LOCATION Roslin, Midlothian, Scotland
NEAREST POPULATION HUB Edinburgh
SECRECY OVERVIEW Site of historic mystery: vaults beneath a medieval church that have become a focus for conspiracy theories.
The elaborate chapel of Rosslyn near Edinburgh has long been linked to rumored activities of the Knights Templar and Freemasons, but the speculation went into overdrive after it featured prominently in Dan Brown’s 2003 novel, The Da Vinci Code. Many stories linked to the chapel have been convincingly debunked, but conspiracy theorists continue to be drawn to an underground chamber sealed for centuries.
Rosslyn Chapel is the common name for the Collegiate Chapel of St. Matthew the Apostle. It sits amid the beautiful and spectacular setting of Roslin Glen in the Esk Valley. The name derives from the Gaelic words for “rock” and “foaming water” (and is not, as some have supposed, etymologically linked to the “Rose Line” made popular by certain bestselling fiction writers).
Rosslyn was founded as a Roman Catholic chapel in 1446, by the Norman-descended William St. Clair, First Earl of Caithness. However, building work was not completed until the 1480s. It was the third chapel in the immediate area, the first being in the nearby Rosslyn Castle and the second having long since been destroyed. After the Scottish reformation in the latter part of the 16th century, the church closed to the public until the 1860s, although in 1650 it was apparently used for stabling horses by Cromwellian troops during the Civil War. In 1861, an extensive restoration began, and Rosslyn came under the jurisdiction of the Scottish Episcopal Church.
What makes Rosslyn so distinctive is its amazing stonemasonry—a mixture of theological subjects and flights of fancy. Perhaps the single most notable feature is the “Prentice Pillar,” supposedly carved by a humble apprentice who was slaughtered by his master in a fit of professional jealousy when he saw how grand it was. The Chapel also contains some 120 carvings of bearded green men, as well as 213 cubes carved around the ceiling and engraved with mysterious symbols. Some modern musicologists believe it to be an obscure musical notation system. What is clear is that the architects and stonemasons were given free rein to express their creativity.
The most enduring rumor concerning the chapel is that Sir William St. Clair was a prominent Freemason and a Knight Templar to boot, and that the church is home to treasures and important documents from one or both organizations. The Knights Templar was an elite religious military order famed for its escapades during the Crusades. It acquired immense wealth over the years and won a reputation among some as the guardian of the Holy Grail. But the fact is, Rosslyn was not built until the middle of the 15th century, a good 130 years after the Knights Templar had been dissolved at the command of the papacy, and 200 years before the first recorded evidence of the Freemasons.
However, the myth that has perhaps attracted more attention to Rosslyn than any other in recent times is that the Chapel is the resting place of the Holy Grail itself, a theory propounded in The Da Vinci Code. Most historians, though, believe there is little evidence to back up such an assertion (and especially some of the wilder claims as to what actually constitutes the mysterious “Grail” itself). Given that most experts now disregard the Chapel’s Knights Templar links, it is perhaps wisest to regard the whole story as fictional.
ANOTHER DIMENSION This computer rendering shows Rosslyn Chapel’s structure in 3-D. Researchers have used detailed laser scanning in a bid to establish if there are hidden treasures lying beneath the church floor. So far they have found scant evidence of Holy Grails or entombed Knights Templar but the quest continues.
Nonetheless, the most avid conspiracy theorists hold that the evidence for even their most outrageous claims lies buried by the St. Clair family in secret vaults not examined for centuries (and, of course, a “secret vault” at Rosslyn has a vital role in the Da Vinci Code denouement). Indeed, there are chambers deep beneath the church that have long been unopened and non-invasive seismic surveys carried out in the 1980s suggested the presence of metal objects within them. A proposed underground excavation of recent times was halted when the excavation team encountered an impassable wall.
The fact that the Chapel’s owners have refused requests to open the vaults for fear of undermining the Chapel’s medieval foundations is merely grist to the mill for those convinced that they have something to hide. The vaults’ most likely contents are the bodies of several generations of the St. Clair family, many of whom were reputed to be buried in full armor until the practice stopped in the early 18th century. A little macabre, perhaps, but not indicative of any historical conspiracy. However, until such a time as the St. Clair-controlled Rosslyn Chapel Trust decides to open the vaults up to public inspection, the market in Rosslyn conspiracies is likely to remain bullish.
1 UNFINISHED BEAUTY Amazingly, the spectacular Chapel forms only a small part of William St. Clair’s ambitious original plan for a much larger, cruciform church.
2 GREEN MAN More than 100 bizarre faces are scattered around the Chapel, surrounded by intricately carved greenery that often emerges from their mouths. These “Green Men” are thought to be ancient pagan fertility symbols, and may be placed to represent the progression of a year from the east to the west end.