Scotland - Rosslyn Chapel

 June 29, 2024

Sue ready to tour the beautiful & enigmatic Rosslyn Chapel

Looking for more attractions near our base camp in Gorebridge, I saw that just a few miles away is Rosslyn Chapel. I think to myself, I've heard of this place. I am intrigued. I encountered Rosslyn Chapel on TV, back when my cable subscription carried the History Channel. Yes, that History Channel.

I must admit for several years I was an avid follower of some History Channel programming, including The Curse of Oak Island [about the myth of buried treasures and the mystery & treasure hunting brothers Rick and Marty who were digging on Oak Island off the coast of Nova Scotia, looking for clues as to who and when the mystery treasure was buried]. Also, there was once running on the History Channel a show, America Unearthed, featuring forensic geologist Scott Wolter exploring mysterious structures found in North America and proposing their possible origin as being remnants from unknown cultures or even European or Old World people sailing to North American long before Columbus. Scott Wolter on his show was keen on looking for links to the Knights Templar in North America and beyond.

Both of these History Channel shows had episodes linking Rosslyn Chapel with the secretive and powerful medieval brotherhood, the Knights Templar. The Knights Templar are believed by some to have carried sacred treasures obtained from the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem during the Crusades. Some also think that the Knights Templar then hid these treasures in North America for safe keeping. One of the Earls from the Sinclair family that built Rosslyn Chapel is asserted to have been a powerful member of the Knights Templar and to have sailed to 'the Western Lands [North America] almost 100 years before Columbus. The purpose of this Earl's voyage was to deposit relics such as the Holy Grail, the Ark of the Covenant and the Skull of John the Baptist away from scurrilous forces subject to desecrate these relics, currently held for safe keeping in hands of the Knights Templar. At least that is the legend broadcast on the History Channel. 

And all of this mystery and intrigue has been linked to Rosslyn Chapel, here in our very Gorebridge neighborhood! Exciting!

Rosslyn Chapel entrance filled with symbolism

We enjoyed a lovely, winding trip through the Scottish countryside on our way to Rosslyn; getting lost a bit, though not intentionally, but also not minding having to redirect our route through glen and over verdant hill until we were where we wanted to be.

Mark referees boxing hares in Rosslyn green

Entrance into Rosslyn Chapel is limited to a finite number every hour and a half or so, thus keeping the visiting throngs to a manageable level. We purchased our tickets and were told to wait outside the gate for another hour. So, we wandered about town - the same town that has been wandered about in the past by the likes of the poets Robert Burns, Wordsworth and other personages of royal and earned fame, who have over the years stayed in the small Rosslyn Inn next to the chapel. Burns having scratched a poem of thanks to the innkeeper in a silver platter.

Poets visiting Rosslyn Glen thought it to be unrivaled in beauty in Scotland's landscape

Queen Victoria once also visited Rosslyn Chapel and decreed it to be a treasure and a shame that it had fallen into such disrepair, what with no roof and the intricately carved stone interior now covered in moss and overrun by forest botany. Enough said, by a decree from Her Royal Highness, the chapel was then set for efforts of restoration and repair over the coming year. The big boost to its restoration effort came from Hollywood and the star power of Tom Hanks. Rosslyn Chapel was featured in the movie based on Dan Brown's book, The Davinci Code. The studio contributed £20 million to restore the chapel. The 'Tom Hanks' miracle. 

The stewards of Rosslyn Chapel request that no photos be taken of its spectacular interior. For any readers desiring to get a peek inside this special place, I suggest doing a Google search of Rosslyn Chapel.

Once we were inside Rosslyn Chapel, we fell in with a young woman who was pointing out some of the enigmatic carvings and speaking softly, and somewhat authoritatively on the mysteries before us inside Rosslyn Chapel. 

We were guided to the front of the chapel where an ornately carved stone column stood among other, yet different columns. The most ornate column is known as the 'Apprentice Pillar'. 

Legend tells of the master mason who was building the chapel went on a journey to seek inspiration from the works of other masons work to be found in continental Europe. In the absence of the master mason, his apprentice had a dream of a beautiful pillar placed in the chapel, and told this dream to Prince Henry who had commissioned Rosslyn Chapel. 

The young apprentice was given permission by the Prince to carve his dream pillar and place it in the front of the chapel. The apprentice worked hard, full of inspiration and masterfully completed his pillar project. 

The master mason returned from his long trip, saw that a beautiful column was already in place of where he had expected to carve his masterpiece. His apprentice proudly claimed the work on which his master gazed. At this, the master mason flew into a jealous rage, taking the mason's mallet from his apprentice's hand and striking him in the head. The young, promising apprentice fell dead to the chapel floor.

The jealous master mason was hanged for his crime. And the fellow apprentice masons carved the master's head in stone and placed it in a position so he will have his gaze fixed on the work of his apprentice for all of eternity. The dead apprentice also had his likeness carved and place opposite the head of his master and his slayer in memorial, also, the head of the young apprentice's grieving mother was set near the likeness of her son.

Gargoyle drain spout

Now, in hindsight, I have my doubts that the young woman speaking about the mysteries and legends of Rosslyn chapel was an official tour guide, but she seemed to be worth listening to. It was then that I realized that she was being coached to some degree in her presentation by a familiar face; standing among our group was Scott Wolter, host of America Unearthed series that aired on the History Channel. 

I was told by our adjunct, impromptu tour guide that some recent investigators had fed a small camera under the floor to the burial chamber, which for centuries, the deceased crusading knights from the Sinclair family, rumored by Sir Walter Scott (among others) to be laid to rest in the subfloor crypt in full armor. The camera investigation revealed that those laid to rest below were now covered in sand and not visible. 

I spoke to Scott Wolter as I stood next to him in the crypt below Rosslyn Chapel. I wondered if the sand covering these noble knights might be imported from The Holy Land. He told me, that as a forensic geologist, if he had a sample, he could indeed determine the likely origin of the sand. I knew this.

Scott Wolter, then showed us an enigmatic etching on the crypt wall and suggested that one interpretation of this diagram could be interpreted as a map to Jerusalem, explaining that the four-sided parallelograms could be used as latitude markers for both Midlothian Scotland and the other for the latitude of Jerusalem. Interesting.

Mysteries abound. 

Sue tries to interpret the weathered remains of a figure 
on Rosslyn Chapels exterior.

We finished the our day in Rosslyn Chapel suitably impressed. Even if much of  the enigma was History Channel hype, no doubt it was a most beautiful and impressive building. But I do confess, I love a good mystery or two. I would go back again.