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Old and New Edinburgh Vol. III

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44 OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. Holyrood of it having perhaps been reduced to ruins before the view was taken. During the levelling of the ground around the palace, and digging a foundation for the substantial rai!ing with which it was recently enclosed, the workmen came upon the the present rampart wall, when near the same site two stone coffins of the twelfth century, now in the nave, were found. Each is six feet four inches. in length, inside measurement. In the abbey was preserved, enshrined in silver,. CROFT-AN-RIGH HOUSE. zealous veneration in the great cathedral near the The texture of this remarkable cross was said to have been of such a nature that no mortal artificer could tell whether it was of wood, horn, OG , field. of other early buildings [perhaps the abbey house?], and from their being in the direct line of the building it is not improbable that a Lady chapel or other addition to the abbey church may have stood to the east of the choir. . . . A curious relic of the ancient tenants of the monastery was found by the vorkmen, consisting of a skull, which had no doubt formed the solitary companion of one of the monks. It had a hole in the top of the cranium, which served, most probably, for securing a crucifix, and over the brow ? was traced in antique characters, Memento mori. This solitary relic of the furniture of the abbey was procured by the late Sir Patrick Walker, and is still in possession of his family.?
Volume 3 Page 44
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HOLLYROOD PALACE AND ABBEY.
Volume 3 Page 45
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