HOLYROOD ABBEY (46)

Legend has it that in 1128, David I, King of Scots, was staying at Edinburgh Castle, and on 14 September after attending mass on the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, several of his courtiers persuaded him to join a hunting trip. Alwin, an English Austin Canon, the King's Secretary and Confessor, was opposed to the idea, but the royal party ignored his wishes and set off down the hill to the area of forest and stream at the bottom of the present Canongate. During the hunt, a magnificent stag charged the King, throwing him from his horse and pinning him by the thigh. The King tried to grasp the stag's antlers, but found himself holding on to a crucifix which was set between its horns. The King retained the crucifix in his hand while the stag retreated to the spring of water from where it had appeared. During that night, in a dream, the King heard a voice call his name three times, telling him to 'make a house for canons devoted to the cross'. The spring was then called 'the spring of the crucifix', and nearby, the King erected the monastery of the Holy Rood (i.e. cross) and made Alwin the first abbot.

The Abbey flourished, and domestic quarters, an infirmary and a guest house were established within a precinct wall with several gateways. The main entrance faced the castle, and a roadway led to the eastern gate of the town of Edinburgh (later the Netherbow Port). The canons travelled to and fro between the Kirk of St Mary, within the Castle, and the Abbey.

During the revolution of 1688, the Abbey Church was badly damaged and left in a state of disrepair. In 1758 a new roof of stone flags was made but this was badly constructed, and eventually, in 1768, the roof and part of the walls collapsed, leaving the Abbey more or less as we see it today.