St Mary’s Abbey, Melrose is a partly ruined monastery of the Cistercian orderiin Melrose It was founded in 1136 by Cistercian monks on the request of King David I Scotland and was the chief house of that order in the country until the Reformation.
The abbey is known for its many carved decorative details, including likenesses of saints, dragons, gargoyles and plants. On one of the abbey’s stairways is an inscription by John Morow, a master mason, which says, Be halde to ye hende (“Keep in mind, the end, your salvation”). This has become the motto of the town of Melrose.