Beauly Priory was a Valliscaulianmonastic community located at "Insula de Achenbady", now Beauly, Inverness-shire. It was probably founded in 1230. It is not known for certain who the founder was, different sources giving Alexander II of Scotland, John Byset, and both. The French monks, along with Bisset, had a strong enough French-speaking presence to give the location and the river the name "beau lieu" and have it pass into English. An alternative story about the naming of Beauly village told by locals is that 'Mary, Queen of Scots' was said to have been travelling through the area, probably on her way to Dingwall in her late teens and popped her head out of the Carriage window and uttered the words 'Beau Lieu'. It is not the best documented abbey, and few of the priors of Beauly are known by name until the 14th century. It became Cistercian on 16 April 1510, after the suppression of the Valliscaulian Order by the Pope. The priory was gradually secularized, and ruled by a series of commendatory abbots. The priory's lands were given over to the bishop of Ross by royal charter on 20 October 1634. The ruins today are still extensive and are one of the main visitor attractions in Inverness-shire. It is protected as a scheduled monument.
In August 1818 John Keats and his friend Charles Brown stopped at Beauly on their way to Cromarty. Their visit produced a collaborative poem, On Some Skulls in Beauley Abbey, near Inverness, written early in August 1818 or possibly some weeks or months later. The majority of the lines are by Brown. Keats contributed the first line of the poem and the first four words of the second line, and three stanzas.
Kenneth Mackenzie, 7th of Kintail who died in 1492 is buried at Beauly Priory and according to The Scots Peerage which was published in 1910, his tomb is still extant.
John Mackenzie, 9th of Kintail who died in 1561 is buried in the Mackenzie's aisle at Beauly.
Kenneth Mackenzie, 10th of Kintail who died on 6 June 1568, having fought at the Battle of Langside on 13 May 1568, was buried in the Mackenzie's aisle at Beauly.
Colin Cam Mackenzie, 11th of Kintail who died in 1594 at Redcastle is buried at Beauly.
