It has been such a long time (a very, very long time) since we lasted posted of our jaunts about toons with a mercat cross.
But, here we are, a return! After a rather spontaneous train trip to Melrose from our fair city, we struck out to visit the newly reopened Melrose Abbey ~ a site that has been on our to-visit list for some time and I feel ready to restart capturing my thoughts from our visits here.
The Abbey has been closed for 5 years(!) and only opened again to public visitors last month. I would like to claim we had prior knowledge of this, but must confess to it being a pure fluke on our part that 1 ~ the sun shone, and 2 ~ the Abbey was open.
After a lovely stroll about the Abbey, climbing the tower, finding the bagpipe playing pig, and doddling about the ancient graveyard, we wandered the triangular layout of the wee and very charming town.
And there she was! Standing proudly in amongst the blooms of the town square (triangle?) the beautiful unicorn 🦄 topped mercat cross! If I’m honest, I’ve neglected updating this site for a wee while as I continuously overthink what to add or include, or stress how I didn’t capture the best photo, but I’ve decided I’ll just post, as once was intended, my very own personal record of mercat cross sites my partner and I have visited. Usually, a primary quest, the mercat crosses have fallen by the wayside, and I have to say spotting this one today was a beautiful reminder of the map we had of Scotland marked with pins of all locations of mercat crosses, and a reminder to open the app, stop overthinking, and just post.
Details of the Mercat Cross:
17th century, dated 1645
Unicorn finial. 🦄 A fine example with great detail. The unicorn sat up on hind legs, rests both front hoofs onto a shield depicting the Lion Rampant. Details on the finials base include the mercat cross origin date ‘1645’ and symbols including crossed swords. It’s really nice!
There’s a sundial! Though I didn’t pay attention (it’s been a while)..
Close to the mercat cross is a large carved circle on the ground with the three names of the town, Trimontium, Melrose, Mail-Ros.
There’s a whole museum dedicated to the town as Trimontium from it’s time as a Roman settlement. There is also some information about this at the wee museum attached to the Abbey.
How to get here from Edinburgh:
🚉 Get the train from Edinburgh Waverley – Tweedbank. We visited on a Saturday and trains were running every 30 minutes. The journey is 1 hour.
🚌 Once in Tweedbank get the #67 or #68 bus and ask for Melrose Abbey. Cheaper to get a return ticket so if getting the bus, ask for a return. The bus is fairly regular and takes 13 minutes to get to the Abbey. The drivers, used to hoardes of tourists, were really friendly and helped us know where to go. Highly recommend the Abbey (Historic Environment Scotland) alongside any Mercat Cross quest.
@mercatcrosses 