Inchmahome is best known as the location of
Inchmahome Priory and for the attendant
priors of Inchmahome. The
priory was founded in 1238 by the
Earl of Menteith,
Walter Comyn, for a small community of the
Augustinian order (the Black Canons). The
Comyn family were one of the most powerful in Scotland at the time, and had an imposing country house on
Inch Talla, one of the other islands on the lake. There is some evidence that there was a
church on the island before the priory was established. The priory has a long history of receiving many notable guests.
King Robert the Bruce visited three times, in 1306, 1308 and 1310. His visits were likely politically motivated, as the first
abbot had sworn allegiance to
Edward I, the
English King. In 1358 the future King
Robert II also stayed at the priory. In 1547 the priory served as a refuge for
Mary, Queen of Scots, aged four, hidden here for a few weeks following the disastrous defeat of the Scots army at the
Battle of Pinkie Cleugh during
the Rough Wooing. The famous English travel writer,
H.V. Morton, visited in the 1930s and wrote: Although Mary, Queen of Scots, was only on the island for a matter of weeks, at the age of five, fanciful stories have grown up around her on the island. For example, they state that it was here that she started to learn languages, held a mock court with the
Four Marys, planted a box hedge and did needle work. ==See also==