I woke this morning at 6:00am when Satoshi's alarm went off.
Annoyingly, I couldn't get back to sleep. This was because the
window in our room didn't open and I felt like I couldn't breathe
properly. Yes, I know that's silly but I couldn't help it. Breakfast
was provided by our accommodation (as part of the tariff) so we had
a pleasant meal in the dining room. Next on the list was a visit to
Jedburgh Abbey which was literally a one minute walk from our
accommodation. Unfortunately, the main part of this abbey is fenced
off so we couldn't walk around the site properly or enter the
church. Once again, we have done what we could to eliminate the
fencing from our photos.
Jedburgh Abbey was
founded in the 12th century and remained a community of Augustinian
canons for the next 400 years. The abbey church is among the most
complete in the country.
The habit of an Augustinian canon
Looking at the south side of the church
The remains of the domestic buildings of the abbey were not
excavated until 1936 and then further work was undertaken in
1986, including trhe moving of a road which had been built
over the domestic buildings.
This garden in in the cloister.
Much of the stonework is in surprisingly good condition.
Some of the windows have retained their glazing (from the
1800s)
The Pulpit - to enter it one has to go behind the curtain
next to the organ, ascend the stairs, and emerge through
the little door visible above.
The sanctuary. Some of the tiles on the floor depict to
four evangelists:
St Matthew
St Mark
St Luke
The creation tapestries (each one
representing a day) were worked by Barbara Dalglish to a
design by Alex Beatie, and installed in 2015 as a gift to St.
John's on Rev'd David Dalglish's retirement.
From the sanctuary looking west
Originally, the organ was in the space above the porch
The Annunciation
Rosslyn Chapel is a 15th century building near
Edinburgh. Its architecture is considered to be among the finest
in Scotland and it did not disappoint. It was made famous
because of its part in Dan Brown's book "The Da Vinci Code" and
the movie which followed. The chapel has literally hundreds of
intricate stone carvings. Sadly, photography was not permitted
inside the building.
This memorial outside the chapel has
six statues, representing some of the virtues:
"Patience"
"Faith"
"Hope"
"Love"
"Courage"
"Truth"
This is a carving of a camel!
One of the gargoyles
This carving depicts a farmer's wife saving a goose from a
fox.
We then drove to our accommodation at
Falkirk (about a 20 minute drive from Edinburgh) and settled
in there. After a dinner at McDonald's, we went to have a
look at "The Kelpies"
which are just nearby.