If you like chapels this one's a belter! (Rosslyn Chapel)

Member Name: SusanLesley

Product:	Rosslyn Chapel
Date:	21/03/09 (279 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Amazing architecture and views, good cup of tea, lovely cat!

Disadvantages: A bit expensive for a family

At the moment I am staying with Dave in Edinburgh to keep him company whilst he is currently working there. This weekend we have been out for a ride and on the way back to the house at Swanston that we are renting (review already written!) Dave decided to take me somewhere as a surprise.

The place in question was Rosslyn Chapel. He knows that I love to visit churches, chapels and cathedrals in any state of repair so he was on to a winner with this place.

Where is it?
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The address is:
Rosslyn Chapel
Roslin
Midlothian
Scotland
EH25 9PU
Tel: +44 (0)131 440 2159

mail@rosslynchapel.com

How do you get there?
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To get there by car you just need to take the A701 travelling south from Edinburgh and then turn left onto the B7006 and follow the signs to Roslin and the chapel. It is very well signposted and easy to find. There is a free car park for cars and an overflow car park for use by coaches.

There is a bus service from the centre of Edinburgh (No 15) and you need to get off at the 'Hotel' stop. Rosslyn Chapel is then just two minutes walk away. If you want to check the buses and times just visit www.lothianbuses.com

What are the opening times?
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The chapel is open every day except Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year's Eve and New Year's Day. From April to September it is open from 1200 until 1645 on Sunday and 0930 until 1800 the rest of the week and from October until March it is open from 1200 until 1645 on Sunday and 0930 until 1700 the rest of the week.

The chapel is still a working Scottish Episcopal Church so you need to be aware that there are prayer services at noon on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday with services at 1030 and 1700 on Sundays.

How much does it cost to get in?
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The admission prices are as follows:

Adults - £7.50
Concessions - £6
Under 16' accompanied by their family - Free
Under 16's in a school group - £4

You can also choose to pay the same amount as a donation instead which means that you then fill out a Gift Aid form so that they can recover the tax back from the Inland Revenue. They will also give you a form to complete and return with a passport photograph and they will send you a pass valid for a year so that you can visit as often as you like.

To get in
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We went in through the little shop which sells the usual souvenirs including books, pens, jewelry, postcards etc. There is also a small café selling tea, coffee, soft drinks, cakes and biscuits at very reasonable prices. As we walked from the shop to head out to the chapel there were toilets so we could pay a call before we started exploring! Incidentally they are going
to completely refurbish this visitor centre as part of the current work.

A bit of background
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I don't intend to go into great detail here as the information I do give will be paraphrased from the website and I would rather keep this short and give you my opinion of the place. If you want to read up on the history of the place the website does have a lot of information.

Briefly the chapel was originally started in 1446 and dedicated in 1450 and continued to be changed and restored at intervals until the current major restoration, which began in 2007 and is scheduled to end in 2010, using a £7 million grant from Historic Scotland and the Heritage Lottery Fund plus donations from other sources.

In 2004 the Da Vinci Code was published and the film was released in 2006 both of which increased the interest in Rosslyn's mysteries. Part of the film was actually filmed at Rosslyn Chapel.

My thoughts
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We parked in the village and walked along the lane towards the chapel. The first sight was of the chapel encased in scaffolding with an extra temporary metal roof over the top of the whole thing. This was erected in 1997 to protect the roof and allow it to dry out ready for the restoration work to begin on it. They are hoping to remove it by the end of 2009. We paid our donations and headed out through the gift shop into the grounds of the chapel.

The lady in the gift shop had told us that the next guided tour started at 1400 and that we were welcome to join. Since it was only about 1315 at the time we decided to mooch round on our own.

There are lots of boards around the place and these are well written both with general information and things specific to the spot where you are standing. For example it might say something like - look up at the window in front of you above which is a carved frieze depicting the seven deadly sins or maybe look at the top of the column on your left to see a carving of a green man - you get the idea.

We walked round the inside of the chapel, pausing to read the boards and look round at the various things that we would have missed had we not done so. We also paused to fuss the cat who was sitting on one of the pews just waiting for a 'victim'! I began to fuss him and Dave sat down next to him and he promptly climbed onto his lap (the cat onto Dave's lap not the other way round!) and curled up to be fussed, which was lovely as we are both missing Mew whilst we are up here in Scotland. We stayed with him until the next prospective fussers came along.

The carvings in the church are amazing - there are angels, green men, shields with family crests and much more. The ceiling is divided into seven (I think) separate bands each of which is full of carvings of a different flower.

I stopped to light a candle and offer a prayer for my lovely mother in law for Mother's Day and asking The Boss to look after my mom on our first Mother's Day apart.

We went down into the crypt where the air was very cold - make of that what you will! There wasn't much down there but it was interesting to take a look. The next thing was to return to the church and exit via the main door.

As I have already mentioned there was scaffolding all round the church to aid the restoration process and there was a staircase forming part of said scaffolding. We climbed the stairs and were then able to walk around three sides of the chapel along the top of the scaffolding protected by barriers of course!

This meant that not only did we get a unique view of the architecture of the outside of the chapel but we also got amazing views of the surrounding countryside which is beautiful. The outside of the chapel is almost as intricately carved as the inside and it was a real privilege to be able to see it at such close quarters, especially as my eyesight is none too brilliant so I wouldn't have seen it very well from ground level at all.

I'm not particularly good with heights but even I felt safe up there although the whole thing did shake occasionally as people were walking round. At the opposite end to the stairs going up to the top there was a small gate marked - emergency exit. I looked down to see a series of near vertical ladders! I did say that I couldn't imagine an emergency that would tempt me to go down those!

Other stuff
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Disabled access to the chapel is fine as there are ramps and one of the toilets is a disabled one although the entrance would be a tight squeeze for a wheelchair. Obviously there is no way that disabled visitors would be able to go up on the scaffolding and the crypt is only accessible by a short but steep staircase.

You can get married at the chapel but they are not taking bookings whilst the renovation works are ongoing.

You are not allowed to take photographs or videos inside the church.

In conclusion
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I loved my visit! It was a lovely surprise as I didn't even know that the place existed until today. I shall certainly send off for our free passes as soon as we get home as I would love to visit again if I get the chance.
I would definitely recommend a visit, especially if you are keen on history, churches, architecture or beautiful views!

Summary: A beautiful chapel well worth a visit.