Melrose Abbey

Category

Library Item

Item no

24413

Title

Melrose Abbey

Description

The ruins of Melrose Abbey, the gravestones and graveyard are visible in the foreground.

Artist / maker

Valentine, James

Date

1865

Size

11.5 x 17.9 cm

Type

Photograph

Location

Edinburgh and Scottish Collection

Melrose Abbey is a magnificent ruin on a grand scale with lavishly decorated masonry. The Abbey is thought to be the burial place of Robert the Bruce's heart, marked with a commemorative carved stone plaque within the grounds.

Melrose Abbey, founded in 1136 by David I, was the first monastery of the Cistercian order established in Scotland. The Cistercians were drawn to this fertile spot beside the River Tweed because of its intimate associations with the holy men St Aidan and St Cuthbert, whose monastery lay downriver at Old Melrose.

Only a very small fragment survives of the first abbey church. The present beautiful rose-stoned building dates almost entirely to the post-1385 rebuilding. Nevertheless, this is regarded as one of the most magnificent examples of medieval church architecture anywhere in the British Isles. The presbytery at the east end, where the high altar once stood, the monks' choir and transepts, and part of the nave are still remarkably intact.

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Related subjects

Architecture > Architectural features > Windows

Architecture > Monuments > Gravestones

Architecture > Monuments > Statues

Places > Scotland > Borders

Places > United Kingdom > Scotland

Religion > Religious facilities > Abbeys

Religion > Religious facilities > Disrepair (places of worship)

Religion > Religious facilities > Graveyards

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