Overview
Wander around this remarkably complete medieval ruin by the River Tweed to grasp the appeal of monastic life. You can still see plaster and paintwork inside the chapter house dating from when it was built.
Other fine examples of ecclesiastic architecture and masonry also remain – despite three fires and four attacks all but destroying the abbey buildings.
What to see and do
- Admire the graceful transepts - some of the best Gothic church architecture in Scotland
- Step inside the cloister and its chapter house, the latter complete with precious fragments of painted wall plaster
- Visit the burial places of Sir Walter Scott and Field-Marshal Earl Haig (north transept) and the Earl of Buchan (sacristy)
- Feel the sense of privileged enclosure even in the grounds, laid out by the Earl of Buchan in the 1700s
- Visit the Dryburgh yew, one of Scotland's oldest trees
- Take our fun fact-finding quiz
