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For over thirteen centuries Christian worship has been offered up
within the parish of Melrose, beginning at Old Melrose, two and a half
miles down the river from this spot, continuing in the Cistercian Abbey
until the Reformation and, in due course, in this Church on the Weir
Hill.
Old Melrose is now merely a name on the map, the site occupied by modern cottages and outbuildings. At the highest point of the road between Leaderfoot and Dryburgh, now known as 'Scott's View', Sir Walter Scott was accustomed to halt to rest his horse and enjoy the landscape. From this point one looks down on the River Tweed on to a broad tongue of land almost enclosed by a loop of the river. This is Old Melrose, where the Celtic monastery was founded about the year 640 A.D. by, or at the instance, of St. Aidan, who was trained at Iona. Here also St. Cuthbert, the Celtic 'Apostle of the Borders', later Bishop of Hexham and hermit of Lindisfarne, entered his novitiate. In 1136 King David 1 granted a colony of Cistercian monks from Rievaulx in Yorkshire a charter to found the present Melrose Abbey on the lands of Little Fordel, thereafter called Melrose. It became a rich foundation, receiving many royal gifts, and in turn giving refuge to kings. Alexander II is buried there, as is also the heart of King Robert the Bruce. Before the Reformation there is evidence that the Abbey, unusually for a Cistercian foundation, served also as the place of parish worship. Certainly, from the Reformation, the monks' quire was used as the Parish Church. The historic connection with the Abbey is still recalled each Sunday morning by the ringing of the Abbey bell. In 1810 a new Parish Church was opened on this site. This Church was square in shape, had a central pulpit entered from the present tower, and large galleries. It was destroyed by fire in 1908. Only the tower, bearing the date MDCCCX, survived and was incorporated in the present Church which was dedicated in 1911. To celebrate the Millennium a development project took place in 1997 in which the ancillary church buildings were upgraded, and a Church Office, an upper floor meeting room and a new kitchen were added. The Church itself was completely redecorated in 1999, and rededicated by the Very Rev. John B. Cairns LTh. LLB. The woodwork of the present Church is all soft-toned-African mahogany with carvings of flowers and fruit on the four pilasters in the chancel. The chancel, raised by three steps, is balanced at the opposite end of the nave by an area, formerly furnished with pews, now converted into a chapel used for small Services. Carvings representing the Gospel writers can be seen on either side of the glass screen which forms the west wall of the chapel. The Communion Table and the Wall Tapestry depicting the Holy Spirit (woven by MacDonald Scott) in the chapel were brought here from the former High Cross Church after the union of the two congregations in 1984, when the chapel was dedicated by the Very Rev. John McIntyre CVO Dlitt DD FRSE. |
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In the main Church the Communion Table, which recreates the arch and
keystone of the Church, was gifted in 1952 in memory of the Rev.
Robert Nelson, formerly of Newmachar and Abbotsford, Glasgow, by his
widow and son. |
They also presented a tapestry carpet which bears a
Maltese Cross flanked by the mel (mason's hammer) and the rose, the
traditional rebus for the name Melrose. Mrs Nelson also gifted the
brass Cross, inspired in design by the St. John Cross of Iona, which
stands below the central window of the chancel. |
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The former Communion Table stands at the rear of the chancel with, on
either side, two plinths carrying the A and the P (Alpha and Omega),
gifted by Mrs Walker in memory of her mother, Mrs Fairbairn. The two
candelabra carried by these plinths were given by Mrs Fairbairn in
memory of her son. The Pulpit and Prayer Desk on either side of the
chancel echo each other, and the Pulpit Fall was worked and gifted by
Miss lsabella Curle. |
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On appropriate Sundays of the Christian Year the
Pulpit Fall is replaced by a white Fall, sewn by Margaret Chapman, and
gifted by Mrs Sheena Barron in 1996 in memory of John Barron, the
former headmaster of Melrose School and Regional Councillor for the
town.
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The Font is attached to the organ panelling and is lit by a brass
lantern given by Mr and Mrs J. Cumming in memory of their son and
bears the legend: 'One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism'. The organ,
built by Messrs. Brindley and Foster, was installed in 1911.
The chancel window, the only stained glass in the Church, in three lights, designed by C. W. Whall of London, was the gift of Mr Roberts of Drygrange, one of the heritors, in memory of his wife. |
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On the left
is depicted St. Margaret, mother of King David I who founded the Abbey,
and on the right is St. Cuthbert attired as a bishop. The central
light carries the sun in eclipse, as appropriate to the crucifixion,
the moon, the Holy City, and the city wall with the strait gate and the
broad gate. Below these are, on the left, the tree of the knowledge
of good and evil of the Garden of Eden, and, on the right, the tree of
life, the tallest, and an olive tree. Level with the base of the cross
is a frieze of spring flowers. The dominating feature of the window
is the Crucifixion with a weeping angel at the foot of the cross. |
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The present congregation was first a union of Melrose Old Parish Church
and Melrose St. Aidan's (formerly the Free Church until 1900, then the
United Free Church until 1929) in 1946 and was known as Melrose Old
and St. Aidan's. In 1951, by the choice of the congregation, it
became Melrose St. Cuthbert's Parish Church. In 1984, following a
union of Melrose St. Cuthbert's and Melrose High Cross, it became known
as Melrose Parish Church.
Ministers of the Parish since the Reformation
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