With a name like mine I have to dismiss all connections with that book!
If the scaffolding is still up over it then go up and look..amazing.
Look at especially the Appentices Pillar and the masons plans scratched into the walls.
The chapel was founded by William Sinclair, 1st Earl of Caithness. The family testified against the Templars when that Order was put on trial in Edinburgh in 1309 and yet it has the Templar symbols.
Let me tell you a story.
The Legend is the Knights Templar escaped here, with trasure, from the Temple London. The Grand Masters are buried in the inaccessible crypt.
A team of archeologist drilled a hole and lowered a camera..it stuck..bigger hole …it stuck. Dropped a tube through..lowered camera..it stuck. They gave up. One said it was as if a mailed fist grabbed the camera and said “No you don’t”
I asked the curator..he said no more archeologists. We need tourists money for upkeep. If they proved the legend untrue would folk still come?
I would! This place is amazing!

I would recommend a visit here at any time of the year…but I prefer it out of the tourist season, as it is much quieter and not so hectic with photographers and rubber-neckers trying to see something which (IS NOT THERE)!!!!!....After all the hype of ‘Dan Browns’ book ‘The Da Vinci Code’ in which he describes all sort of devilish and magical machinations to draw the reader into his story….poor ‘Rosslyn Chapel gets all of the flak!!!!!!.
There is more to see than this, in this beautiful Chapel the sheer beauty of the stonework and carvings is awsome…..and even though all of the outside is now swathed in steel and wood scaffolding your can climb up to all of the gantries and walk around the upper reaches of the chapel…....I have been coming here for years and never get tired of it and there is always something which I missed the time before. The names may confuse you a little…”Rosslyn, Roslyn, Roslin” are all the same, but the Chapel itself stands in ‘Roslin Village’. Unfortunately since my last visit, they have stopped the practice of being able to take photos of the interior….good or bad ???....I don’t know!!!....but I secretly feel that it is for the better!!!!.......one can now move around quietly and contemplate the beauty much easier, without the tourist types dashing to and fro, and flashing at everything…..excuse the pun!!!!.....in a totaly photographic sense!!!. Go and spend time and see it for yourself and you decide!!!
Rosslyn Chapel, or the Collegiate Chapel of St Matthew as it was to have been, was founded in 1446 by Sir William St Clair, third and last St Clair Prince of Orkney. It is in fact only part of the choir of what was intended to be a larger cruciform building with a tower at its centreAfter Sir William died in 1484, he was buried in the unfinished Chapel and the larger building he had planned was never completed.
Sir William’s son and successor to the Barony of Rosslyn, Sir Oliver St Clair, roofed the choir with its stone vault but did no more to fulfil his father’s original design.
The St Clairs had not yet succumbed to the Reformation and remained Roman Catholics.Oliver St Clair was repeatedly warned to destroy the altars in the Chapel and in 1592 was summoned to appear before the General Assembly and threatened with excommunication if the altars remained standing after August 17th, 1592. From that time the Chapel ceased to be used as a house of prayer and soon fell into disrepair
In 1650, during the Civil War, Cromwell’s troops under General Monk attacked the castle and his horses were stabled in the Chapel. The Chapel remained abandoned until 1736, when St James St Clair glazed the windows for the first time, repaired the roof, and relaid the floor with flagstones. The boundary wall was also built at this time.
When Dorothy Wordsworth visited the Chapel on September 17th, 1807, she remarked: ‘Went to view the inside of the Chapel of Roslyn, which is kept locked up, The architecture within is exquisitely beautiful.’
Further repairs to the Chapel were undertaken at the beginning of the nineteenth century and in 1861 it was agreed by James Alexander, 3rd Earl of Rosslyn, that Sunday services should begin again. In 1880-1, Francis Robert, 4th Earl of Rosslyn, added the apse to serve as a baptistry with an organ loft above. The work is by Andrew Kerr. The Earl also filled the baptistry arch with the handsome oak tracery which you see today, decorated with his crest. Together with the two Chapel doors, this is the only wood used in the construction of the building.
Further work was carried out by Anthony 6th Earl of Rosslyn, in the 1950’s when the crypt roof was repaired and the interior carvings cleaned by hand over a period of several years. He also added the stained glass windows in the baptistry.
This work was in accordance with the thinking of the time but not, unfortunately, with current conservation philosophy. The effect of the magnesium fluoride - a cementitious slurry - was to seal the internal surface of the masonry with an impermeable coating, so that the stone became saturated with water containing soluble pollutants. In addition, the coldness of the wet stone encouraged condensation.
In March 1997, a free-standing steel structure was erected to cover the Chapel. It will enable the stone fabric of the roof vaults to dry outwards, away from the carved interior surfaces. In due course the bituminous felt, asphalt and concrete coverings of the stone roof vaults will be removed to assist this process. Stone and mortar repairs to the external walls, pinnacles, and buttresses, renewal of the rainwater disposal arrangements, repairs to the stained glass, and appropriate repair and conservation of the interior are all required. The coverings over the stone vaulted roofs will be renewed in lead and ways of removing the cementitious slurry are being investigated, in order that this magnificent building can be preserved for future generations to use and admire.
Unfortunately the original plans for Rosslyn have never been found or recorded, so it is open to speculation whether or not the chapel was intended to be built in its current layout. The fact the foundations for a much larger nave were excavated in the nineteenth century and can be seen today suggest grander plans were made for the chapel at its inauguration. The chapel as seen now is therefore what would have been the choir as the larger nave was never built. However as it stands today Rosslyn’s asymmetry is just one of the many unique architectural features.
The height of the chapel is 40 feet 8 inches, breadth 34 feet 8 inches, length 68 feet. There are thirty-two different forms of arch throughout the chapel. The horizontal arch over the aisles, connecting the pillars with the wall, is hollow stone hung with the aid of small iron rods onto a central wooden beam.
Also of interest are the masons’ marks on the individual stones, the use of which was rare even at the time of building. The arched stone roof is finely decorated in squares with five pointed stars, ball flowers, tablet flowers, roses, and a dove with an olive branch.
The year 2000 saw the Trust embark on a second phase of work. Funded jointly by The National Heritage Lottery Fund, The Eastern Scotland European Partnership, Historic Scotland and the Rosslyn Chapel Trust, this phase has a number of elements.

As of April 1st 2008, there was a chang in the Admission Prices slightly. they are changing to:
Adults £7.50, Concessions £6, and Under 16’s in an organised group will be £4 per head. If an under 16 year old visits with an adult then they will be FREE.

The Chapel is open:
1st April - 3oth Sept Mon -Sat 9.30am - 6pm
Sunday 12noon -4.45pm
1st Oct - 31st March Mon - Sat 9.30am - 5pm
Sunday 12noon -4.45pm

The Chapel, also known as St. Matthew’s Collegiate Church is a working church. Rosslyn is a Member of the Episcopalian Church and holds regular services on Sundays. 10.30am Family Eucharist, and 5.00pm Evensong. On Tuesdays and Fridays there are brief Prayer sessions in the Chapel at 12 noon

Rosslyn Chapel Trust
Rosslyn Chapel, Roslin, Midlothian,
Scotland, UK, EH25 9PU.
Tel: +44 (0)131 440 2159
Fax: +44 (0)131 440 1979

Rosslyn Chapel has become an exceptionally popular attraction since the release of Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code. But over and above the hype stirred by this book/movie, a visit to the chapel is an absolute must as the architecture and intricate carvings are none like you have ever seen before.

The history of the chapel is cloaked in secrets relating to voyages of discovery, the Freemasons and the Knights Templar. The detailed carvings and decorations that span the interior of the chapel, hint at the influence and power of the Freemasons during its construction. Additionally, abundant sculptures of flowers, vines and “Green Men” link the chapel back to the importance of nature, creating a unique canvas of expression.

Trying to describe Rosslyn Chapel is like trying to describe the Mona Lisa – it is impossible as no description or review will ever do it justice. The chapel is so rich in history and detail that one needs to see it to believe it.

Informal tours are operated within the chapel every two hours or so. The tours are free and give some useful background information. The chapel is about seven miles outside of Edinburgh and a number 15 Lothian Bus, which you can catch along Princes Street, will take get you there for a pound each way.