In 1385 the English army under King Richard II sacked three of the monasteries along the line of Dere Street: these included Dryburgh and Melrose. The western entrance to the abbey church was rebuilt in the 15th century in part due to the award of properties by Richard III.
A window would have been placed immediately above the doorway.
The choir rested below the central tower. To the east was the high altar, and to the south the night stair to the dorter. The north-east pier remains in the remains of the north transpet. 
Dryburgh Abbey © David Gill
The Premonstratensian abbey at Shap was founded in the 12th century. The remains were placed in State Guardianship by the Lowther Estates in 1948.
The MPBW guide was first published in 1963. It was divided into two sections, each by separate authors (a pattern found for other sites, e.g. guides prepared by James S. Richardson). The history was prepared by H.M. Colvin of St John’s College, Oxford (pp. 3–5), followed by the Architectural History (pp. 5–6) and Description (pp. 6–15) by R. Gilyard-Beer. A fold-out plan of the abbey was placed inside the back cover. There are four black and white plates, including a pen drawing of 1859 and a Buck engraving of 1739.
Dryburgh Abbey was placed in State Guardianship in 1919. It had been founded by the Premonstratensians from Alnwick in Northumberland in 1150. The first guidebook was published in 1937: the description by J.S. Richardson, and the history by Marguerite Wood. This was a pairing also found in the guidebooks for Melrose Abbey and Edinburgh Castle. A second edition appeared in 1948.
The guidebook contained a reconstruction by Alan Sorrell. A foldout plan was placed inside the back cover.
The Richardson-Wood guidebook (‘official guide’) continued into the 1970s (9th impression, 1973).
An official guide to the Scottish Border Abbeys was published in 1964. It includes a small plan along with the Sorrell reconstruction.
The Historic Scotland ‘Official Souvenir Guide’ is based on the 1937 Richardson-Wood guide, revised in 1996, and then revised again in 2012. It is in full colour with a tour followed by a history.
Egglestone Abbey was a Premonstratensian foundation dating back to 1195. It was founded from Easby Abbey just outside Richmond. There are substantial remains of the abbey church, and the eastern range.
The remains of the abbey were place in State Guardianship in 1925. At the time it formed part of the county of Yorkshire, but with boundary changes it now lies within Co. Durham.
The original ‘blue guide’ was by Rose Graham (history) and P.K. Baillie Reynolds (description). There is a full tour of the remains, with a fold-out plan inside the back cover.
The abbey is now included in a combined guide (by Katy Kenyon) with nearby Barnard Castle and Bowes Castle.
Bayham Abbey in Sussex was placed in State Guardianship in 1961 and excavated through the 1970s. S.E. Rigold prepared the first official guidebook for the DOE in 1974; it was republished as a English Heritage Handbook (note, not ‘guidebook’), and still in the familiar blue cover, by the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England. The format follows the familiar pattern of History followed by description. There is a site plan in text (p. 12). Black and white photographs appear through the text. A glossary is printed inside the back cover.
The abbey was of the Premonstratensian order and had been founded by 1211.
The guidebook was reprinted (with a colour cover) in 2004 as an English Heritage guide.
The Premonstratensian abbey at Titchfield was founded from the foundation at Halesowen in Worcestershire after 1214. It was dissolved in 1537 and Thomas Wriothesley had the buildings adapted into a residence.
The ruins were acquired by the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries c. 1914–18, and their responsibility fell to the H.M. Office of Works in 1923. The site is now in the care of English Heritage.
The guidebook was written by Rose Graham (History) and S.E. Rigold (description). It consists of 12 pages, and the centre pages include a plan of the abbey. The original price was 4 d. (1962).
Modern visitors to Easby Abbey enter via the staircase into the west end of the refectory.
The thirteenth-century doorway to the dorter carries another warning sign.
A further warning sign is located near the chapter house on the east side of the cloister.
The dorter (or dormitory) at Dryburgh Abbey is located on the first floor on the east side of the cloister. It lay above the chapter house and the warming house.
In the 16th century a residence was constructed in the space above the chapter house.
The Ministry signs use the term ‘dormitory’ rather than the Latin ‘dorter’.
Remains of one of the windows of the dorter can still be seen.
It was accessed via the night stairs that lead into the south transept of the church.
The day stairs were located on the south side of the chapter house.
A book cupboard is located on the east side of the cloister at Dryburgh Abbey. It is adjacent into the main east processional doorway into the church, and on the other side the library and vestry.
J.S. Richardson (in the ‘Blue Guide’) noted: ‘Near the processional doorway is a wall-press or aumbry, once fitted with doors and shelves to contain the books used in the cloister’.
Heritage Futures 