Scotland’s Mysterious Rosslyn Chapel

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Not everything in the chapel is so old. The baptistery, at the west end, dates from 1880-81, and its stained glass windows are even newer. One shows a World War II airman. It’s a memorial to the Honorable Peter St. Clair Erskine, who died in 1939, and to Wing Cmdr. Sir John Millbanke, Erskine’s stepfather, who died of his war wounds in 1947. The window, dating from 1950, makes one wonder what the carvers from the 15th century, obsessed as they were with winged beings, would have thought of the idea of men in flying machines. The other window depicts St. Francis of Assisi and was completed in 1970. It is in memory of the earl of Rosslyn’s grandmother, who was from Australia–which would explain the kangaroo.

After spending a couple of hours inside the chapel, I struck out down a trail to find Rosslyn Castle. It was a pleasant September afternoon, and I had the overgrown trail to myself. After scrambling over a wall, I spied the top of battlements above the trees. I then followed a gravel road, which curved over a stone bridge that offered dizzying views down to the ground. The castle’s ruined walls stood at the end of the bridge.

Even in ruins the castle commanded respect. Construction started in 1304 on this bluff high above the River Esk. When Cromwell and Monck attacked the castle in 1650, the fact that Cromwell did not destroy it is yet another Rosslyn mystery. Catholic chapels were natural targets for Cromwell and his Roundheads–so why is it that they left Rosslyn relatively unscathed?

Was he a Freemason, was he a Knight Templar? asked Beattie. On the other hand, very probably I think, Oliver Cromwell was a cultured gentleman. He came in and maybe he appreciated what he saw and said, ‘OK, I don’t agree with it, but it’s too nice to destroy. So let’s leave it.’

When I left Rosslyn I remained skeptical about the mysteries and legends that hang about the building, but I was glad to have seen it. If the stories are true, Rosslyn Chapel is a fitting place for their secrets. If they’re not, the chapel’s beautiful carvings and rich, documented history still make it unique. The legends merely provide an added attraction, a tantalizing glimpse of what might be. It’s the baggage that has grown up around Rosslyn, said Stuart Beattie, and therefore whether or not it’s 100 percent true doesn’t, perhaps, entirely matter.

This article was written by Tom Huntington and originally appeared in the January 2005 issue of British Heritage.

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