Melrose Abbey - The Scottish Borders

There has been a monastery at Melrose, or Mailros, since about 650AD. The first monastery was founded here by St Aidan of Lindisfarne and monks came from St Columba's monastery on Iona. This monastery was located in a loop in the River Tweed two miles to the east of today's Melrose, now known as Old Melrose.

In 1136 King David I asked Cistercian monks from Rievaulx Abbey in North Yorkshire to found an abbey at Melrose. David intended this to be on the site of St Aidan's monastery, which had been destroyed by Kenneth Mac Alpin and the Scots in 839. The Cistercians, however, needed good farming land within which to place their abbey, and negotiated instead for a site two miles away in what we today call Melrose.

Melrose Abbey was first staffed by an abbot and 12 monks from Rievaulx, who set to work constructing the abbey buildings. The east end of the Abbey Church would have been built first, and a service of dedication for it took place on 28 June 1146. Other buildings in the complex were slowly constructed over a period of at least another 50 years. The best known monk at Melrose during this period was Jocelin, who rose to become the the 4th Abbot of Melrose Abbey in 1170. In 1150, only 14 years after its own foundation, Melrose was asked by David I to found a daughter house at Kinloss Abbey in Moray.

In 1322 Melrose Abbey and the town that had grown up around it were attacked by the English army of Edward II. Much of the abbey was destroyed and many monks were killed. The subsequent rebuilding was helped greatly by the generosity of Robert the Bruce. This link was later formally recognised when Robert's embalmed heart, encased in lead, was buried at Melrose Abbey.

In 1385 the Scots invaded northern England (see our Historical Timeline). This was not a wise move. Richard II of England defeated David II of Scotland and pushed the Scots back as far as Edinburgh.

Over a hundred years of reconstruction followed, possibly even started by the English under Richard II and later continued by the Scots. Parts of the work was still unfinished when James IV paid a royal visit in 1504, and it is thought that the west end of the Abbey Church may never have been completed to the original plan.

But what was built was magnificent enough, as you can see for yourself: virtually everything on view today can be dated back to this last round of reconstruction.

English armies returned to southern Scotland in 1544, this time in support of efforts by Henry VIII to persuade the Scots to betroth the infant Mary Queen of Scots to his son. Melrose and its abbey were both badly damaged. By 1556 the remaining monks complained that unless repairs were carried out the abbey would not be able to continue to function over the approaching winter.

After 1560 the monks at Melrose Abbey embraced the Reformation in an effort to ensure their personal security, but they did so within a badly damaged and rapidly deteriorating building. The last resident monk died at Melrose in about 1590.

In 1610 part of the central portion of the nave of the Abbey Church was converted into a parish church for Melrose, with end walls and windows inserted into the existing structure. This continued in use until replaced by a new church elsewhere in Melrose in 1810.

Melrose Abbey today comprises the fairly complete ruins of the truly remarkable Abbey Church with, to their north, the foundations of the extensive ranges of buildings which once comprised the rest of the abbey. At the eastern end of the complex these extend through the Lay Brothers' Range as far as the millstream constructed to divert water from the River Tweed.

At the north end of the site is the Commendator's House. The Commendator was an appointed abbot, in latter years usually someone with powerful friends or relations wanting to benefit from the income attached to the post. The house dates back to the 1400s and 1500s and is today used as a museum to display various finds from the abbey.

Crieff - Perthshire (Oldest distillery and first library)

Crieff is the second largest town in Perthshire, after Perth itself. It is wrapped around the slopes of the Knock of Crieff as they descend to meet the River Earn in its valley to the the south west. The High Street tends to follow the line of the hillside with intersecting roads either rising or descending from it.

Crieff was already well established as a town by the time the River Earn was bridged here in about 1690. The following year it became the site of Scotland's first public lending library.

The town's growth and wealth stemmed directly from its excellent communication links both to the Highlands and the Lowlands. By 1700 vast herds of highland cattle from across northern and western Scotland were driven along the traditional drove roads to the trysts, or cattle markets, at Crieff. Each year up to 30,000 cattle arrived on foot for sale in the town, and Crieff gained a reputation for wildness as Highland drovers far from home enjoyed the fruits of their efforts after the sales.

There were setbacks in 1716 and 1745 when successive generations of Jacobites attacked Crieff but overall the 18th Century saw continued growth in the wealth and the size of the town.

General Wade's military road-building efforts of the 1730s placed Crieff on the main route from Stirling to Perth, and provided a much better all weather route north to Aberfeldy and beyond.

In 1775, Glenturret distillery in Glen Turret, a little to the north of the town, was licensed. And although it was closed between 1923 and 1957 the distillery now has a visitor centre offering tours and tastings. Glenturret advertises itself as "Scotland's oldest distillery", taking the word "legal" for granted: there were certainly stills in the Highlands before 1775, though it is doubtful many had quite such a pleasing product or such a beautiful location.

By the 1770s cattle tended to head to markets in Falkirk rather than Crieff, leaving Crieff increasingly as a resort. It was popular with the rich and famous of the day, who wanted to take advantage of the town's attractive scenery and south facing slopes.

The railway arrived in Crieff in 1857, by which time Morrison's Academy had been set up in the town. Today the school occupies an attractive site just uphill from the High Street.

Today's Crieff is a far cry from the frontier town it was in the days of the cattle droves. Modern visitors find a bustling and prosperous town offering a wide variety of accommodation, shopping and other facilities: plus its long standing advantage of a central location equally well placed for Highland and Lowland destinations.

St. Abbs - The Scottish Borders

I have included quite a few pictures of St. Abbs Harbour, and St. Abbs Head, so here is some of the history of the area - - -

The story of St Abbs is closely tied to that of its inland neighbour, Coldingham. The village of St Abbs itself only developed from 1833 after the Edinburgh brewing company Ushers invested in a fishing station here. The harbour was built a mile south of St Abbs Head in a rocky bay previously known as Coldingham Shore.

The name of St Abbs is much older then the village that bears it. In 635 a Northumbrian Princess called Aebbe founded a monastery close to St Abbs Head. She later became a Saint, St Aebbe. St Abbs is simply the name by which St Aebbe is remembered.

One story suggests that the nuns used to bathe in the sea in the bay now occupied by St Abbs harbour, their modesty protected by a wheeled device that allowed them to enter and leave the sea unobserved. Or perhaps not: there were reports of disorderly behavior amongst the nuns and monks at the monastery leading, many felt at the time, to the fire which burned it down in 683.

By the mid 1800s St Abbs had become a busy fishing harbour. It must have taken great imagination and faith to build a harbour here at all, for it is built between sharp black rocks and projects beyond them to provide a secure entrance to its haven. The main building in the harbour itself is the lifeboat station, which was first established here in 1911.

Though small, there are two distinct parts to the village of St Abbs which grew up around the harbour. The harbour itself and the lower part of the village forms one. Here you can wander the quays and watch the boats, the divers (humans and birds) who frequent the harbour, or simply the sea and the surrounding rocks. Indeed, visit St Abbs on a summer weekend and you find a real playground for those intent on enjoying the sea.

The harbour is home to many dive boats catering for the scuba divers who flock here: and those not diving from boats do so from the rocks outside the harbour itself. But not everyone is dressed in rubber. St Abbs harbour is also very popular with yachtspeople and fishermen, again both in boats and on the many rocks in the area.

Duns - The Scottish Borders

A really pretty little town, and an interesting history. The market town of Duns was for much of its history the county town of Berwickshire, an odd arrangement made necessary when Berwick-upon-Tweed itself finally ended up on the English side of the border in 1482. Duns itself was frequently caught up in the cross border wars between England and Scotland and the town you see today dates almost entirely to the years since 1545. That was when Henry VIII's troops destroyed the original town of Duns, located a little to the north of the current site and nearer to Duns Castle.

The original Duns probably dated back to the 1000s, and in about 1320 Duns Castle was built as a tower house. One of Duns' earliest claims to fame was as the birthplace in 1265 of the philosopher John Duns Scotius. He claimed that religion was based on faith not reason. This was a deeply unpopular view in his day and the word "dunce" became part of the language as a description of an educational under-achiever.

Henry VIII's troops arrived during the "rough wooing", his efforts to persuade the Scots that the young Mary Queen of Scots should marry his son (see our Historical Timeline).

After its destruction Duns was very quickly reestablished on a site a few hundred yards to the south of its old location, where you see it today. The remains of the old town were only cleared from the park around the castle in the late 1700s.

Over the centuries following its rebuilding, Duns was the main market town for a large agricultural hinterland. In the mid 1800s it was connected to the railway, a connection that lasted only until the 1960s.

Duns today remains a bustling commercial centre. Its core surrounds the large market square, which in turn surrounds the mercat cross. Much of the through traffic is carried away from the centre, which helps the look and the feel of the market square. Just to the north of the centre is the Jim Clark Room, set up to commemorate the twice world motor racing champion.

The areas of Scotland

I thought in order to tell more about my trip, I would write bits about some of the great places I have travelled..... and in order to do that, I need to describe the different regions of Scotland. There is a wee map included here which shows all 15 of them.

So when I highlight a town, and give some facts and info about about it, I will also share what region it is in.

Deacon Brodie - the real man behind "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde"

Deacon William Brodie was a very respectable citizen of the old town of Edinburgh, by day a cabinet maker, the top of his profession. When his father died in 1780, he inherited the family business, the home in Brodies Close and £10,000. A sum that should have set him up for life.

But he had some bad habits: He used to drink, and gamble and he had not one, but two mistresses. This life style took quite a lot of his money. So by night he used to rob the houses and businesses in the area.

It was not hard for him to find the opportunity: As a cabinet maker he would often go to people's houses to measure up in order to make a cabinet. In those days people used to keep their keys on a latch on the back of the door. He would wait until their attention was distracted and would make an impression of the keys in a piece of putty. He would then give it to his locksmith accomplice George Smith who would make a duplicate set of keys.

Late night robberies became common place in the old town of Edinburgh and of course no one suspected the respectable Deacon. But his ambitions grew and he decided to rob the excise office. However Deacon Brodie was recognised and fled from the scene, but he was eventually caught and sentenced to hang.

Always inventive he even now tried to cheat justice.
He employed a surgeon to insert a metal pipe inside his throat, the idea was that his wind pipe would not be crushed as the rope tightened around his neck. When his body was cut down his friends rushed him to the surgeon. His plan failed however, they could not revive him, he was dead. Ironically the very gallows that he had designed had sealed his fate.

Deacon Brodie's double life of good and evil was the inspiration for Robert Louis Stevenson's work
"The strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde".

Darvel

The village where my grandmother grew up..... and where my cousins still live

Culzean Castle

Some info on Culzean Castle.......

The first written reference to a Tower House at Culzean dates to the 1400's, although it is possible there was a building here even earlier. Then, it was known as 'Coif Castle', or the 'House of Cove', taking it's name from the caves below. This name was altered to 'Cullean Castle' in the 1600's and the present spelling adopted sometime in the 18th century.

The recorded history of Culzean properly starts in 1569 when Sir Thomas Kennedy was given the Culzean estates by his brother, the 4th Earl of Cassillis. He began building and enlarging the tower house around the 1590's. An account of 1632 describes 'THE HOUSSE OF THE COVE buildid with grate cost and expensse, some 40 zeirs agoe by Sir Thomas Kennedy of Culzeane, Tutor of Cassiles'.

As times became settled, Culzean became more of a family home. By the 17th century terraces and pleasure gardens had been constructed. Since even then Culzean was rarely lived in all year round, improvements to the house were haphazard.

In the 18th century a chain of events occurred that transformed Culzean Castle from a relatively modest tower house into a neoclassical mansion. It was not so much a sudden influx of real wealth or power that brought about this transformation but, rather, the desire to create a trophy house, a building that said, even shouted, that the Kennedy family had arrived.

What you see at Culzean Castle today is a result of many years of careful restoration by the National Trust for Scotland, that has united the different stages of Culzean's aesthetic history. It reflects the different stages of Culzean's past, from Robert Adam's additions to the medieval tower house, to its heyday as one of the grandest houses in Scotland.

Crabbit and Blether.... two great Scots words

Strangely, two t-shirts followed me home from Scotland - both bearing Scots words for two different characteristics - neither which apply to me AT ALL.

I will type out what they say, just in case the words are not legible on the photos I have posted - - -

Crabbit - Dialect, chiefly Scot - adjective 1. ill-tempered, grumpy, curt, dis-agreeable; in a bad mood (esp. in the morning - crickey was this written for ME?) (Often used in "ken this, yer a crabbit get, so ye are"). Noun - See crab - one who by their nature or temperament conveys an aura of irritability. HA. see - doesn't apply to me at all.........

and

Blether - Dialect, cheifly Scot - noun 1. per4son who chatters incessantly, someone who babbles on and on ("That wee yin o' yours is an awfy blether gettin'"). Verb 2. to engage in conversation, long-winded or idle talk (as in "Ah met yer granny doon the toun, we hud a richt guid blether the gither") {see also sweetie-wifie}
Also - obviously has no bearing on me..... HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

The Scots language so rich and descriptive!!!!

Home and recovering

Wow - home now and can't believe it really is 4 days or so since I posted last! I had thought I would have had lots of time to catch up on the blog while I was in London for 3 nights, and had the best of intentions....... but strangely the wireless service at the hotel in London was dealy slow for uploading photos, so I gave up! (Plus, I was so busy shopping, ha ha ha ha). Have I ever mentioned how much fun shopping is in London? One of the biggest and craziest cities on this planet? I believe there are deep skid marks on my visa card now from the experience.... (not really, but you get where I am going with that!).

So I will pick up the story from flying out on the 27th of Sept bound for London. I found a really cool old hotel to stay in that is in the district next to the one the Queen lives in..... and yes, very posh and cool. An old 4 floor Victorian walk up, billed as a 'private members club and hotel'. Just as you would expect from such a thing, the hotel was very glamorous and a real experience. Look it up at:
http://www.no11london.com/home.html and you will see how ridiculously beautiful and quirky this place was. I did take a couple pics on my phone as I didn't want to seem TOO much like a tourist, as I was working very hard on pretending I was not totally in awe of the place - you know - like I am cool or something - and was too embarrased to whip out my camera ha ha ha. Anyway, google it and see..........

The nicest thing about it was how they treated you - and of course the huge bathtub, a real luxury in travel in the UK, as showers are really the norm there.

So the first night - I had a bath.... and drank alot...... then slept like the princess I am - oh never mind, actually I guess I am old enough to graduate to Queen....... with the 72 pillows that filled the bed and watched a really strange movie about Hitler....... then spent the next couple days pretty much just walking around seeing the local sights. (Oh, and shopping.... did I mention that the shopping in London is FAB - oh I did say that already????? ha ha ha).

Did jump on and off the tube a few times, and as always totally enjoy that, very efficient and the people watching is just nuts - - folk in London don't really talk to anyone else, and is really funny to just strike up a conversation with someone on the tube as they so totally don't expect it. (Felt like wearing a button that said - don't mind me - I am Canadian and prone to outbreaks of friendliness).

So London was fun, but I was ready to make my way home when the time came. Maybe it was a good buffer between Scotland and Canada, as I may not have come home at all had I had to leave direct from Scotland.

Flights were good, but all the hurrying up and waiting at airports in through security etc etc make one weary. And I definitely left a piece of my heart in Scotland so another trip there is a certainty. No untoward events on the planes, so I was consigned to economy class, which is alright I guess since I seem to have slept half the long flight anyway.

So as I have in the past, I will add more pictures to the blog and also some information pieces about some of the places I went to see. I have an outstanding video of some wild coastal weather that I have been trying to upload here, and hope I am successful, as it was pretty impressive. Otherwise you will just have to drop around for tea and I will bore you with the photos and video in person ha ha ha.

So, for your viewing enjoyment, I will flesh out the blog some with more drivel!