The Cistercian abbey of Dulce Cor was founded by Lady Dervorguilla of Galloway in 1273. The last Cistercian house to be founded in Scotland, it was built as a tribute to her husband, John Balliol. She also carried his embalmed heart in an ivory casket wherever she went. When she died in 1289, Dervorguilla was laid to rest in front of the abbey church’s high altar, clutching her husband’s heart to her bosom. For such devotion the monks named the abbey named Dulce Cor, which in Latin means ‘Sweetheart’.

Despite suffering hardship during a turbulent period of conflict with England and the Protestant Reformation of 1560 the ruins are surprisingly complete.