Description:

The Abbey has long been considered the most spectacular of the Borders Abbeys, not only for its impressive size but also for its historical significance. Founded by King David I around 1136, it began with just one abbot and twelve monks from Rievaulx Abbey in Yorkshire. Over the centuries, it endured repeated English attacks—pillaged and burned in 1322, set ablaze again in 1385 by Richard II, when many monks were killed and David II retreated to Edinburgh. In 1545, the Earl of Hertford bombarded it with cannon fire. The town, too, suffered from invasions, and the Abbey’s decline was sealed with the Reformation in 1560, after which it was never fully restored. Today, within its grounds rests the heart of Scotland’s greatest king, Robert the Bruce, sealed in an unopened lead casket.