Of all the places in Scotland, none bar Athelstaneford is more important to the very existence of our country. It was here on the 6th April 1320 that the Declaration of Arbroath was signed.
The Declaration contains the notable paragraph,
"For, so long as a hundred remain alive, we will never in any degree be subject to the dominion of the English. Since not for glory, riches or honours do we fight, but for freedom alone, which no man loses but with his life."
And that just about says it all, except to explain why we have a massive chip on our shoulders .....
Following the Reformation, where the Scots rejected the Catholic Church in favour of the Protestant religion, the once prosperous abbey fell on hard times. The fabric of the abbey was slowly stripped away reducing the massive building complex to today's sad edifice.
The abbey played host to history once more, as a group of very Scottish minded scallywags; the same ones who stole the Stone of Destiny from Westminster Abbey, left the stone (or a replica of it, if you believe the conspiracy theory) at the Abbey four months later.
The stone was eventually returned to Scotland as a nice goodwill gesture by the Government following the establishment of the devolved parliament in Holyrood. It can be seen in Edinburgh Castle, kept there, no doubt for safe keeping....
More on the Abbey can be found on the Angus Council's web site.
The east side of the Abbey
The light from this window was said to act as a navigation beacon for the fishermen out in the North Sea.