Melrose

Melrose Abbey was founded around 1136 by David l and dedicated to the Virgin Mary. It was a Cistercian abbey and became one of the richest in Scotland, with the largest flock of sheep of any of the religious houses in the country — about 15,000 by 1 370.The wool was sold as far away as ltaly.The abbey was also a centre of learn ing and politics. It was almost completely demolished by the English in 1385 but was subsequently rebuilt.

In the following years, however, it was sacked four times and in 1545 the Earl of Hertford bombarded it with can non.After that it never regained its previous glory.After the Reformation the monks were not allowed to recruit new members and the community died out in the early 1 590s. From 1618 to the nineteenth century part of the nave was used as parish church, but the rest of the abbey was used as a source of building material for the town and cattle and sheep grazed among the ruins.

The heart of Robert the Bruce is buried in the abbey grounds in a leaden casket. He had sponsored the rebuilding of the abbey after an attack by the English in 1322. On 24June 1998, the anniversary of Bruce’s V]c. tory over the English at Bannockburn in 1314, the Scottish Secretary of State, Donald Dewar, unveiled a plinth over the place where the heart is now buried. Meirose Abbey is said to be haunted by several ghosts, including a group of monks. Michael Scott, a man who is supposed to have practised the black arts, is said to haunt his own grave. A strange figure has also been seen sliding along the ground.

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