CAPTURE NEW HORIZONS

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 t...

We live in Kirk Park in Dunbar and a Kirk is another name for a Church in Scotland.  Belhaven Parish church is at the end of our road, literally just 30 metres from our house. When walking back to the house earlier in the week, the sun was shining off the sandstone steeple and with  the grey tiles, the green leaves and the blue sky, it made for an image full of colour and textures.

In the village of Abbey St Bathans is a beautiful small church, Kirk of Lammermuir, which is situated on the bank of Whiteadder Water close to the footbridge for the Souther Upland Way that spans the river.  On my way back to the car I took some time to walk around the church yard and take some pictures of the Kirk and the gravestones. HISTORY The village of Abbey St Bathans has two main claims to fame. The first is its appearance at the top of any alphabetical list of Scottish settlements. The second, rather oddly given its name, is that it has never been home to an abbey. That is slightly misleading because in about 1200 a small Cistercian priory of 12 nuns was founded here by Ada, Countess of Dunbar. The site was chosen because it was believed to have been that previously used for a tiny chapel established by St Bathan, a follower of St Columba, in the late 500s. The priory comprised a small church and an accompanying collection of domestic buildings. ...