Scottish Tour Guide's Blog

Melrose Abbey, Borders Region, Scotland

This evening, my focus is on one of the great abbeys of the Scottish Borders, namely Melrose.

The origin of the name Melrose is of interest. The earliest recorded spelling is ‘Calkou’ and may mean ‘lime hill’.

There has been a religious community in the Melrose area for about 1400 years with the first such dating back to 650AD when a monastery was founded by St Aiden of Lindisfarne and populated by monks from Iona.

The deeply religious King David I of Scotland founded a new abbey at Melrose in 1136 AD  This was  built in the Gothic style and located about two miles away from the original monastery. The first abbot and contingent of monks were of the Cistercian order and came from Rievaulx in Yorkshire, England. Complement of monks eventually rose to 100.

Like nearby Jedburgh Abbey, Melrose’s location proved its  downfall as it was in the direct route of invading armies from England who cause considerable damage in 1322, 1385 and 1544. Final denouement was the Reformation in 1560.

Also like Jedburgh, part of the ruins were used to house the local Parish Church, which lasted from 1610 to 1810.

Melrose Abbey has connection two famous Scots, viz:

• Romantic novelist, Sir Walter Scott who greatly admired the building and included a reference to it in his poem the Lady of the Lay Minstrel.
• King Robert the Bruce  (1274-1329), whose heart is buried in the grounds.

This site is a ‘must’ for visitors exploring the Scottish Borders. Melrose is a very pleasant town close to the River Tweed which in turn is famous for salmon fishing.It is possible to climb up one of the Abbey towers and benefit from stunning views of Melrose and beyond. continue reading…

This afternoon, I have decided to feature some unusual, possibly 10th century, stone carvings from the Church of St. Helen’s, Bilton-in-Ainsty, Yorkshire, which I recently visited. These unusual carvings can be found in the Lady Chapel of this church which has origins dating back to Saxon times. Being of possible 10th century AD date, the carvings could be from the Viking era. The vertical stone immediately above may have been the shaft of across. This and the other stones may have been re-used as grave-markers at various times. I find these carvings pleasantly primitive and striking. In their day they were intended to convey messages at a time when most of the population would have been illiterate and Christianity a relatively new introduction.

Elsewhere today, I have been busy:

• Designing a new web page for my main catswhiskerstours website.
• Responding to various tour enquiries (one confirmation).
• Posting information to my separate GlasgowAncestry blog on Brown family history.

As regards the ancestry blog, in the case of one posting, this has turned into a message board for an extended family of descendants now residing in the U.S., Australia and New Zealand. Its pleasing to see the blog functionality being used in this way.

Weather in Glasgow today is cold but dry with vestiges of snow lingering on in sheltered spots.

This evening, the focus of my blog is on the historic Church of St. Mary the Virgin at Alne, Yorkshire, England and in particular the ancient Viking and Norman carvings which attract a lot of visitor interest.

There has been a church on this site for about 850 years. The current church has many interesting facets but I am going to focus on just three which are discussed and illustrated below.

Firstly, there is the massive 12th century stone font which is still used for baptisms. This close up shows the classic Green Man image which may relate to a pre-Christian natural deity. Note the branches or vines sprouting from the mouth.

Here is the font.

This image shows shows a lintel over a Anglo-Saxon era priests door. The well worn carving may well be from the Viking era.
Finally, this video clip shows the Norman era carved arch over the main door. This is very significant and attracts many visitors. The carvings represent beasts from the Bible although there are also some secular ones.

Elsewhere, the weather today in Glasgow has proved quite miserable and not conducive to getting out for pics. However, have received quite a number of interesting private tour enquiries which I am hopeful will convert to committed tours.

Posted to my separate GlasgowAncestry blog information on McLean family history. Also did some more work on my main website.