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Kelso Abbey is a Scottish abbey built in the 12th century by a community of Tironensian monks (originally from Tiron, near Chartres, in France).
 Kelso Abbey | |
| Monastery information | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Lanercost Priory |
| Order | Tironensian |
| Established | community firstly at Selkirk C. 1113, moved to Kelso 1128. |
| Disestablished | 1559 |
| People | |
| Founder(s) | David I of Scotland |
| Site | |
| Location | Kelso, Scottish Borders, Scotland |
| Visible remains | Fragments: Western Crossing, Infirmary. |
| Public access | Yes |
The community was originally founded at Selkirk c. 1113, and moved to the present site in Kelso in 1128 by King David I [1] who also gave the land on which the Abbey was constructed. Building is believed to have commenced immediately and was completed fifteen years later, in 1143, when it was dedicated to The Blessed Virgin and Saint John. Enough of the church had been bult by 1152 for the King's son, Henry, the Earl of Northumberland, to be buried there[2].
Kelso Abbey soon grew to be one of the wealthiest and grandest in Scotland, with much of its income coming from its vast estates in the Border country. It was also the seat of the Feudal Lordship of Holydean. The importance of the Abbey at that time was shown when King James III of Scotland was crowned at the Abbey in 1460. However, the Abbey's proximity to the border with England led to it suffering damage from cross-border raids. It was first damaged in the Anglo-Scottish wars at the start of the 1300s, but was later repaired by the monks.
The Abbey suffered serious damage during the Earl of Hertford's "Rough Wooing" campaign (the dispute over Mary Queen of Scots) against Scotland between 1544 and 1547, which caused considerable destruction to many of southern Scotland's abbeys, including those at Melrose, Dryburgh and Jedburgh. The Reformation, which took place in Scotland in 1560, meant that Kelso Abbey had no chance to recover and rebuild. After further attacks and damage the Abbey was declared officially derelict in 1587.
After the end of the Reformation, the Abbey was partly used as a parish church between 1647 and 1771, with other parts of the structure being dismantled and used as a source of stone by locals for buildings in the town of Kelso. The church appears to have been a compact vaulted structure built within the west transepts in about 1748. This included a vaulted gaol. In 1805, huge parts of the ruins were cleared away, including parish church and the gaol, leaving just the west tower and its transept remaining to this day.
A more recent addition (1933) has been a memorial cloister to the 8th Duke of Roxburghe built in the original style of the cloisters when the Abbey was first built, and designed by Reginald Fairlie.
Little of the ground plan of this once large Abbey exists, but the surviving ruin of the tower crossing is impressive.
The earliest surviving remains are the two bays of the nave south arcade which have rounded arches dating from about 1128. Later additions above this are a triforium from the late 12th Century. Above this clerestory is a continuous arcade. There is no regular vertical pattern between three levels of arcading, a feature which is unique in Scotland or England. [2] The masonry above the clerestory indicates there was no nave vaulting.
The south and west faces of the West tower still rises high to the level of the belfry openings and this structure is not earlier than the beginning of the 13th Century.[2] The West transepts and the West vestibule also survive, though only the north jamb survives of the west doorway.
The ruins are cared for by Historic Scotland. There is no entrance charge.
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