Lesmahagow Priory was a medieval Tironensian

Tironensian

The Tironensian Order or the Order of Tiron was a Roman Catholic monastic order named after the location of the mother abbey in the woods of Tiron in Perche, some 35 miles west of Chartres in France)...

 monastic community located in modern South Lanarkshire

South Lanarkshire

South Lanarkshire is one of 32 unitary council areas of Scotland, covering the southern part of the former county of Lanarkshire. It borders the south-east of the city of Glasgow and contains many of Glasgow's suburbs, commuter towns and smaller villages....

, Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

. It was founded after John

John the Chaplain

John was an early 12th century Tironensian cleric. He was the chaplain and close confident of King David I of Scotland, before becoming Bishop of Glasgow and founder of Glasgow Cathedral. He was one of the most significant religious reformers in the history of Scotland...

, Bishop of Glasgow and King David I of Scotland

David I of Scotland

David I or Dabíd mac Maíl Choluim was a 12th-century ruler who was Prince of the Cumbrians and later King of the Scots...

 granted lands at Lesmahagow

Lesmahagow

Lesmahagow is a small town on the edge of moorland, near Lanark in the central belt of Scotland. It is also known as Abbey Green.-Etymology:The name is possibly a corruption of "Church of St Machutus"...

 to Kelso Abbey

Kelso Abbey

Kelso Abbey is what remains of a Scottish abbey founded in the 12th century by a community of Tironensian monks first brought to Scotland in the reign of Alexander I. It occupies ground overlooking the confluence of the Tweed and Teviot waters, the site of what was once the Royal Burgh of Roxburgh...

 with which to establish a new priory

Priory

A priory is a house of men or women under religious vows that is headed by a prior or prioress. Priories may be houses of mendicant friars or religious sisters , or monasteries of monks or nuns .The Benedictines and their offshoots , the Premonstratensians, and the...

. It remained a dependency of Kelso Abbey. Control of the abbey was gradually secularized in the 16th century. Along with Kelso Abbey, it was turned into a secular lordship in 1607 for Robert Ker of Cesford

Robert Ker, 1st Earl of Roxburghe

Robert Ker, 1st Earl of Roxburghe was a Scottish nobleman. He was the eldest son of William Ker of Cessford , and grandson of Sir Walter Ker of Cessford , who fought against Mary, Queen of Scots, both at Carberry Hill and at Langside.He helped James VI against Bothwell...

, later earl of Roxburghe. Lesmahagow however passed into the hand of James Hamilton, 2nd Marquess of Hamilton

James Hamilton, 2nd Marquess of Hamilton

James Hamilton, 2nd Marquess of Hamilton and 4th Earl of Arran KG PC , styled Lord Aven from 1599 to 1604, was a Scottish politician. He was the son of John Hamilton, 1st Marquess of Hamilton....

 in 1623.

The Abbeygreen Church

Abbeygreen Church

Abbeygreen Church is a reformed, evangelical congregation of the Church of Scotland in the town of Lesmahagow, South Lanarkshire. It lies opposite the Glebe Park on Abbeygreen. The neighbouring church, the Old Parish Church of Lesmahagow was built, in its present form, in 1803 at the site of the...

 of the Church of Scotland

Church of Scotland

The Church of Scotland, known informally by its Scots language name, the Kirk, is a Presbyterian church, decisively shaped by the Scottish Reformation....

 lies opposite the Glebe Park in Lesmahagow and was opened in 1844. Lesmahagow Old Parish Church

Lesmahagow Old Parish Church

Lesmahagow Old Parish Church is a congregation of the Church of Scotland within the Presbytery of Lanark. It is the largest church in the South Lanarkshire town of Lesmahagow....

lies on the site of the priory church and was built in its present form in 1803.