📌 Melrose, Scottish Borders
★★★★
🛠️ Abbey church closed for masonry work – grounds, cloister & museum open with reduced admission fee (checked April 2024)
At the heart of Melrose is Melrose Abbey, a Cistercian monastery dating to 1146 and the decades immediately after. If you only have time to visit one of the town’s attractions this should be it. Although the nave only survives to foundation level, this and the huge transepts, choir and crossing are more than enough to communicate the building’s former size. Ornately carved gargoyles and statues add to the grandeur (look out for the bagpipe-playing pig…), while large sections of the surrounding lay ranges are still visible on the north side, giving you a feel for abbey life beyond the central building. Many visitors are likely unaware that tickets also cover the Commendator’s House Museum immediately to the north; this 14th century building showcases hundreds of medieval artefacts found around the abbey cloister.
🌍 Location
📌 Abbey Street, Melrose town centre
🧭 O.S. Grid Reference: NT 549342
🛰️ GPS coordinates: 55.599112,-2.717880
🚌 Bus to Melrose
🚗 Car park / street parking nearby (some with charge)
📝 Key info
⌚ Daily
🎫 £7.50 adult / £4.50 child / free for Historic Environment Scotland members
