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Opening Times
1st April - 30th September, every day 9.30am - 6.30pm
1st October - 31st March, every day 9.30am - 4.30pm Except every Sunday 2pm - 4.30pm
Melrose Abbey
Abbey Street
Melrose TD6 9LG
Telephone- 01896 822562
E mail -
Melrose Abbey is of Gothic style and is classed as one of the most beautiful religious places in Britain. It was founded in AD 660 by St Aidan. It is home to some of the most exquisite architecture in Scotland.
The first prior was St Boisil who was succeeded by St Cuthbert, the apostle of the Borders. He dwelt there until he became prior of Lindesfarne. The abbey became his resting place before his body was taken to the place where Durham Cathedral was founded.
Courtesy of Jeremy Atherton ©
Prices
Adult £5.00 Child £2.50 Concessions £4.00
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The abbey precinct is reputed to be the burial place of Robert the Bruce's heart. He died on 7th June 1329. His body is buried in Dunfermline Abbey. The casket in which his heart was buried was excavated during the 1996 summer archeological excavations of the Chapter House floor of Melrose Abbey.
A small hole was drilled in the casket and into a smaller casket secreted within. The smaller casket did indeed contain a heart. There is no reason to doubt it belonged to Robert the Bruce, as there is no historical record of another heart being buried there.
The casket containing the heart was not opened. It remained in Edinburgh until it was buried again during a private ceremony at Melrose Abbey on 22 June 1998. There is now a plinth commemorating the resting place of Robert the Bruce’s heart.
The delicacy of carved stone and decorative images at the abbey is stunning. You may see the following features at the abbey - dragons, gargoyles, flowers and plants. There is a beautiful sculpture of the Virgin and Child. Master Mason John Morow from Paris left his inscription on the lintel of the bell-stair - "Be halde to ye hende". It means "Keep beholden to, or keep in mind, the end, your salvation". The words now stand as the motto of the town of Melrose.
