Dryburgh Abbey - Melrose

Dryburgh Abbey is located in Dryburgh, Melrose, Scotland, along the River Tweed.  The abbey was founded in 1150 by Hugh de Moreville, Constable of Scotland.  He invited Premonstratensian canons from Northumberland to help establish the abbey.  The Order arrived at Dryburgh on St. Martin’s Day, 1150 making this the first abbey established by them in Scotland.  Through the years the abbey has been ravaged on several occasions by war.  Once, in 1322, by the retreating army of England’s Edward II, who set fire to the abbey, in 1385, by Richard II’s army during his invasion of Scotland, and in 1544 when it was severely burned and damaged by the Earl of Hertford and his 700 man army.  After this last attack the abbey was never rebuilt.  The romantic ruins of Dryburgh appealed to author Sir Walter Scott, who was laid to rest in the north transept in 1832.  Dryburgh Abbey has been preserved by Historic Scotland since 1919. 

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