 This was an attempt to 'introduce civilisation' to the local native population of Celts.However, in 1454 the Benedictine's abandoned Urquhart Priory, moving instead to Pluscarden Abbey, SW of Elgin, after the merger of the two had been agreed by a bull of Pope Nicholas V. The buildings soon started to fall into disrepair and decay and in 1654 the site had become a ruin and the remaining building materials were removed to be used in the construction of a granary in the nearby village of Garmouth and in the repair of the manse and churchyard wall.The first reference to a church in Urquhart, which was dedicated to Saint Margaret, appears in a deed of 1237.