Dryburgh Abbey
 Abbeys |
Because of their setting, hidden away on a loop of the River Tweed which flows past on three sides, the picturesque ruins of Dryburgh Abbey occupy an idyllic position rising up against a hilly backdrop, with ancient cedars, redwoods, beech and lime trees complementing the pinkish-red hues of the ragged stonework.
The Premonstratensions, or White Canons, founded the abbey in 1150 for Hugh de Morville, Constable of Scotland. The site had already been 'sacred' for many years, as it was here that St Modon, a Celtic monk, set up a monastery in the 6th century. In 1322, during the Wars of Independence, Edward II's retreating army, after a successful invasion of Scotland, set fire to the abbey - this was the first of many sackings that Dryburgh endured until, like its sister abbey at Melrose, it was abandoned to the fates in 1544.
The White Canons were never as successful, or apparently as devout, as their Cistercian neighbours at Melrose. Their chronicles detail interminable disputes about land and money - in one incident in the 14th century a canon called Marcus flattened the abbot with his fist. Later, the abbey attained its own folklore; Sir Walter Scott's'Minstrelsy' records the tale of a woman who lived in the vaults with a sprite called 'Fatlips'. She only emerged after dark to beg from her neighbours and was variously thought mad or demonic.
The romantic setting is second to none, but the ruins of the Abbey Church are much less substantial than at Melrose or Jedburgh. Virtually nothing survives of the nave, but the transepts have fared better with their chapels now serving as private burial grounds for, among others, Sir Walter Scott and Field Marshal Haig - the World War I commander whose military ineptitude cost thousands of soldiers' lives. The side chapel, where the Scott and Haig families lie buried, is lofty, pillored and detached from the main buildings. Leaving the church via the east processional door in the south aisle, with its dog-tooth decoration, visitors enter the cloisters, the highlight of which is the barrel-vaulted Chapter House.
A short walk from the abbey is the 22 ft high statue of William Wallace who spent much of his time in the Borders, hiding from the English troops in the Ettrick Forest. A 55 mile long Abbey's Cycle Route, takes in the other three Borders abbeys at Melrose, Kelso & Jedburgh. North of Dryburgh is Scott's View, which gives an amazing view of the Eidon Hills. Sir Walter Scott used to travel to this vantage point for inspiration, and when his funeral cortege was progressing to Dryburgh, poignantly Scott's horse, pulling the hearse, stopped out of habit at the very same spot. Close by to Dryburgh are Mertown House and Gardens - the 26 acre gardens can be visited on weekends.