Melrose Abbey, Old Melrose, Jedburgh Abbey to the south

The monastic starting place for one of the most important Celtic missionary saints, and indeed the starting point of his pilgrimage walk too, the St Cuthbert’s Way

Highlights

• Old Melrose: Celtic monastery site
• Melrose Abbey: site of shrine, ruins, and mysterious buried heart
• Jedburgh Abbey: fragment of abbot St Boisil’s shrine

Melrose’s first monastery was a staging post between Iona and Lindisfarne, the two great Celtic monasteries. It was also the training ground for Lindisfarne’s greatest abbot, St Cuthbert. A modern pilgrimage route traces the 62-mile journey that the saint made between these two sites (see Lindisfarne), and the Scottish Pilgrim Routes Forum includes Melrose in its Borders Abbeys Way (sprf.org.uk).

The pilgrimage starts at the magnificent ruins of Melrose Abbey, a popular tourist attraction in the middle of town. But this is not actually the site of the original monastery, which is 3 miles to the east at a place called Old Melrose.

There is no trace left of the Celtic community at Old Melrose apart from a disused cemetery set in farmland. The site is inaccessible, but there is a spectacular view from the B6356, a lookout point famous enough to have a name: Scott’s View. The 19th-century author Sir Walter Scott would pull up his horse here to admire the panorama.

It certainly looks the epitome of an ancient monastic site, set in a U-shaped bend of the River Tweed. A single story from the Venerable Bede illustrates the intense life its monks led. He tells of St Drithelm, a 7th-century Northumbrian who was so disturbed by a near-death experience that he left his wife and devoted his entire life to extreme acts of devotion as a monk at Melrose.

He used to stand in the river fully clothed to say his prayers. It is the only immersion ritual I encountered where the bather remained dressed. Whatever his reasons, it had nothing to do with keeping warm in the grey cold of this shady torrent: “When he returned to the shore, he never removed his dripping, chilly garments but let them warm and dry on his body” (History v.12). Even on an August day you can sense the chill from the safety of Scott’s vantage point. St Drithelm used to break the ice in winter.

Old Melrose was probably founded by St Aidan, first bishop of Lindisfarne, sometime after 640. The first abbot was St Eata, who went on to become bishop of Hexham (page 401). One of the saints buried here was St Boisil, the second abbot. Part of his shrine might have been moved to Jedburgh Abbey, 10 miles to the south, a ruined monastic church managed by Historic Scotland. It is 10 miles from Melrose and pilgrims can easily locate the shrine fragment in its visitor centre, pictured left.

Further underlining the connections between Jedburgh and the monks of Melrose and Lindisfarne, the first church at Jedburgh was actually founded by a bishop of Lindisfarne, although sometime after the Celtic period itself was over in the 9th century. St Cuthbert joined Melrose in 651 shortly before St Boisil died of the plague, working his way up to abbot before moving to Lindisfarne soon after the Synod of Whitby in 664.

It is possible to visit the site of this ancient Celtic outpost thanks to the local Trimontium Museum in Melrose, which offers guided walks here (www.trimontium.co.uk/visit/walks) from April to October. Trimontium is the name of a local Roman fort complex, also in the general vicinity. An occasional ecumenical service has been held at Old Melrose in the past.

And that is not the end of Melrose’s sacred trail: there is one saint who was in fact buried in the Cistercian abbey ruins, back in Melrose town. This is St Waldef, the second abbot of the refounded abbey who died around 1160. He was a man of great humility and mercy, and though never formally canonised, remained greatly venerated up to the Reformation.

I couldn’t find any monument or memorial to him in the ruins. There is, however, a stone plaque on the ground in the former chapter house, marking the spot where a heart was discovered in a lead casket during excavations in 1921. It was dug up again in 1996 and reburied under a small memorial stone.

There are historical records that King Robert the Bruce’s heart was buried at Melrose, so many assume that it belongs to him. However, it would be more logical to find his burial next to the high altar, like the rest of his body at Dunfermline Abbey. It is possible that the royal heart was secretly moved and reburied when the abbey was closed at the Reformation in 1561. King Robert was never a saint, but the reformers’ intense dislike of relics might well have worried one of the loyal monks.

The abbot St Waldef was initially buried in the abbey’s chapter house. His shrine was later moved to the south side of the high altar. It is theoretically possible that the rediscovered heart belongs to him, left behind in the chapter house as a reminder to the monks. At other monasteries, the chapter house was the place where senior abbots were buried, their relics lending authority to their successors (as at Rievaulx Abbey). St Waldef is remembered on 3 August.

Directions‍

Melrose Abbey, Abbey Street, Melrose TD6 9LG

www.historicenvironment.scot (search for Melrose Abbey)W3W: prices.pegs.seats

GPS: 55.5991N 2.7190W‍

Old Melrose: viewable from Scott’s View, B6356, near Bemersyde TD6 9DW

W3W: months.grips.drape

GPS: 55.6003N 2.6467W

The abbey is open every day, Apr–Sep 9:30am–5:30pm, Oct–Mar 10am–4pm. Admission costs £6 adults, £4.80 concessions, £3.60 child over 5. Scott’s View is on the B6356, signposted by the road ½ mile north of the village of Bemersyde. The postcode will probably take a satnav a short distance north of the viewpoint.‍

Jedburgh Abbey is on Abbey Bridge End, postcode TD8 6JQ. It is open all year.

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