(1) A quote from Steeple Chasing: Around Britian by Church by Peter Ross:
“Pluscarden Abbey was founded in 1230 by King Alexander II for monks of the Valliscaulian order. Between 1454 and 1560 it was a Benedictine monastery, but fell into disuse with the Reformation. Years, decades, centuries passed. Glass fell, roofs collapsed ivy choked the church. Much stone was scavenged for construction elsewhere. The revival began in 1948 when five monkes from Prinknash Abbey, near Gloucester, came north to settle and rebuild.
Fuzzy colour film exists of the Mass, held on 8 September 1948, to mark the new era: the sky blazes blue through unglazed arches; the monks sing in the roofless sanctuary; in a field next to the abbey, with a practised swoop of his pitchfork, a farm worker gathers stooks of hay. By 1955, the central tower had been roofed and the valley, after a pause of almost four hundred years, echoed with bells once more.”
(2) Crown of Glass: Shell Historical Film Archive (YouTube)
(3) This is a scan from Orval: Histoire de la reconstruction de l’abbaye
