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Kelso Abbey was founded in the 1100s by
Tironensian
Monks from Tiron in France, brought to
Scotland by King Alexander
I.
The original Abbey was to be built at
Selkirk
19 miles west, most important town in the
region at that time. This Abbey was never built
into anything substantial.
Alexander I died in 1124, leading to his
brother David I
becoming King. David had been investing much of
his wealth into the area around Kelso, so in
1128, took the decision to have the Abbey built
at Kelso instead.
Alexander and David were sons of Malcolm III
Canmore by his wife Margaret of
Wessex, later Saint Margaret. This family
was credited with uniting a number of small
Scottish Kingdoms into the one Kingdom of
Scotland.
The Canmore's used religion as a way to
unite communities and help control the country.
They were the Monarchs of Scotland from 1058 to
1286, encouraging the building of a number of
large Abbeys and Cathedrals all over Scotland
such as the largest and most important:
Dunfermline Abbey 1070
Kelso Abbey 1128
Melrose Abbey 1136
Jedburgh Abbey 1147
Dryburgh Abbey 1150
St Andrews Cathedral 1158
Arbroath Abbey 1178
Elgin Cathedral 1224
With Kelso Abbey being close to the Border,
it was damaged on a number occasions during
wars between Scotland and England from the
First War of Scottish
Independence in 1298, to the 1540s when
King Henry VIII of England began sending forces
into Scotland to destroy Abbeys and Castles in
an attempt to get the Infant Mary Queen of
Scots to mary his young son, a War known as the
Rough
Wooing.
1530s - Henry VIII made Catholic worship in
England illegal, leading to the destruction of
Abbeys throughout England.
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