Scotland - Day 3

This day we went to Jedburgh Abbey, Melrose Abbey, and Dryburgh Abbey. Since we spent the night in Jedburgh at a bed and breakfast the night before, we went to Jedburgh Abbey first. Jedburgh was founded no later than 1138. In 1875 the abbey was finished, except it still had no roof. The abbey was founded close to the English border by King David I and Bishop John of Glascow.
This is a picture of the hall of Jedburgh Abbey.

We walked around the abbey for 1 1/2 hours and then we drove to Melrose Abbey. Melrose Abbey was founded in 1136. It was raided by Richard II in 1385. Alexander the II and Robert the Bruce's heart are buried there.

This is a picture of the gravestone of Robert Bruce's heart.

We spent about 2 hours at Melrose Abbey and then we went to Dryburgh Abbey. This abbey was raided by England in 1385. Dryburgh Abbey was mostly ruins and not as nice as the other abbeys, although it had an intact chapter house.

This is a picture of Dryburgh Abbey from the graveyard.

After we had walked around Dryburgh Abbey for about 1 hour, we went to a statue of William Wallace. We stopped and took a short walk to the statue.


This is a picture of the statue of William Wallace that we saw.

I liked the abbeys because they were very nice and almost grand. After we went to the abbeys, we stopped at Smailholm Tower. It was built around the middle of the 15th century in Northumberland of the border country. Walter Scott played in the tower ruins as a "wee, sick laddie" when he spent time in his family member's farmhouse on the property due to an illness. I liked it because it was not ruined and it was a nice small castle.


Then we drove to the condo in Alberfoyle where we stayed for a week.