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Publication Account
Date 1985
Event ID 1016224
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Publication Account
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1016224
The first Cistercian settlement in Scotland was founded here in 1136 by David I for Abbot Richard and his monks from RievauIx in Yorkshire. They sought fertile, open farmland in preference to the bleak and restricted promontory site of Old Melrose (NT 588340), and by 1146 the church was sufficiently complete to be dedicated to the Virgin Mary.
By the end of the 14th century, however, much of the original structure, small and plain in line with Cistercian views on architectural embellishment, had gone-destroyed by the English in the Wars of Independence. Some 12th century masonry survives at the west end, as well as foundations for the narrow-aisled nave and the transepts where, unusually for the Cistercians, the east walls of the latter are stepped in echelon. More or less contemporary is the 'canal', sited beyond the later Commendator's House. Led from the Tweed, it may first have provided drinking water (springs later), and certainly flushed sewers and powered the corn mill. The cloister, completed late in the 12th century and almost identical in size with that once extant in the daughter-house at Newbattle in Midlothian, was sited conveniently close to this water supply-and serviced by the surviving 'main drain'.
Otherwise the present church post-dates the destruction of 1385. Building continued into the 16th century but the abbey was too impoverished and it was never completed at the west end. By contrast with its predecessor it is far from austere- grandly and lavishly omamented with capitals, bosses and corbels carved with fruit, flowers and foliage, and with numerous statues. There is a most appealing range of humorous human figures around the exterior walls the cook with his ladle, the mason with his mallet, the fat monk. And flying high on a gargoyle-a bagpipe playing pig.
The reconstructed church is comparable only to Roslin Chapel (no. 58) and represents the high point of 15th century Scottish decorated architecture; the Perpendicular tracery of the eastern chapels and of the great east window which dominates the nave also shows considerable English influence, with parallels at York and Beverley. It is a starker, cooler styling than Scotland's more usual curvilinear tracery found, with northern French influence perhaps, in the south transept window.
Though resembling its predecessors in overall plan, the new church incorporated a number of chapels opening off the south aisle of the nave, many of them containing funeral monuments. And outside, the graveyard contains many interesting 17th-18th century stones, covering a wide cross-section of social groups-farmer, weaver, blacksmith, builder, mason,joiner, gardener, nurseryman, merchant, manufacturer, druggist, coal agent, watchmaker, naval lieutenant, minister, writer, surgeon, architect ....
Melrose itself has a 16th century mercat cross; and next to the Abbey, part of Priorwood Gardens (NTS) is given over to species of apple trees panning nearly 2000 years.
Information from 'Exploring Scotland's Heritage: Lothian and Borders', (1985).
