Description
This drawing is dated 1789, and although not attributed to any artist, is likely to be one of George Henry Hutton's own works. The drawing was made from the south bank of the River Tweed. On the north bank, the ruined tower of the abbey, just to the right of centre, dominates the town of Kelso, and beyond that to the right again is the squat spire of the town hall. The stone bridge on the left of the picture is not the current Kelso Bridge, which was opened in 1803, but is probably its predecessor, which was swept away in a flood in 1797. The Benedictine Abbey at Kelso was founded in 1128 by King David I, for a group of monks from Tiron in France. It grew to become the largest and wealthiest of the four great Border Abbeys, a coronation place and burial place of Scottish Kings. In the mid-sixteenth century, however, it was destroyed by Henry VIII of England's troops, and with the Reformation sweeping away monastic foundations in Scotland in the 1550s and 1560s, Kelso Abbey was never rebuilt.
Collective title: Hutton Drawings > [Volume 2] > Roxburghshire
More details about the album and its contents can be found on the collection website.
Image Licence
CC BY 4.0
Image Credit
Courtesy of National Library of Scotland
Location
Kelso Abbey, Kelso, Scotland
Country
Scotland
Tags
Category
Buildings & Architecture
