History Vibes in Paisley Abbey

On Monday (yesterday, that is) my 'Must-see Attractions around Glasgow' list was shortened by one item. I woke up early (?! - well 9:30am is early for me) to check out Paisley Abbey, about 10km outside Glasgow, easily accessed by bus or train.
Why go to Paisley Abbey? I had five reasons:

- I had to find a good reason not to sleep until 12:30pm.
- Lonely Planet had recommended it.
- The Abbey is connected to the 14th Century struggle for independence which I am crazy about: Edward I 'the Longshanks' set the Abbey on fire in 1307 because its High Steward (ie. the person in charge of the Abbey) had supported Scottish independence. This drove Edward I quite mad.
- It is assumed that William Wallace was educated at the Abbey since he was born in Renfrewshire, not far from the Abbey.
- Buried in the Abbey are for instance Robert the Bruce's daughter Marjory Bruce, Robert II's wives and Robert III. Marjory Bruce is an ancestor of Queen Elisabeth.

So, many many reasons to get up and hop on a train.
And it was well worth a visit. Not much survives of the Abbey from the period before the 14th Century because it was basically burned to ground by Edward I. A friendly guide told me (without even asking) that only the main entrance dates back to the 13th Century. So, I wasn't inside the same walls as Wallace during his schooldays, but used the same doorway at least:


A 13th-Century doorway. William Wallace has walked through that. So have I.

The Abbey was completely restored during the 14th Century after Edward I's evil deeds, but oh, all in vain, because another disastrous fire came in 1498. The Abbey was restored again, but then the tower collapsed about 50 years later, leaving the Abbey open to the sky for 350 years. Only recently has the Abbey been restored back to its former glory.

Oh, nice bits of history.

Another bit of history tells us that Robert the Bruce's grandson, later Robert II and Queen Elisabeth's ancestor, was born in the Abbey in 1326. The story goes like this: one day Robert the Bruce's daughter, Marjory, was riding her horse near the Abbey. She got in an accident, was taken in the Abbey, and unfortunately died of her wounds. The baby was saved however through Caesarian operation, long before any form of anaesthasia was in use. Gruesome. Marjory Bruce's tomb lies inside the Abbey:


Here lies Marjory Bruce.


There was only one drawback to my visit. Not until inside the Abbey I recalled that my digicam had run out of battery as early as Saturday. Absent-minded as I am, I didn't remember to check it before leaving home, so there I was, surrounded by this awesome play of light and shadow, lacking a decent camera. Luckily, my mobile phone came in for consolation, so at least I have some pictures from the place. Try not to be blinded by the suberb quality of the shots in this post.


A view of the choir.


The Wallace Memorial Window and a Celtic Cross from the 8th Century.


An amazing stained-glass window.

Besides that, nothing much worth mentioning has happened since Saturday. Studying, eating, sleeping. This far I've finished a novel and a play, both for the exam and both about the Highland Clearances. Pretty thought-provoking! During a period of 100 years (about 1750-1850) the Highland people were driven away from their homes to the coast or overseas colonies to make way for sheep, because sheep were more profitable than people to the landowners. This is why there are more descendants of the original Highlanders in Canada, the US, Australia and New Zealand than in Scotland itself.
The novel explored the Clearances through the eyes of an old woman. The play took the subject even further by describing how the people of the Highlands have been exploited throughout history: first sheep, then stag hunting, then tourism, then oil boom, all the while oppressing the people living there to the profit or entertainment of the ruling class or multi-national corporations... Learnt a lot about history just by reading two short books, both of which even turned out to be quite enjoyable in the end. I love literature exams.