page_title: Fail Monastery
section_title: The Trinitarians
hierarchical_section_title: Fail Monastery / The Trinitarians
caption_attribution_description: English: A monk of the Trinitarian Order
context_page_description: Fail Monastery, occasionally known as Failford Abbey, had a dedication to 'Saint Mary', and was located at Fail on the bank of the Water of Fail, Parish of Tarbolton near the town of Tarbolton, South Ayrshire. Most of the remaining monastery ruins were removed in 1952. The official and rarely used title was House of the Holy Trinity of Failford or the Ministry of Failford.
context_section_description: Also known as the 'Red Friars', or 'Mathurines' from the monastery of Saint Mathurin in Paris. The monks were charged with the duty of saving captives from slavery and as such, were called 'Fratres de Redemptione Captivorum' or 'The Fathers of Redemption'. The monks either paid the ransom of Christians or purchased pagan captives to exchange for Christians. The monks wore a white outer garment with a red and blue cross on the shoulder or over the breast. The monks were not permitted to ride horses and had to use asses for transport.
  In Scotland the order had friaries at Aberdeen; Berwick; Dirleton; Dunbar; Houston (East Lothian); Peebles; and Scotlandswell. Kettins in Angus, only a parish church, was however appropriated to the Trinitarian friars.
  William Aiton records that the monastery was established by John de Graham, Lord of Tarbolton in 1252, however Love regards Andrew Bruce as being the founder.
  The monastery originally lay within the civil and ecclesiastical Parish of Barnweil or Barnwell, which was suppressed in 1673, its lands joining the Parishes of Craigie and Tarbolton. Founded about 1252, the monastery was partially destroyed by fire in 1349 or 1359. Two thirds of the monastery's income was ordered to be spent on redeeming Christian slaves and as a consequence and also as an order, the Trinitarians buildings were not overly ornate. 
  Although Tarbolton was twice subject to the jurisdiction of the monks of Fail, it did not remain with them, but remained an independent rectory. In 1429 Tarbolton was erected into a prebend or canonry of Glasgow Cathedral. Barnweil, a vicarage of the monks of Fail, was annexed partly to Tarbolton, and partly to Craigie in 1653. The church ruins, which stood near to an old castle of the same name, have been allowed to go to total ruin.
  The principal of Trinitarian monasteries was called the 'Minister' and as head of the order in Scotland, had a seat in the Scottish Parliament. In 1343 John was the Minister of the House of the Holy Trinity and he persuaded, by the gift a white horse, John de Graham, Lord of Tarbolton, to revoke his gift of the rights of patronage to the kirk of Tarbolton and the lands of Unthank. John stole the white horse back and the agreement was nullified
  In 1368 John Stewart, Earl of Carrick and Lord of Kyle-Stewart confirmed a charter of 1338 made by John of Grame, Lord of Tarbolton, conveying the rights of patronage and advowson of Tarbolton Church to God and the house of Faleford, the minister and brothers, and their successors of the order of holy Trinity and Captives... Hugh of Eglintoun, Lord of that Ilk and others bore witness.
  Friar William Houston became Minister of Fail in the early 16th century however his nephew attempted to oust him and went so far as to invade Failford "..with a body of supporters armed with balistas, bows, mangonels and all sorts of offensive arms, and had broken down the gate and all the doors in an attempt to oust the minister."
  In 1546 Robert Cunninghame was the 'Minister' of Fail, living off the income and not carrying out the responsibilities of the position, indeed the community of friars at Fail had been the subject of several investigations since the mid-fifteenth century. Robert was married and also held the lands of Montgreenan whilst continuing to use the title of 'Minister' and to act as the provincial of the Trinitarian order in Scotland.
  In 1642 William Hunter was the ruling Elder.
  The parish churches of Barnweill, Symington, and Galston in old Kyle, Torthorwald in old Dumfriesshire, and Inverchoalan in old Argylshire, belonged to the Monastery of Fail. Saint Anne's Well, Monk Muir and the Monk Road within the parish of Galston evoke links with the Monastery of Fail. At Symington it is recorded that The church of Symonstoun was granted to the convent which was founded at Feil, or Faile, in Kyle, during the year 1252, and it continued to belong to that convent until the Reformation. The cure was served by a vicar pensioner who had a settled income and a glebe, and the minister and brothers of Faile enjoyed the rem
caption: A Trinitarian monk of the 17th century
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