{Adventure} Dear Abbey

Echos twang as footsteps crush the stones beneath your feet....the sounds of birds cooing in the expanding giant overhead. So tall, yet so destroyed, still standing proud as if to say...you didn't win, I'm still here. The smell of the earth from the moss that has seeped over the stones, gradually Mother Nature takes back what she gave forth. Grave stones from centuries before tilt to the side of the sun as if beckoning to be taken home too...spirits dance their life's song telling tales of battles for freedom. We will not go...we will not stop...we will never give up...we will have our freedom against those who seek to tear us down and they will remember us....

Have a great day sweeties

xox

p.s. I notice some have been saying this is a castle...it's an Abbey, not a castle. Both very beautiful though :)

Dainty Boudoir

70's Vintage Dress: Parma Vintage 

{Parma Vintage is a fantastic  shop, with a vast array of items to wander over, I always leave there with bags of stuff}

Belt: Vintage

Mary Jane Shoes: Thrifted

Dainty History Lesson

Built in 1128 and the years to follow, Kelso Abbey became one of the finest examples of Romanesque architecture. When it was finally finished, it was dedicated to the Blessed Virgin and St John in 1243. Soon it became one of the largest and richest in Scotland, with it's marvelous library during medieval times. In the 12th and 13th centuries, the Abbot of Kelso was granted the right to wear a mitre, this gave him a precedence higher than any other Scottish abbot. The abbey's wealth came from its vast lands, churches, schools, farms and its granges in the Cheviot Hills.

Kings: James III and James IV, were crowned in this Abbey, and Prince Henry, son of David I, was buried there in 1152. With the Reformation, and Henry VIII's determination to wipe out the Border Abbeys, by 1550. Kelso, along with Melrose, Dryburgh and Jedburgh Abbey had been reduced to rubble by the English forces under Hertford. Despite trying to rebuild, all the abbeys went into decline, and soon few, if any, monks remained. A Parish Church used part of the site about 1650 with a new school alongside. This seems to have continued in use until about 1770, with the abbey ruins being used as a source of ready-hewn stone for buildings elsewhere in the town. In 1823, the remains of the Abbey were made safe, and in 1919 they passed into the care of the nation.

The Gravestone says....'Whatever we were to each other - that we are still'.

♥

All Architectural photos taken by me. All photos of me, taken by Gorgeous Gavin. Please do not use, alter or reproduce in any way without permission...thank you.