Scotiana » Scottish Architecture

Melrose Abbey: an Architectural Gem in the Scottish Borders

MAJA — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 22:15:47 +0000

Melrose Abbey is a religious, historical and architectural landmark in Scotland, one you must not miss when you visit the Scottish Borders, together with the three other very beautiful Border abbeys : Dryburgh, Jedburgh and Kelso. They are in ruins but we love them all, especially Melrose and Dryburgh where Sir Walter Scott is buried with other members of his family. The town of Melrose is situated at the foot of the Eildon Hills, in the heart of Sir Walter Scott’s country, not far from Abbotsford, Selkirk and of course the famous Scott’s View from where you can get a splendid panoramic view of the local landscape, with the Eildon Hills in the background. ‘Melrose’ means ‘the bare peninsula’ and it refers to the original site of a former monastery founded, as recorded by the Venerable Bede, by Saint Aidan in the 7th century, about two miles of Melrose Abbey, in a bend of the river Tweed.

Turner Melrose Abbey: Moonlight water-colour commissioned c 1822 by Walter Fawkes to illustrate poems by Walter Scott

If thou would’st view fair Melrose aright,
Go visit it by the pale moonlight;
For the gay beams of lightsome day
Gild, but to flout, the ruins grey.
When the broken arches are black in night,
And each shafted oriel glimmers white;
When the cold light’s uncertain shower
Streams on the ruin’d central tower;
When buttress and buttress, alternately,
Seem framed of ebon and ivory;
When silver edges the imagery,
And the scrolls that teach thee to live and die;
When distant Tweed is heard to rave,
And the owlet to hoot o’er the dead man’s grave,
Then go–but go alone the while–
Then view St. David’s ruin’d pile;
And, home returning, soothly swear,
Was never scene so sad and fair!

(Walter Scott - The Lay of the Last Minstrel – Canto II – I)

No wonder Walter Scott loved Melrose Abbey so much. Here, amidst its beautiful ruins, he used to come and sit meditating, drawing inspiration from the romantic atmosphere of the place. We visited the Abbey several times, which gave us the opportunity to know it better and to feel how its atmosphere can change dramatically under different skies.

They sate them down on a marble stone,
(A Scottish monarch slept below;)

(Walter Scott – The Lay of the Last Minstrel – Canto II 12)

Under a blue skye, as a moving testimony to its past splendour, the old Abbey proudly stand with its pinky tones, amidst very ancient graves scattered all over a thick carpet of green grass. Light and shade create effects like in a theatre. Here, a ray of sunlight suddenly falls on a name, there it reveals a carving, a statue, or the delicacy of the stone tracery.

The view will be quite different if you find yourself on the north side of the Abbey walking among the ruins of the two cloisters or on the south side where, while wandering among the graves, you can admire what remains of the magnificent south transept, with its gothic window ornamented with very fine stone tracery.

If you don’t fear heights, you can climb up to the top of the abbey, not only to see things from above and have a panoramic view of the whole area but also to have a closer look at the many statues, gargoyles and carvings which can hardly be seen from the ground.

Some of them are very intriguing like that of a green man which reminded us of those seen at the Rosslyn Chapel or quite incongruous and comical like that of a pig playing… bagpipes! We’ve been said it was playing bagpipes, for with only what is left of the instrument we would not have guessed!

When the weather is bad it is very chilly here and you quicken your pace through the dark and empty buildings of the abbey, looking for improbable shelters and losing yourself in the gloomy stone labyrinth while the wind, like a malicious spirit, roams about the place, blowing from empty gothic windows to dilapidated arcades and round massive pillars, while its lamenting voice seems to be carrying echoes of the past and the rain is gurgling down through the gaping mouths of grimacing gargoyles.

As you can’t expect to find any comfort in the gloomy churchyard you’d better hurry to the nearby Abbey’s shop where you can enjoy a hot cup of tea or coffee while looking at the books and souvenirs displayed there or, still better, to the Commendator’s House which serves as a museum. You’ll probably be drenched to the skin before reaching it for you’ll have to walk across the soaked grass carpet of the great cloister, the foundations of the monks’ ruined kitchen and refectory and another big field where you can admire, under the rain the monastery ingenious drain system.

The museum is well worth a visit for it is full of very interesting objects found on the site of the old abbey. Thanks to the genial work of Historic Scotland* they are given a second life here. Each object displayed is very well documented and replaced in its original context. Thanks to a number of lively figurines we learn how the monks lived here. Quite fascinating! Melrose Abbey is full of history and mystery…

In one of my favourite old books, The Glory of Scotland by J.J. Bell, a Scottish author and journalist, I’ve found a very interesting page about Melrose Abbey history. So, let us read it :

Sir Walter Scott, as plain ‘Mister,’ was a sheriff of the Shire [Selkirkshire] – a monument to his memory stands in front of the Court House – but his heart was over at Melrose, and we are going there now, a short run through lovely country. The name suggests a fragrance, though it probably means ‘blunt’ or ‘bare promontory.’ Centuries before the noble Abbey was even a thought, there was a little monastery two miles east of the site. Founded by St Aidan, it stood on a peninsula in the Tweed, and was called Melrose. So fair is this situation that when the Wordsworths were there, in 1803, Dorothy wished the famous ruins might have been transported thither. When in 1136 David I founded a new abbey at Little Fordell, he transferred to it the old name from the peninsular monastery, then extinct, and so Little Fordell became Melrose. Yet the ruins we see to-day are not those of David’s abbey, which, thanks to invaders from the South, was in fragments by 1300; they are those of a reconstructed abbey begun in 1326, under the practical encouragement of King Robert the Bruce. One must admire the spirit of the old monks, as well as that of the fighting men. Like people living in an earthquake area, while yet they wept over the wreckage of their homes they were planning to raise new and finer ones in the same perilous places. But earthquakes could hardly have done more damage than, for example, the Earl of Hertford in 1545. Within a fortnight his armies in the Borders destroyed four abbeys, sixteen castles and towers, five market towns, and 243 villages. It was then that Melrose suffered for the last time. Generals Evers and Layton burned it. There is an ironic end to their story. The day after the burning, their army was badly beaten on Ancrum Moor, a few miles away, and both were slain. And, a little later, their bodies found Christian burial at the Abbey, under its still warm walls.
Constructed in the decorated and perpendicular styles of Gothic, the Abbey in its good days must have been a glorious spectacle. Even its remnant gives the impression not only of rich magnificence, but of delicate grace. We can still form pictures of its pristine splendour from an inspection of the nave, choir, transepts, cloisters, and chapter house; of its infinite beauty from the sculptured figures, canopies, and pinnacles of the buttresses, and the exquisite traceries of the windows. It is no wonder that every year thousands of people come to look at Melrose Abbey, the most precious jewel of the Borders; no wonder that Scott, who loved its every gleam and gloom, was inspired to tell the world about it. I have doubt as to whether ‘poetical quotations’ are welcome in a book like this, but so illuminating are these lines of Scott’s that I am asking you to read them – slowly :

Through slender shafts of shapely stone,
By foliaged tracery combined;
Thou wouldst have thought some fairy’s hand
‘Twixt poplars straight the ozier wand,
In many a freakish know, had twined;
Then framed a spell, when the work was done,
And changed the willow-wreaths to stone.

That is the wonder of Melrose Abbey in a thought.

(The Glory of Scotland – J.J. Bell – 1932)

Melrose Abbey Historic Scotland Museum French Mason John Morrow figurine © 2006 Scotiana

As I’m always eager to discover new links between Scotland and France, I was particularly happy to discover that a French mason had contributed to the building of Melrose Abbey and that he had even designed one of the most beautiful parts of the Abbey, the magnificent south transept. His name is John Morrow and I’ve learned that he had also contributed to much building work throughout southern Scotland at the turn of the 14th and 15th centuries. In the museum, a stone carved head of a bearded man is supposed to be a self-portrait of the mason. By way of signature, John Morrow also left a quotation engraved on a stone in gothic letters. The original stone, which is displayed in the museum, has badly weathered and is hardly readable but there is a beautiful facsimile of it in the abbey church. It reads : ‘John Morrow sometimes called was I and born in Paris certainly and had in keeping all the mason work of St Andrews, the High Kirk of Glasgow, Melrose and Paisley, of Nithsdale and Galloway. I pray to God and Mary both and sweet St John to keep this holy church from harm’ – has he prayed loud enough, I wonder ! - the quotation ends beautifully on these words: ‘As the compass goes evenly about, so truth and loyalty shall do without doubt.’

Melrose Abbey Historic Scotland Museum French mason John Morrow's quotation © 2006 Scotiana

We could not leave Melrose Abbey without a little pilgrimage to a most sacred place … the place where a leaden casket supposed to be containing King Robert the Bruce’s heart has been interred in 1997, or I should say ‘re-interred’ for it had already been here for a long time.

The King’s body is buried (without his heart) at Dumfermline Abbey. The abbey is grandiose and the tomb sumptuous there but here, at Melrose, there is only a simple carved stone to commemorate Robert I with, on it, a motto (from the Bruce) which reads: “A noble hart may have nane ease gif freedom failye”.

In 2000 and 2001, when we visited Melrose Abbey the weather was very fine and in 2006 it was rainy and wintry. How we’d like to visit Melrose in winter now, just to experience such feelings as described by H. V. Morton at the very end of his second book In Scotland Again (1933) : ‘Never shall I forget those frosty morning walks, the red sunrise over Melrose, the headstones rising from white grass, the sharp morning air into which man and beast breathed a little mist of steam, and all day long from dawn until dusk the world alight, as with a million little stars, with the robin’s plaintive song.’

Looking forward to hearing the robin’s winter song at Melrose, I wish you ‘une bonne lecture’.

A bientôt. Mairiuna

*Historic Scotland was created as an agency in 1991 and was attached to the Scottish Executive Education Department, which embraces all aspects of the cultural heritage, in May 1999. As part of the Scottish Government, Historic Scotland is directly accountable to the Scottish Ministers for safeguarding the nation’s built heritage, and promoting its understanding and enjoyment.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historic_Scotland

Greenknowe Tower: A Fortified House in the Scottish Borders

MAJA — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 22:31:36 +0000

Map adapted from a Scottish Borders map found in Scotland An Encyclopedia of Places & Landscapes David Munro Bruce Gettings RSGS Royal Scottish Geographical Society 2006

It was the end of a grey and rainy summer day when we arrived at Greenknowe Tower, half a mile west of the village of Gordon and about 6 miles north from Smailholm Tower, as the crow flies. It is located on the A6105, close to the junction with the A6089.

We had had a busy day, travelling in the Borders and visiting Abbotsford, Thirlestane Castle and Smailholm Tower, so try to imagine our feelings when we suddenly found ourselves in front of such a landscape!

At this hour of the day, the place looked still more solitary than Smailholm. No farmer and no cows here but it was a most beautiful and romantic scene with the ruined tower standing amidst an ocean of flowers and surrounded by big old trees.

Some of these trees, like watchful sentinels, seemed to keep guard over the Tower, and as we approached it, we noticed on one of them strange and grotesque shapes which looked rather puzzling… green men hiding there … who knows!

The 16th century old building is well-preserved and its countryside environment well-kept, as usual in Scotland. Unlike Smailholm, Greenknowe Tower is not staffed but there is an illustrated notice board in the car park which describes it perfectly.

We stayed a long time outside the tower trying to make a good idea of its architecture. This four storey L-shaped building is a good example of the Scottish fortified house. Its narrow entrance door is situated at the point where the two rectangular blocks meet. A stair turret rises above it. We noticed that Greenknowe Tower had more and bigger windows than its Smailholm counterpart, which suggests that even if it had been built with security in mind it was mainly used as a comfortable dwelling.

Whether it be for defensive or decorative purposes, three of the building’s angles are surmounted by small turrets with gun loops.

On the lintel of the entrance door, shields containing symbols, a date and initials are engraved in the stone. The inscriptions have weathered with time but we can still read the date (1581), the initials (I, S, I, E), a moon symbol and a few other heraldic motifs, probably linked to the family who owned the place.

The informative board in the car park proved very useful to us and we learned that one letter we had taken for a I was in fact a J, which gave J S for James Seton and J E for Janet Edmonstone. James Seton had married Janet Edmonstone and he had built the tower in 1581 though the estate belonged to the family since the 15th century when Alexander Seton married a Gordon heiress. In the 17th century it passed to the Pringles family whose best known member was the famous Covenanter Walter Pringle of Greenknowe and then to the Dalrymple family. Today, the well-preserved ruins are in the care of Historic Scotland.

Since the building was open we decided to visit it though, at this late hour, the tower looked rather dark and gloomy. Local folk tales saying that it is the most haunted place in the area still adds to the eerie atmosphere… The ‘yett’* , the original iron gate, creaked when we opened it and so eerie was its noise that we recorded it.

Inside the tower, we noticed some interesting features : a vaulted kitchen, an impressive fireplace in which we would have liked to make a big fire in order to make the atmosphere of the place a little more cheerful, a spiral stair which leads up to the hall… but experts in architecture would certainly have found much more to say about this old tower.

I was the only one not to climb up to the top of the tower. I didn’t meet any ghost but I can’t say I felt easy to remain alone in the lower rooms.

After visiting the cold, damp and gloomy tower we were very happy to find ourselves in the open air, amidst a field of delicately scented, creamy-white flowers…

My old little book about British flowers says the latin name of this white flower is “Spirae Ulmaria” and that it belongs to the family of Rosaceae. It adds that it is also known as “Queen of the Meadows”, our French “Reine des prés”, and that it can be found in wet meadows and by the sides of streams and rivers. No wonder this beautiful flower is growing so well at Greenknowe (which means “green hill”) since the place is surrounded by marshy ground.

We didn’t linger too long on the place, and certainly not near the big dark trees. We remembered quite well the story of Reverend Kirk’s tree at Doon Hill Finally we ended our day by a small pilgrimage to the breathtaking Scott’s View !

What a day !

A bientôt. Mairiuna

*A yett (from the Old English and Scots language word for “gate”) is a gate or grille of latticed wrought iron bars used for defensive purposes in castles and tower houses. Unlike a portcullis, which is raised and lowered vertically using mechanical means, yetts are hinged in the manner of a traditional gate or door, and secured by bolts attached to the yett, or by long bars drawn out from the wall or gateway. (Wikipedia)

A Colorful Video Tour of Buchanan Street, Glasgow’s Main Shopping Avenue

MAJA — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 04:30:51 +0000

Escalator leading up to Princes Square Galleries, Buchanan Street

Hey Mairiuna, before we hop unto Princes Square’s inviting blue escalator leading up to it’s animated galleries, let’s stroll a bit longer on Buchanan street, the most popular and well known shopping street of Glasgow.

I was so impressed by the urban design that I would happily spend more time in this premier pedestrian thoroughfare housing more than 125 shops & venues.

You can find anything and everything on this street from a variety of shops fit for all budgets to museums, restaurants and bookshops.

There’s even a stamp shop! We were past opening hours last time around, but since we are both fond of topical stamp collecting, I’ve listed the Buchanan Street Stamps as a store to explore on our next trip to Glasgow. It’s on the west side, between Nelson Mandela Place and Bath Street.

There’s much to be seen and done on Buchanan Street. Watch this video to get a feel of it. Enjoy!

Glasgow’s St Enoch Centre, Europe’s Largest Glass Building!

MAJA — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 23:34:23 +0000

Oh yes! Mairiuna, it was quite a fun ride we took aboard Glasgow’s Clockwork Orange subway train. Remember this photograph I took of you both just before we escalated down to the ticket booth?

At the ticket booth, we had a good laugh when the ticket officer, after we told him that you and Jean-Claude came from France and myself from Québec, tells us that the most famous Canadian he knew of was William Shatner. He must of noticed the perplexity in my eyes as I was trying to figure out who was William Shatner. “Don’t you know Captain Kirk, young lady?” My gosh.. for sure I knew Captain Kirk from the Star Trek series, much better than William Shatner!

Upon walking out of the St Enoch Station, we decided to visit the St Enoch Centre. To fully understand its social impact on Glasgow’s shopping frenzy, let’s go back into time for a sentence or two.

In 1783, St Enoch Square was the meet up place of grazing sheeps and since that day the square has grown into one of Glasgow’s finest landmarks.

Places of Interest - Glasgow Submay Maps

The St Enoch Train Station opened its rails to the public in 1876 and was honored to have Queen Victoria arrive in Glasgow through its station on August 22,1888 for her visit to the International Exhibition in Kelvingrove Park.

Following the demolition in 1977 of St Enoch Station, which was situated near the opposite end of Queen Street, the high-level station is now the only vaulted railway station left in Scotland.

Today, on the site of the demolished St-Enoch station, in Glasgow’s busy city centre, the St-Enoch Shopping Centre, inaugurated in 1989, is one of the favorite family shopping destinations. Popular store brands and modern food court makes it the perfect place to shop for specialized crafts and precious gifts.

Watch this short video to grasp the beauty of the largest glass structure in Europe!

Want to know more about who was St-Enoch? Listen to the superb accent of historian David Ross in this lively short video in which he uncovers the saint who gives her name to this area of Glasgow.

Enjoy and talk soon!
Janice