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Description
Melrose Abbey, founded in 1136 by David I, was the first monastery of the Cistercian order established in Scotland. The Cistercians were drawn to this fertile spot beside the River Tweed because of its intimate associations with the holy men St Aidan and St Cuthbert, whose monastery lay downriver at Old Melrose.

The monks came from the Cistercians’ great northern English missionary base of Rievaulx, Yorkshire. Monastic life continued for the next 450 years. The last monk, Dan Jo Watson, died around 1590. The crumbling abbey church continued in use as a parish church, until a new kirk was built nearby in 1810.

Description
Melrose Abbey, founded in 1136 by David I, was the first monastery of the Cistercian order established in Scotland. The Cistercians were drawn to this fertile spot beside the River Tweed because of its intimate associations with the holy men St Aidan and St Cuthbert, whose monastery lay downriver at Old Melrose.

The monks came from the Cistercians’ great northern English missionary base of Rievaulx, Yorkshire. Monastic life continued for the next 450 years. The last monk, Dan Jo Watson, died around 1590. The crumbling abbey church continued in use as a parish church, until a new kirk was built nearby in 1810.