roxburgh-1956-vol-2/-05_010

Transcription

No. 567 -- MELROSE PARISH -- No. 567

church, was chosen for convenience of water-supply
and drainage, of which something may now be said.
On the E. of the site ran a little stream, known later
as the Malt-House Burn and long since diverted from
its original course. Unless at the very outset, this
source of supply does not seem to have been utilised.
On the N. of the site ran the Tweed, about a quarter
of a mile away and too distant to the drawn upon
directly ; but the river was too valuable a source to
be neglected and could be made available by means
of an arrangement already adopted at Rievaulx and
at Newminster. It was accordingly dammed at a

[Plan Inserted]
Fig. 327. Melrose Abbey (No. 567) ; early foundations of church.

convenient bend and part of the stream was diverted
into a canal ; this canal was led close to the N. side
of the site and ran E. for a total distance of a mile
and a quarter before rejoining the river. On the way
it supplied power to the corn-mill. Branches were
led from it to flush the sewers and others may at first
have supplied drinking-water ; but latterly, as at
Rievaulx, spring water was laid on, carried in lead
pipes from Dingleton, ¹ a distance of some 700 yds.
The canal was evidently among the earliest works
undertaken by the community. The cloister itself,
which does not seem to have been completed before
the last quarter of the 12th century, measures 121 ft.
from N. to S. by 128 ft. from E. to W. and is almost
identical in size with that of the daughter-house of
Newbattle. ² Both these cloisters, although unusually
large for Scotland, compare unfavourably with that of
Rievaulx, which is 140 ft. square. The claustral
buildings of Melrose are fragmentary and it is no
easy matter either to date or to analyse the remains,
which are shown on the plan (Fig. 328) and described
in detail in the architectural description that follows.
There are certain points in the primary lay-out to
which attention may be drawn here. In the first
place the cloister had a lane on its W. side, such as
was provided in France at both Cîteaux and Clair-
vaux, and in England at Kirkstall, Beaulieu, Byland,
and less certainly at Whalley and Buildwas. The
purpose of this feature is really unknown. The lane
at Byland served as the cloister of the conversi. The
usual reason given for its provision is that the lane
prevented the noise occasioned by the work of the
conversi from penetrating the monk's cloister ; but
there is no evidence to show that the workshops were
in the cloister's immediate proximity. Whatever its
purpose, the lane at Melrose was demolished, as
happened in other houses, and its area was thrown
into the cloister.
Another point in the primary arrangement to which
attention may be drawn is the position of the W.
range, the domus conversorum. Unlike its prototype
at Rievaulx, this extends W. of the gable of the church,
following the arrangement seen in the common
ancestor Clairvaux, the church of which was dedi-
cated as late as 1175.³ It overlaps the church, how-
ever, so as to leave room for a staircase, the access

1 Milne, A Description of the Parish of Melrose, (1794). 45.
2 Inventory of Midlothian, No. 182.
3 Melrose Chronicle, 41.

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