Independence?
A year today, on September 18th 2014, the Scots will vote on the question;
"Should Scotland be an independent country?"
All over Scotland this is being debated while there are claims and counterclaims on the benefits of becoming independent and leaving the United Kingdom.
The original Declaration of Independence in Scotland was drawn up at Newbattle Abbey, Dalkeith in March 1320 where over 50 of the Scottish nobility met and discussed Scotland’s status as an independent and sovereign state. The final text and seals were then sent to King Robert I’s chancery at Arbroath where it was written up the following month as
The Declaration of Arbroath and is regarded as the most famous document in Scotland’s history and contributed to the founding of the Scottish nation.
‘It is in truth not for glory, nor riches, nor honours that we are fighting, but for freedom -for that alone, which no honest man gives up but with life itself.’
Perhaps it should really have been called The Declaration of Newbattle Abbey
This photo shows part of the Abbey remains where nearly 700 years ago the original document was drawn up in 1320. Newbattle Abbey was founded in 1140 as a Cistercian monastery with a house later built in the 16th Century incorporating some of the remains and it now forms part of an adult residential college.
(In large) The sundial featured in July can be seen in the right of the photo while the carved stone is hidden just behind the stones in the foreground.
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