into some rooms (also visible from the path) and one step up from the porch into the nave. Toilets and an adapted toilet in the public car park; a small visitor centre at the ticket office; no shop, cafe or audio guide. Dogs on leads outdoors, not in roofed areas.

Dogs: Dogs are allowed on a lead at all times but not in roofed areas; never left unattended. The open ruins, cloister and grounds, on a lead, in the April to September season.

Photo: Sweetheart Abbey's red sandstone crossing tower, nave and transept seen across the cloister lawn. Euan Nelson, CC BY-SA 2.0. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sweetheart_Abbey_-_geograph.org.uk_-_4971209.jpg. Licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0. Resized and cropped for display; derivatives retain the source licence.