The abbey, located far away in the west at a distance from the core of Lowland Scotland, is not very well recorded, and few of its records have come down to posterity as the chartulary has been destroyed or lost. In 1571 the records are said to have been carried away by "a furious horseman", following an attack upon the abbey. In 1591 William Melville took legal action against Jean Blair or Cunninghame, widow of Alexander Cunninghame to force the return of the records, but they were not forthcoming. Timothy Pont in the 17th century claimed to have studied the abbey's chartulary, possibly at Eglinton Castle; certainly the seal of the monastery was preserved at the castle. At the beginning of the 17th century they had been seen in the possession of the Earl of Eglinton until they were loaned to the Ayrshire and Galloway Archaeological Society who were preparing a publication that was never published.