The Secrets of Rosslyn Chapel - A treasure in stone

Angel playing the bagpipes


There are many carvings of angels with musical instruments
in The Lady Chapel.

They are playing to celebrate Christ’s birth with music.

This angel is holding a set of bagpipes but this instrument
only began to appear in Scotland from the mid-1400s onwards.

And so this carving could be one of the earliest depictions of the instrument.

http://learning.rosslynchapel.org.uk/articles/view/8/

 

Musical cubes


These carved cubes stick out from the ribs of the arches in The Lady Chapel.

Each one is carved with unique symbols made up of patterns of lines and dots.

For years, experts have puzzled over these patterns.

Some think they represent a secret code,
while others think the patterns are musical notes.

Musicians have created the ‘Rosslyn Motet’,
a tune which could be the answer to the ‘secret code’ locked in these cubes.

http://learning.rosslynchapel.org.uk/articles/view/7/

 

Green man


There are over 100 'Green Man' carvings in Rosslyn Chapel
and this is perhaps one of the finest examples.

The Green Man is historically a pagan figure,
thought to represent the power of nature,
its continuing cycle of growth and its fertility.

The vines sprouting from the mouth could be to suggest the connection
between nature and the human race.

http://learning.rosslynchapel.org.uk/articles/view/9/

 

The Apprentice Pillar


This pillar provides one of the most dramatic stories locked into the history
of Rosslyn’s carvings.

It is said that an apprentice mason carved the pillar in his master’s absence.

The master mason had gone to research the original pillar on which this was
to be based, before attempting his masterpiece.

But when he returned to see that his young apprentice had already carved
what he himself had not managed to, he flew into a jealous rage
and struck the apprentice over the head, killing him outright.

The faces of the mason, the apprentice, and his grieving mother are carved
into the corners of the Chapel opposite the pillar.

But the Apprentice Pillar is also significant because of the eight carved dragons winding around its base.

In Scandinavian mythology eight dragons live at the roots of the Yggdrasil tree,
an ash tree which bound together heaven, earth and hell with its branches.

Perhaps this pillar shows the St Clair family’s Norse roots.

http://learning.rosslynchapel.org.uk/articles/view/2/

 

A Walk round the chapel with our Stone Conservator



How would you describe the job of stone conservator?

It’s a cross between a stonemason and archaeologist.
A stonemason is trained to expertly cut out any decayed stone
and recarve an exact replacement.
Conservators make practical repairs.
A stone conservation company like mine has to do both.
The east window is a good example of that.

Our task is to deal with the “friable carved detail” ( friable means decayed).

Part of the tracery was too far gone and so we have had to carve
a replacement piece.

Sitting here outside the chapel in the sunlight,
I see that there are several different colours of stone used in its construction. What can you tell me about this?

The sandstone from which the Chapel is built probably came from Roslin Glen.
We can see the various colours of stone in the rock formations of the glen.
The stone would have been quarried out. Perhaps one day we will find an indentation that looks rather like a chapel shaped jelly mould
and we will have found the quarry!

All the sandstone is of the same origin.

The colours come from the deposits within each stone.

For example, the red sandstone contains iron oxide, while the yellow has calcium based deposits.

The stonemasons would have chosen their stone carefully.

The red sandstone was most prized, because it was easy to carve,
and they could create the most intricate detail which would look clear and crisp.

Sadly, this sandstone is also the most vulnerable to decay,
and has not survived as well as the other sandstone colours.

Who designed and built the chapel?

We do not know much at all about who actually designed the building.
It is popularly believed that Sir William St Clair was the designer.
If this were true, it might explain some interesting mistakes in the structure – parts that don’t align properly, for example.

It’s said that Sir William intended to build a much larger chapel.
Can we tell, just by looking at the building?

If you look at the baptistry, then look along to the left.
You can see which part of the wall was intended to be external.
There is a string course which is intended to protect the walls
from rain coming off the roof. But closer to the Baptistry,
there is no moulding, and you can see the original door
which has been blocked up.

Sir William’s son Oliver simply finished off what was there,
so that the building could operate as a collegiate church.

Some people say that the chapel is out of proportion
– the buttresses are too large and the flying buttresses too small.
What do you think?

There is what is known as a golden ratio.
(In mathematics and the arts, two quantities are in the golden ratio
when the ratio of the sum of the quantities is equal to the ratio
of the larger quantity to the smaller quantity) .

If you apply that rule, all the buttresses are in proportion.

We have to remember that the building we can see is one third of the size
of the building that had been planned.

So it may be that the buttresses look a bit out of proportion.

In reality, they are not.

The flying buttresses are thin, and not intended to take the weight of the roof.

Some historians thought that the building was not designed by an architect, because it does not conform to traditional church design.
They claim that the design seems to use techniques more commonly known in domestic or castle design, such as large lintels
and the barrel vault. What do you think?

We tend to believe that the Chapel did have an experienced
and qualified designer.

The barrel vault is not a crude construction.

But, like the collegiate church it became, we think that the creation
of the chapel was a collegiate effort.

There would have been many stonemasons in training.

The chapel you see took 40 years, so many young boys would have started out working on the building under the tutelage of more experienced craftsmen.

So it would not be unexpected to see some examples of work
which did not quite go to plan.

The internal barrel vault responds to the 5 bays inside
and the 5 buttresses outside.

There is clear evidence of design here.

Also, Rosslyn is an example of Scottish craftsmen working
to their own imaginative designs, with evidence of influence
from such buildings as Glasgow Cathedral.

Its not at all like the design of English churches.

That is why some historians more familiar with English Gothic
tend to think that the design was not the work of a craftsman.

Do you think it is true that the Chapel design
was based on French Church building of the time?

There is certainly evidence of international references in the stone carving,
not just French.

Some historians thought that the French Mason responsible for Melrose Abbey
was involved, but the dates just do not match
– he is unlikely to have been alive by 1446.

Scotland had many international influences, not just French.

Of course, not far from here is the area known as Little France
– Mary Queen of Scots came with her entourage,
and that in itself was a huge influence on Scotland.

You had quite a bit of work to do on the East Window.
The tracery is not original.
Would there have been tracery there originally?

Some historians have said that there was none originally,
but it is a very large space and would have been cold and dangerous
without window treatment.

In addition, there are some photographs of earlier restorations
which show evidence of original tracery.

What do you think about the carvings of Maize and Indian corn?
Not everyone thinks they are true representations of plants
unknown in Scotland at the time of building.

As stone conservators, we don’t take a view on all the theories
surrounding the chapel.

What we do is have awareness of the form as carved.

So, what can we say about the Maize and Aloe Vera?

Some carvings stand out.

The builders have taken very great care to ensure that they are “ in your face” – that you cannot fail to notice them.

These carvings will have had particular significance.

The maize and aloe vera are such carvings.

The builders intended us to notice these particular carvings.

They are not part of the run of the mill foliage carving in the chapel,
so could it be that they represent an important event in St Clair History,
a voyage to the New World, perhaps?

This would be in keeping with traditions of stone carving at the time.

The conservation process continues.
What are you doing at present?

For the next year or so, the scaffolding will cover one bay at a time,
and the conservators will work from top to bottom.

For example, each pinnacle will be carefully removed and brought down to the conservation pavilion in the grounds. Its condition will be carefully recorded.

Conservation work will be carried out, the pinnacle will be strengthened and then replaced. The finished work will then be carefully recorded. We will therefore have a detailed illustrated record of the conservation work which has been undertaken.

What are we learning during this process?

One of the things we are learning is just how many intricate carvings have been created that were never visible to people on the ground.

For example, while working on a pinnacle, Nic could see an intricate pair
of carved heads facing into the roof
– they would never be visible yet they were carved in the most wonderful detail.

http://learning.rosslynchapel.org.uk/articles/view/36/#prettyPhoto

 

Rosslyn Chapel

A few miles south of Edinburgh, in Midlothian, is Rosslyn Chapel,
the 15th century Collegiate Church of St Matthew.

The chapel is unique.

There are thousands of medieval stone carvings: dragons, green men, unicorns, gargoyles, lions and griffons - even an elephant, a camel and a monkey.

There are fabulous creatures and grotesques from medieval bestiaries.

Rosslyn Chapel gives us a chance to discover what people believed 500 years ago.

There is a medieval Mouth of Hell, and a depiction of the Seven Deadly Sins, angels and devils, saints and sinners, knights and minstrels, kings and queens,
and a heavenly host of musicians.

Pillars and arches were filled with leaves, vines, fruit and flowers.

The stone ceiling includes a field of stars, the sun, and a crescent moon.

The chapel was built for William Sinclair, third Earl of Orkney, Earl of Caithness and Baron of Roslin.

He was the Scottish ambassador to France and was married to Elisabeth Douglas, daughter of the Duke of Touraine.

They were devout Catholics who wanted to build a chapel where they could worship and where they would finally be buried and spend eternity until Judgement Day.

The chapel was attacked by a Protestant mob during the Scottish Reformation.

Eventually it fell to ruin. Robert Burns, Sir Walter Scott, James Boswell, Dr Samuel Johnson, William Wordsworth and his sister Dorothy, and Queen Victoria all visited the ruins of Rosslyn Chapel.

http://www.educationscotland.gov.uk/scotlandshistory/medievallife/rosslynchapel/index.asp

 

The Mouth of Hell



The Mouth of Hell was a terrifying medieval image of a great beast,
whose enormous open jaws were the gateway into Hell.

It first appeared in Anglo-Saxon times and remained popular right
through the Middle Ages and into the Renaissance.

It was fairly common for theatrical performances to feature a stage prop
in the shape of a Mouth of Hell, to scare audiences.

Performers dressed in leather devil costumes, and fire would burst from
the Hell Mouth to drag sinners down into the pit.

In Rosslyn Chapel, south of Edinburgh, there is a 15th-century Mouth of Hell
with a devil that carries a carving of fireworks bursting from his pitchfork.

The Mouth of Hell appeared in church paintings and carvings as a warning to people to live without sin.

It is not clear where the image came from originally, but some cite the Old Testament Book of Numbers (16: 28-33)

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http://www.educationscotland.gov.uk/scotlandshistory/medievallife/mouthofhell/index.asp