Celebrating Declaration Day at Arbroath Abbey

"As long as a hundred of us remain alive, never will we on any conditions be subjected to the lordship of the English. It is in truth not for glory, nor riches, nor honours that we are fighting, but for freedom alone, which no honest man gives up but with life itself".

-The Declaration of Arbroath, 6 April 1320

Arbroath Abbey was once the grandest of all medieval abbeys in Scotland. It held crucial roles in both religious and political matters with one of the most important documents in Scottish history having been written there- The Declaration of Arbroath. In fact, every year on the 6th of April, Declaration Day is celebrated at Arbroath Abbey. Therefore, we thought it only fitting that we, along with our amazing Golden Retriever explorers, Walter and Arthur, take you on a journey to virtually visit this monastic wonder to celebrate Declaration Day at Arbroath Abbey!

The complex at Arbroath Abbey is quite large as it includes a visitor centre in addition to the Abbey ruins. Let’s start our exploration inside so we can provide a bit of important historical context. After that, Walter and Arthur will continue our exploration outside and guide you around the Abbey ruins.

Arbroath Abbey Visitor Centre

Arbroath Abbey is under the care of Historic Environment Scotland, and their visitor centre has a wealth of information including fascinating exhibitions that discuss its history. While they provide a much more detailed history throughout the site, we’ll just give a brief overview in this post. That's why we highly recommend that you visit them in person if you are in the area (you can check out their website after reading this post to get the most up to date information).

Tironensian monks oversaw Arbroath Abbey which was founded in 1178 by King William I. He was the grandson of David I who had first brought Tironensian monks to Scotland and founded Kelso Abbey for them in 1128.

While Arbroath Abbey was a monastery and important religious centre, it also was a seat of political power as well as a highly profitable business. As with most abbeys, they held large estates of land which allowed them to collect rent, tithes, and taxes in various forms.

However, Arbroath Abbey is most famous for its connection to “the most important letter in all of Scottish history”. In 1320, King Robert the Bruce had a letter drawn up by Abbot Bernard of Arbroath (who was Chancellor of Scotland and one of Bruce’s closest advisors) to be sent from his barons to Pope John XXII in Avignon. The document is now known as “the most eloquent statement of a nation’s right to freedom produced anywhere in medieval Europe”. In it, three main requests were made:

-“Recognition of Scotland as an Independent nation, free from English interference.

-“Recognition of Bruce as Scotland’s rightful king.”

-“Pressure on Edward II to make peace, failing which the Pope would be held responsible.”

The letter was signed the 6th of April 1320. Historic Scotland discusses how the “document was written on parchment (cured lamb’s skin) with narrow slits cut at the bottom, allowing the barons to add their own seals to endorse the document. A ribbon could be fed through each slit and fixed with a wax seal. Each baron owned a unique seal matric, a stamp that be used to imprint his personal mark into melted sealing wax”.

When the letter was written, a copy was made (including the seals from the barons which they added to both versions)- this is what became known as the Declaration of Arbroath- and it is now held in the National Records of Scotland. Due to its fragile state, it rarely goes on display to the public. We were fortunate to see it when it was on exhibition at the National Museum of Scotland in June 2023. However, understandably, pictures were not allowed.

Fortunately, there is a copy on display at the visitor centre at Arbroath Abbey. It is a facsimile completed in 2020 by the Czech conservator, David Frank. Frank is a specialist in creating copies of medieval documents. “Every detail was considered and replicated, using materials and techniques that would have been familiar to the monks who worked in the abbey 700 years ago”.

Now that we’ve covered some of its history, let’s head outside to meet up with Walter and Arthur.

Arbroath Abbey Ruins

Please note that the pictures from this post are from last summer when Arthur was still just a wee pup. He had such a fun time setting out on this ‘explore and discover’ mission with his older brother. It was adorable to see how he would watch Walter carefully and sometimes try to copy him.

Unfortunately, the interior sections of the Abbey ruins were not accessible due to safety issues surrounding ongoing masonry inspections (which is why you can see so much scaffolding in many of our pictures). Nevertheless, we still had a great time walking around the ruins. It’s difficult to truly appreciate the scope and size of Arbroath Abbey since so little remains of the monastery and its buildings. However, the picture below from an Historic Scotland display board gives us a nice overview as well as helps us to envision it and its former grandeur.

It's always such an interesting dichotomy whenever we see ancient ruins juxtaposed with modern life. Such is the case as you walk along a modern paved road as you approach the Gatehouse. This is the impressive main entrance to the Abbey complex.

In the photo below, you can see the Gatehouse to the right and on its left is the Guesthouse. This was an accommodation for visitors to the abbey.

Pictured below is the Western Gable of the Abbey Church. This entrance would only have been used on special occasions.  

We have now entered what would have been the Nave of the Abbey Church. Next to the current ruins is a picture of a Historic Scotland rendering of what it would have looked like in its glory days.

Walter and Arthur took turns posing in front of the South Transept (the south half of the ‘cross-bar’ of the cross-shaped church).

While it’s not currently accessible due to scaffolding, here is the best picture we could get of the Presbytery. Located in the east end, this was the holiest part of the Church as it was where Mass was celebrated at the high altar.

Moving outside of the Abbey Church, we now make our way to the cloister area. Historic Scotland highlights how “the main abbey buildings were built around a cloister, with a square garden at its centre, surrounded on four sides by a covered walkway". Walter and Arthur are posing around the Cloister and Little Cloister area of the grounds.

Well, that’s going to do it for our visit to Arbroath Abbey. We hope you have enjoyed the chance to celebrate our Declaration Day virtually! If you’ve enjoyed having Walter and Arthur guide you around, be sure to subscribe (by clicking on the button below) to our blog as they often go on our adventures all around Scotland. Also, if you happen to be in our capital city, be sure to check out our historic walking tours of Edinburgh. Sami (our human tour guide) and Walter would love to show you around!

Until next time- Explore & Discover!

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