It is unfortunate that so few written records remain to fix the dates of the different parts of the edifice. It is known to have been founded in 1275, and if in England, the building would, from its style, be attributed to the period immediately succeeding; but in Scotland, the period from 1296 onwards was a time of war and disturbance, when very little building was in progress. Probably the choir was begun in the lifetime of the foundress, and was sufficiently far advanced to permit of her burial within the walls; but the building would certainly be interrupted during Edward’s invasions, and was not likely to be resumed till after a considerable interval. Some portions of the transept have already been referred to as probably the oldest parts of the existing edifice. The choir seems to have been next constructed or completed, and the nave not long afterwards, probably during the fourteenth century. Although ecclesiastical buildings in Scotland were rare at that period, still we know that Bruce encouraged the re-erection of churches at Melrose, Crosraguel, St. Andrews, and elsewhere, and there can be little doubt but that in this remote and quiet region building operations may have been in progress during his reign. The design and workmanship at Sweetheart are, as we have seen, in some respects inferior and contrast disadvantageously with the beautiful work at Dundrennan Chapter House. May we hazard the conjecture that the latter was executed before the true current of [Illustration: FIG. 762.--New Abbey, or Sweetheart Abbey. View from North-East.] architectural feeling and design was stopped and broken by the War of Independence, while the buildings at Sweetheart were carried on and completed after the current had been interrupted, and the sympathy with the advancing art of the South had not had time fully to recover itself? We are informed[131] that, in 1381, a charter to the Church of St. Colmonel of Butyle was granted by the Bishop of Galloway to Sweetheart Abbey on account of the poverty of the abbey and the demolition of the monastery by lightning, which charter was confirmed by the Pope in 1397. This seems to point to some considerable damage sustained by the buildings about that period, and may account for the curious repairs of the tracery of the great west window and the circular window of the south transept. It may also explain the remarkable patch of the upper window in the end of the north transept, where the originally pointed window has been mended with a segmental top.