HOLYROOD ABBEY AND PALACE

Dominion, Volume 30, Issue 255, 24 July 1937, Page 7 (Supplement)

HOLYROOD ABBEY AND PALACE

•Holyrood,” by Charles A. Malcolm (London: Duckworth). A new volume in the Historical Buildings Series gives the romance of Holyrood Abbey and Palace—the first founded and built by King David, at the same time as he founded Edinburgh by the gift of immense lands to the Canons of the Order of St. Augustine; the second planned by James IV, King of Scots for the young bride he was to wed in 1503. In the building and decoration of Holyrood Abbey, states the author, the artisans .were kept busy for fifty years; all has since disappeared except the roofless nave of the Abbey Church, the magnificent Norman doorways, one tower, the north aisle, and the covered south aisle with triforium and the royal vault. Most of the section on the abbey consists of a word portrait of building and' grounds as they were, with happy pictures of the life, both sequestered and turbulent, that its inmates lived. Even more interesting is the story of the Palace, the home of the Queen who lost crown and life; her exits and entrances until the final summons; the coming of Riccio and the marriage with Darnley, and his betrayal. All are so familiarly wrapped up with Holyrood that its subsequent history is paid! little attention; but its occupation by James VI, Charles and Victoria ara full of romantic x