Unfortunately I left my camera in the car when I went walking in Melrose so this shot was taken on my phone.
The abbey was founded by David1 and was Scotland’s first Cistercian monastery in 1136. Being so close to the border, Melrose Abbey suffered at English hands during the Middle Ages. Rebuilt in the 1380s, it was used as an abbey until the Protestant Reformation of 1560. Afterwards, the existing monks were allowed to stay on: the last died in 1590.
Robert the Bruce's heart is buried here.
