roxburgh-1956-vol-2/-05_013

Transcription

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

ever, in compensation " for the destruction and
burning sustained by the abbey when he was there
with his army ", ¹ Richard granted in alms to the
convent a reduction in custom upon each " saak "
of Scottish wool, up to one thousand sacks, sent by
it to Berwick-on-Tweed. In 1398 arrangements
were made for paying one of the feudal casualties
granted towards " the new werke of thaire kirke of
Melros " ² With two exceptions - the early frag-
ments already mentioned and an alteration which
will be described presently - the church now seen is
the one rebuilt after 1385. The work of reconstruc-
tion extended from the end of the 14th century until
some time after 1505, yet it failed to reach completion
owing to the impoverished state of the community. ³
David de Binning, who was elected abbot about 1394,
took credit for this restoration which, however, he
can only have initiated. ⁴
This new church was no more fortunate than its
predecessor. In 1544 the abbey was burnt by the
English under Sir Ralph Eure, or Evers, ⁵ and it is
included in the list of places on the Tweed that were
" raced " in 1545 by the Earl of Hertford. ⁶ In 1555-6
James Stewart, natural son of James V and com-
mendator of both Melrose and Kelso, granted a feu
charter to certain lands " in consideration of a sum
of money paid towards the repair and rebuilding of
the abbey of Melrose destroyed by the English . . .
at the time of war last past " ; the charter ⁷ is signed
by the commendator, the sub-prior, and eleven
monks. This and other moneys raised for a like
purpose were, however, diverted to other uses by
the commendator, and in the same year the monks
raised a protest which reveals the sorry state of the
abbey buildings : even the lead from the roofs was
being removed and sold. ⁸ In 1569 James Douglas
became commendator, ⁹ and in 1573 he took action
against Sir Walter Scott of Branxholm who, in 1569,
had taken away stones, timbers, lead, iron, and glass
from the abbey and kirk of Melrose. ¹⁰ But this com-
mendator was equally guilty himself, as he used the
abbey as a quarry in 1590 when reconstructing the
Commendator's House. ¹¹ The picture is clear enough
- after the Reformation the cloister, and to a less
extent the church, were allowed to fall into ruin, the
surviving members of the convent becoming pen-
sioners. ¹² Shortly after 1590, with the death of
" Jo. Watsoun pensionarius de Melros", the com-
munity became extinct. ¹³
Even so, there was still life in the place, for the
church, or part of it, had become parochial at some
time before 1443. ¹⁴ The process by which this came
about has been explained by Dr. James Curle. ¹⁵ At
the Reformation it was served by a reader, ¹⁶ and in
1606 and 1608 it was styled " the paroche kirk of
Melros ". ¹⁷ In 1618 a new church was instituted in
what was left of the structural nave. This church
extended from the pulpitum, or E. screen, three bays
eastwards to the crossing, the archways of which
seem to have been already built up. As the high
vault of the nave had already fallen and its rebuilding
was too ambitious a project to be seriously contem-
plated, four massive piers of masonry were built
inside the N. pier arcade, and the span of the central
area was thus reduced sufficiently for it to be covered
in with a semicircular barrel-vault. This barrel -
vault, which was lower than the original rib-vault,
was covered on the outside with stone flags resting
on its extrados and not with a leaded, wooden roof
like the original high roof. It was also necessarily
too low to include the tops of the existing clearstorey
lights ; all the rear-arches of these windows were
accordingly taken down and rebuilt at a lower level,
the old stones being used again ; but the outside of
the windows was not disturbed and, when their
glazing was entire, the reduction cannot have been
obvious externally. It may be inferred that the
crossing-tower, which still contained its bells in
1555-6, had already become ruinous before 1618,
since a belfry was built upon the apex of the S.
transept-gable. This belfry contains a Dutch bell,
measuring 1 ft. 4 in. in diameter by 1 ft. 2 in. in
height and bearing the inscription IAN BVRGERHVYS
ME FECIT 1608 between two lines of crest-work.
Little respect seems to have been shown for this
reconstituted church, as the contemporary Robert
Baillie records ¹⁸ that the Rev. Thomas Forrester, the
eccentric incumbent of Melrose from 1627 to 1638,
" made a way through the church itself for his kine
and sheep ".
The remainder of the fabric of the abbey was used
as a quarry in the early 18th century. ¹⁹ In 1810 the
parish church was removed to a new site, and there-
after the Abbey church was used only as a place of
burial. In 1919 the property was placed in the
guardianship of H.M. Office of Works.
THE PRECINCT. The abbey buildings lay within
the precinct, an irregularly shaped enclosure of some

1 Cal. of Docts., iv, 1357-1509, No. 397.
2 Liber de Melros, i, 488.
3 Calendar of Papal Registers, Letters, x, 1447-1455, 501 ;
L. and P., Henry VIII, i, pt. i, No. 300 ; Stat. Eccles. Scot.,
lxxi n.
4 Calendar of Scottish Supplications to Rome, S.H.S., 309.
5 Hamilton Papers, ii, No. 420.
6 Printed in P.S.A.S., i (1851-4), 277.
7 Laing Charters, No. 642.
8 Melrose Regality Records, S.H.S., iii, 158, 218.
9 Register of Presentations to Benefices, in H.M. General
Register House, Edinburgh, i, f. 23.
10 Acts and Decreets of the Court of Session, in H.M.
General Register House, vol. xviii, f. 423.
11 Wade, History of St. Mary's Abbey, Melrose, 251.
12 Melrose Regality Records, S.H.S., iii, 192.
13 R.M.S., 1580-1593, No. 1796.
14 Calendar of Papal Registers, Letters, ix, 412.
15 A Little Book about Melrose, 34.
16 Register of Ministers, in H.M. General Register House,
s.a. 1567.
17 Liber de Melros, ii, 658, 660, 661.
18 Fife, Scottish Diaries and Memoirs, 1550-1746, p. 208.
19 Milne, A Description of the Parish of Melrose, 22 ;
Pococke, A Tour through Scotland, 1760, S.H.S., 340.

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