BFG316
Active member
OK, here goes my first report so be gentle with me.
A Brief History:
Long before Dan Brown wrote his best selling book "The DaVinci Code", Baigent, Leigh and Lincoln wrote their best seller "The Holy Blood & Holy Grail", along with these Baigent and Leigh went on to write a few follow up books including "The Messianic Legacy" and "The Temple & The Lodge".
Fast forward to 1996 I bought a book for my uncle, who is a Freemason, called "The Hiram Key" written by Knight & Lomas. It looked at the origins of Freemasonry, from the times of the pharoahs up to modern day Freemasonry. They came up with a theory that modern Freemasonry originated from the devolvement of the Knights Templar in 1307, this was seen as quite controversial in Masonic terms as The Grand Lodge of England was not formed until 1717.
Anyway "The Hiram Key" blew my uncle away and he suggetsed I read it. I had already read the "Holy Blood and Holy Grail" and other books. This was due to showing an interest in masonry my uncle suggested I read on the subject.
All the books had Rosslyn Chapel as part of the make up and history of the Knights Templar (KT) and Freemasonry.
So my uncle and myself decided to have a trip to Rosslyn to see "The Enigma" that is Rosslyn Chapel for ourselves.
My uncle has a caravan in Belford, Northumberland, so we used this as our "base camp". Along for the ride was my partner and my uncle's partner.
We had decided to travel through Peebles to get to Rosslyn but I missed the turn. So travelling along I noticed a sign for Temple, I knew that this place was mentioned in both the Baigent & Leigh and Knight & Lomas books as a ruin of an old KT preceptory, formally called Balantrodoch.
Temple:
If you have not been to Temple it is quite a strange place, it is literally one street. Blink and you'll miss it literally! The road bends at the bottom of the hill rises with houses to both sides of the road then you are out of it maybe 1/3rd of a mile long at best! But no sign of any ruined anything! But then on our way back down the bank we spotted it in a deep valley just off the bend at the bottom of the road! The ruin is not of the original preceptory, but of a church which was disused since the 1800's, but was mode from the preceptories ruins!
I have vistied this place twice and on both occasions there was noone else but us! It has a strange peaceful eeriness to it. Don't know what it is like now! Anyway on with the pics! (All of my pics are scanned, the visit was before digital cameras!)
Me and my uncle.
Knights Templar Grave Stones:
There were loads of these gravestones all over the place. Typically they show the Skull and Crossed bones, often associated with pirates, but the KTs used this as there battle flag long before the pirates! Some show masonic symbolism as well, thus showing a link between the two!
This stone is inside the ruin.
This is the spookiest gravestone I have ever seen, the figures eyes are made from black and white stones so they stare right through you. It is of John Craig, a local farmer who died in 1742. He is shown in his best clothing and with his children.
So after spending about an hour we decided to head off up to Rosslyn.
Rosslyn Chapel:
I could write a piece on the history of Rosslyn, but it is well documented and there own web site can tell you the history of the place. Unfortunately I can't find all of my pics of Rosslyn, but I will put them up when I find them!
The memorial out of the front of the chapel.
Me and my uncle outside of the front of the chapel. The baptistry is a Victorian addition to the chapel and not of the original design!
The Apprentice or Prentice pillar, it is for sculpting this that the apprentice was killed by a jealous master mason (as folklore says) with a blow to the forehead, lending similarities to the Masonic tale of Hiram Abiff.
The second pillar.
This freeze around the window shows maize corn, at the time of builing of Rosslyn this could only be found in the Americas! But Rosslyn was completed BEFORE Columbus discovered America!! So who did then??
This ceiling freeze shows the aloe cactus again only found in the Americas!
These stones is in the crypt where Sophie and Robert Langdon descend to find that the Magdeline crypt has been moved. The little area they go down into does not exist in Rosslyn - Hollywood eh!!
This window is also in the crypt!
The mainceiling ceiling (not good quality photos sorry).
Some of the hundreds of carvings:
At the time I visited Rosslyn it still had the big canopy over the top to the the roof dry out! So you could walk up around the outside of the roof this is a shot of some "Green Men" carvings even at such a height the symbolism is still evident.
All that remains of Rosslyn Castle!
Well there you have it!! I hope the pics are ok and I have not bored you to tears! I will try and dig out some more photos and put them on. Any comments or suggestions. I would love to go back and visit both Temple and Rosslyn again, but I know that the 21st centiry grail hunters visit Rosslyn by the Bus loads now! When I first went there was a wooden table and two old ladies taking your money to get in, after about a year or so there had been a small visitors centre built, judgeing by their website and online shop I think it may be busy these days!!
A Brief History:
Long before Dan Brown wrote his best selling book "The DaVinci Code", Baigent, Leigh and Lincoln wrote their best seller "The Holy Blood & Holy Grail", along with these Baigent and Leigh went on to write a few follow up books including "The Messianic Legacy" and "The Temple & The Lodge".
Fast forward to 1996 I bought a book for my uncle, who is a Freemason, called "The Hiram Key" written by Knight & Lomas. It looked at the origins of Freemasonry, from the times of the pharoahs up to modern day Freemasonry. They came up with a theory that modern Freemasonry originated from the devolvement of the Knights Templar in 1307, this was seen as quite controversial in Masonic terms as The Grand Lodge of England was not formed until 1717.
Anyway "The Hiram Key" blew my uncle away and he suggetsed I read it. I had already read the "Holy Blood and Holy Grail" and other books. This was due to showing an interest in masonry my uncle suggested I read on the subject.
All the books had Rosslyn Chapel as part of the make up and history of the Knights Templar (KT) and Freemasonry.
So my uncle and myself decided to have a trip to Rosslyn to see "The Enigma" that is Rosslyn Chapel for ourselves.
My uncle has a caravan in Belford, Northumberland, so we used this as our "base camp". Along for the ride was my partner and my uncle's partner.
We had decided to travel through Peebles to get to Rosslyn but I missed the turn. So travelling along I noticed a sign for Temple, I knew that this place was mentioned in both the Baigent & Leigh and Knight & Lomas books as a ruin of an old KT preceptory, formally called Balantrodoch.
Temple:
If you have not been to Temple it is quite a strange place, it is literally one street. Blink and you'll miss it literally! The road bends at the bottom of the hill rises with houses to both sides of the road then you are out of it maybe 1/3rd of a mile long at best! But no sign of any ruined anything! But then on our way back down the bank we spotted it in a deep valley just off the bend at the bottom of the road! The ruin is not of the original preceptory, but of a church which was disused since the 1800's, but was mode from the preceptories ruins!
I have vistied this place twice and on both occasions there was noone else but us! It has a strange peaceful eeriness to it. Don't know what it is like now! Anyway on with the pics! (All of my pics are scanned, the visit was before digital cameras!)
Me and my uncle.
Knights Templar Grave Stones:
There were loads of these gravestones all over the place. Typically they show the Skull and Crossed bones, often associated with pirates, but the KTs used this as there battle flag long before the pirates! Some show masonic symbolism as well, thus showing a link between the two!
This stone is inside the ruin.
This is the spookiest gravestone I have ever seen, the figures eyes are made from black and white stones so they stare right through you. It is of John Craig, a local farmer who died in 1742. He is shown in his best clothing and with his children.
So after spending about an hour we decided to head off up to Rosslyn.
Rosslyn Chapel:
I could write a piece on the history of Rosslyn, but it is well documented and there own web site can tell you the history of the place. Unfortunately I can't find all of my pics of Rosslyn, but I will put them up when I find them!
The memorial out of the front of the chapel.
Me and my uncle outside of the front of the chapel. The baptistry is a Victorian addition to the chapel and not of the original design!
The Apprentice or Prentice pillar, it is for sculpting this that the apprentice was killed by a jealous master mason (as folklore says) with a blow to the forehead, lending similarities to the Masonic tale of Hiram Abiff.
The second pillar.
This freeze around the window shows maize corn, at the time of builing of Rosslyn this could only be found in the Americas! But Rosslyn was completed BEFORE Columbus discovered America!! So who did then??
This ceiling freeze shows the aloe cactus again only found in the Americas!
These stones is in the crypt where Sophie and Robert Langdon descend to find that the Magdeline crypt has been moved. The little area they go down into does not exist in Rosslyn - Hollywood eh!!
This window is also in the crypt!
The mainceiling ceiling (not good quality photos sorry).
Some of the hundreds of carvings:
At the time I visited Rosslyn it still had the big canopy over the top to the the roof dry out! So you could walk up around the outside of the roof this is a shot of some "Green Men" carvings even at such a height the symbolism is still evident.
All that remains of Rosslyn Castle!
Well there you have it!! I hope the pics are ok and I have not bored you to tears! I will try and dig out some more photos and put them on. Any comments or suggestions. I would love to go back and visit both Temple and Rosslyn again, but I know that the 21st centiry grail hunters visit Rosslyn by the Bus loads now! When I first went there was a wooden table and two old ladies taking your money to get in, after about a year or so there had been a small visitors centre built, judgeing by their website and online shop I think it may be busy these days!!
Sal
The skull & cross bones gravestones are fab! 
