Melrose Abbey

-

The town of Melrose in the Scottish Borders is famous for the birthplace of Rugby Sevens and for the ruins of the 12th Century Cistercian Abbey.  The Abbey was founded in 1136 by King David I and it was largely destroyed by the English Army of Richard II in1385.  The Abbey was rebuilt and what remains is mainly from the early 15th Century and is reputed to be the most beautiful monastic ruins in Great Britain.

 Melrose Abbey is also the place where the heart of Robert the Bruce is buried. The Scottish King was buried at Dumfermline Abbey after his death in 1329 but the king requested his heart be buried in Melrose.

 An excavation was led to find a sealed casket, but it was not opened, and it was actually discovered by high school students involved in the dig. The casket was placed in a sealed lead cylinder, and was then re-buried in the abbey back at its proper resting place.


We arrived for our visit late in the afternoon on Saturday 4 March and we pretty much had the place to ourselves.  Walking around the ruins you could only marvel at the high vaulted ceilings and carvings and only imagine what the Abbey would have looked like at the height of its power.

 As I walked about the ruins I used the Fujifilm X100T, set to Classic Chrome film simulation, to take a set of images showing the magnificence of the abbey ruins.


The last monk died in 1590 but the church remained in use until 1810.  The church yard contained many 19th and even 20th century grave stones pointing to this fact that the sacred grounds of Melrose Abbey were still being used.

 Melrose Abbey is looked after by Historic Scotland and there is an entrance fee of £5.50 for adults, with concessions available.  The ticket price also includes a free and very useful audio guide.  For more information visit the Historic Scotland website HERE

Here are some more images from our trip to Melrose Abbey - 












































-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PLEASE SUPPORT THIS BLOG BY VISITING THE ADVERTISERS ON THIS PAGE
By clicking on the adverts you are helping support this blog - thank you.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ALL IMAGES (UNLESS INDICATED) ARE THE PROPERTY OF MACLEAN PHOTOGRAPHIC AND CANNOT BE USED FOR ANY PURPOSE WITHOUT PRIOR PERMISSION



MacLean Photographic run Tours and Workshops in East Lothian and the Borders of Scotland.  CLICK HERE for more details and availability


Jeff Carter is an Official Fujifilm X Photographer and was named as a Fujifilm brand ambassador in June 2015. In 2016 he worked with the company on the launches of the Fujifilm X-Pro2 in Tokyo and the Fujifilm X-T2 in Paris in July 2016.  You can view his profile and gallery on the Fujifilm website HERE

If you like what you see on this blog please visit our Facebook page and click 'like'
Location: Abbey St, Melrose TD6 9LG, UK

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

REVIEW: The New Fujinon 2x Converter

-
Image
Yesterday Fujifilm launched the latest edition to the Fujinon XF lens line up, the XF 2X TC WR teleconverter for use with the XF50-140mm f2.8 and XF100-400mm f4.5/5.6 zoom lenses.  In April I was invited by Fujifilm to test the new converter and here are my thoughts on this new lens. Before I go into details I need to be upfront about something.  I've never been a fan of 2x converters because the optical quality of the lens is usually affected to a large degree.   I did have a 1.4x and 2x converter for my lenses when I was shooting with Nikon. While the 1.4x converter was regularly attached to my long f2.8 lenses, the 2x converter was probably used about three times in the 18 years I used Nikkor lenses.  I didn't like the results when using the converter so tended to not use it. Anyway back to the X-Series!  The 1.4x Fujinon converter was launched in 2015 and I have been a fan of this diminutive lens attachment on both the 50-140mm and 100-400mm.  The optical qu
Read more

REVIEW: Using Nikon Lenses on a Fuji X Camera

-
Image
I've been using the Fujifilm X-Pro1 for the past month and I haven't enjoyed my photography so much since I bought the Fuji X100 12 months earlier.  The only issue I have with the X-Pro1 is the lack of a long telephoto lens.  The longest lens I have is the 60mm f2.4, which is the equivalent of a 90mm telephoto; it's a great lens but I sometimes wish my Fuji system had a bit more pulling power.   Fuji have provided the X system with a telephoto zoom, the 55-200mm f3.5 / f4.8 R LM OIS and I will be testing this lens next week for three days. I will be showing the results on this blog. However my Nikon kit has one of the best short telephoto zooms in the world, the Nikkor 80-200mm f2.8 AF-D.  I bought this lens brand new in 1996 for £1600.00 and it has been a faithful companion ever since. I've bought and sold plenty of SLRs / DSLRs in the past 18 years but I've never felt the need to upgrade the 80-200mm because it is still optically the best lens I own and it ha
Read more

Comparison: Fujinon 16mm f1.4 v Fujinon 18mm f2

-
Image
The small but perfectly formed Fujinon XF18mm f2R has been the lens I have used the most since I bought it in 2013.  The fast f2 aperture along with the small size and 27mm equivalent angle of view makes the 18mm f2 my 'go to' lens.   However has the new 16mm f1.4 usurped this position?  The slightly wider 24mm equivalent focal length is one that I used to have when I used film cameras and for landscapes it is a great lens to have in the bag.  But how different is the 18mm and 16mm?  Is that 2mm going to make a huge amount of difference?  and will that extra stop on the aperture compensate for the difference in the physical size of the 16mm compared to the 18mm?  I went for a walk along the coastal path in Dunbar down to the harbour and took there shots with the X-T10 fitted with the 18mm f2 and my X-T1 fitted with the 16mm f1.4.  As usual for this blog I need to point out that this is NOT a technical test, I don't do that, I just report on my findings in using th
Read more