A lot of rubbish has been written about Rosslyn Chapel. It’s been used in some fictional works (most famously The Da Vinci Code), but long before that, it was being claimed that every esoteric secret in the Universe was housed there and that the whole building was a stargate allowing transfer to other realms and that it was modelled directly on the Temple of Solomon. The books advancing these claims are still being produced, so it’s nice when a book comes along, once in a while, that decides the history of the building is fascinating enough without embellishments plucked from the mind of the author.
Rosslyn Chapel is a fantastic monument, incomplete due to the death of its builder, Sir William St Clair, and his son’s reluctance to pour more of the family fortune into what he saw as a folly.
The church was originally going to be the Collegiate Church of St Matthew. It would have been massive, a testament to the majesty of William St Clair. Oops, sorry – that should be “a testament to the glory of God”, as that must have been why St Clair was building it…
To understand the real reasons for its construction, we have first to understand the times and the relationships of the major players.
The first part of this current work looks at the rise of the St Clair family, and the many honours and lands that were heaped upon them. Included is the story of a wager one St Clair made to win huge tracts of land. He bet his head that his hounds could catch a white stag the king had failed to kill in a number of hunts. They caught the stag and he got the lands.
Much of the history of the family and the lands can be traced to the work of the 17th-century ecclesiastical scholar Father Richard Augustine Hay. Much has been said over the years about the veracity of Father Hay’s historical facts; but Turnbull traces these doubts to a 19th-century work’s introduction where, basically, someone was trying to big themselves up by putting Father Hay down. However, no one can argue with the usefulness of Father Hay’s transcripts of many documents that are now missing.
After setting the historical scene, Turnbull discusses the building of Rosslyn Chapel and the damage it suffered during religious strife before moving on to, perhaps, the greater damage it suffered during the 19th century, when it was restored.
Even at the time, these restorations were not popular, but the Earl of Rosslyn insisted they would be carried out his way. The architect was very keen on a restoration based on his own fancy. As a result, many of the original carvings were removed and replaced with copies and reimaginings. To add insult to injury, a cement wash was added to the carvings in the 1950s, robbing them of detail, trapping moisture and almost ensuring their eventual destruction. Fortunately, extensive restoration works are now taking place, and an investigation is being carried out on how best to repair the previous damage.
The next chapter is a carving-by-carving tour, which will be handy for those who are about to visit the chapel. You may disagree (as I do) with some of Turnbull’s interpretations of the carvings. A chapter is devoted to debunking many of the popular myths that have grown up around, for instance, the embalmed head of Christ, Templars, Masons etc. To be honest, a whole book and more would be needed to cover these issues, so this merely serves as a brief overview.
The final sections of the book look at how Rosslyn fits in with the world today and how areas around the chapel have fared over the years.
All told, this is an accomplished book, dense with facts. Turnbull’s passion and love for the building come through most when he is describing a tour through the chapel. The book is profusely illustrated, though some of the modern pictures are poor quality, particularly when compared to the pioneering work of David Octavius Hill and Robert Adamson which is also included.
But that’s a small niggle about what is otherwise an excellent book.
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