Scotland Travels: Second Sunday: St. Cuthbert's, Walk, Rosslyn

This was my second Sunday in Edinburgh. I was here for 11 full days, and whenever I'm able to be in Edinburgh longer than a week I try to get my travels to fall across at least two Sundays. There are so many churches here in which I want to experience worship. I know this is something that I already mentioned in my first Sunday post, so I'll link that and not repeat myself! But for as much as I want to visit many different Edinburgh churches (kirks), St. Cuthbert's always calls me back, AND I had told people here last Sunday that I would be back this (August 15) Sunday - and so I was. I'd been so warmly welcomed by pastor and congregation, and I found the service so worshipful, that I just didn't have the heart to visit someplace else (even if that "someplace else" was where the Queen worships while she's in town). I just love this place and the people in this place.

St. Cuthbert's (which is Church of Scotland, i.e. "Presbyterian") is side-by-side with St. John's (which is Scottish Episcopal), so all I had to do was turn 'round to see the church next door. This is such a gorgeous spot, flanked by two beautiful church buildings.

I came early because I wanted to hear the bells. Two years ago when I was here I got to sit in on bell-ringing practice, which was a wonderful experience (and which I posted about at the end of the post linked here). We don't ring church bells here in the US - at least not in the area where I live - so I wanted to come and be welcomed to worship by the ringing of the bells. There's just something really special about it -- to me, anyway.

I showed up about 20 minutes early for services in order to be sure not to miss the bells, but I sure don't mind spending time in the kirkyard anyway! This stone must really intrigue me, as I find in looking back through photos of previous trips that I had already taken a photo of it!

During the service we masked and socially distanced, but afterwards, outside, I was able to connect with friends old and new. I worry about this place and am working on becoming a "friend" of St. Cuthbert's. The congregation is small, and in the last few weeks three of their long-time members passed away. I worry about how they can sustain their huge historic building and their community ministry with the small, aging congregation that they have, so I hope to help at least a little bit, as best I can anyway. They have certainly been a blessing to me!

All of these ladies were such a delight to converse with. I hope they don't mind me posting the pictures (for privacy I will hold back on posting names -- and I think only about 5 people in the world are viewing my blog anyway!). It's just a super-sweet congregation, and they do an amazing job of reaching out to the community and helping people who are struggling, including the homeless. From what I've seen they're very small but very vibrant and caring and active!

Alas, I had to leave sooner than I would have liked in order to drive to the airport and get my COVID test so I could fly back to the US two days later, but at least I had something very exciting awaiting me that evening: a second visit to Rosslyn -- including permission to photograph the interior!

While walking to and from St. Cuthbert's I just snapped some shots around town - mostly Princes Street Gardens and views of New Town (not necessarily very well composed, I'm afraid -- just shots "on the go.") I started out by heading back up the stairs to Princes Street. St. Cuthbert's is actually quite far below street level.

Once again I write the truth that there are "flowers EVERYWHERE!"

I realize these pictures across Princes Street Gardens to the Old Town are the same, but I couldn't decide which one I like better, zoomed-in or zoomed-out, so I'm posting both! Notice the whimsical elephant sculpture on the bottom right - and a bit of the castle on the top right.

I turned north to head back into New Town down Castle Street, which is aptly named. I turned around to take a couple of pictures illustrating this - view of the castle down Castle Street:

I looked right at George St. to see how the redesigned shopping mall (that was 4 or 5 years in the making) had impacted the skyline in that direction (whippie-dip). It's "different," but maybe that's OK.

Back to the blue door of my home-away-from-home and then off for a COVID test (part of life/travel now and for the foreseeable future apparently) and then on to ROSSLYN!

I'm such a dork! Even after 10 days in the UK, I still walked to the wrong side of the vehicle to get in EVERY. SINGLE. TIME!

OK, no, seriously now, we were able to make special arrangements due to our particular interests and research to have an after-hours visit to Rosslyn, which is a very, very rare privilege. Pictures aren't allowed during visiting hours. I imagine this is the case because it is a small chapel that lots of people want to visit, and if everyone is taking pictures inside, people are going to be tripping over each other and causing a hazardous situation. Whatever the reason, I was profoundly thankful to have this opportunity to return to Rosslyn after-hours, allowed to take pictures. WARNING: This post will be VERY long because I'm going to post a TON of Rosslyn pictures! (You can buy picture books of this place, of course, and you'll find much better pictures there, but what follows are some of mine - without a tripod or special lighting or anything.)

There is much history, and there are many myths and legends associated with Rosslyn Chapel. It was founded in 1446 by the St. Clair Family. It remains in the ownership of the St. Clair family to this day. It was originally intended to be the size of a cathedral, rivaling that of St. Giles in Edinburgh. It is associated with Templar lore and is also part of the lore surrounding the Holy Grail. Because of all the legends and lore surrounding it, Dan Brown used it as a setting in his book The Da Vinci Code, which became a blockbuster best-seller. But the straight-up history of the place is at leasat as fascinating and mysterious as any legends about it.

Even just the color of the stone is amazing - let alone the carvings inside.

Going past the altar and into the Lady Chapel brings you to the most unbelievably elaborate carving.

The little cubes that are carved along the arches are thought to be musical encryption, and they have been decoded and turned into music. I don't know much about that, but you can search online and get more information if interested. (Actually I recently learned that there is a potential connection between the designs on the cubes and mathematical shapes known as Chladni Patterns, though those weren't "discovered" until 1787 -- or 1680 if you go back to Robert Hooke's investigation using a violin bow. Either way, these were here long before either of those dates.)

I spent some time in the "crypt" too, which isn't actually a crypt, a sacristy, I think. The actual crypt has been filled in and sealed. I wish I had thought to take a picture of the slab on the floor covering that, but I didn't; it's in the north aisle. If you've seen the movie The Da Vinci Code, you may recognize this staircase pictured below as the one Robert and Sophie descend near the end of the movie as they finally close in on solving the mystery. In the movie there is a Star of David over the staircase. A Star of David is a 6-pointed star, which can be thought of as one triangle superimposed upon another. This fits the clue in the book, "The blade and chalice guarding o'er her gates." That emblem isn't actually here except during filming, but that process left this circle behind, and the staff at Rosslyn call it the "Hollywood Circle."

This underground chamber is the first part of the chapel built (beginning in 1446), and it was used as a workshop for the first 40 years of the building process. There remain marks on the walls from this time that give evidence of some of the process (though not all, from what I can tell, were for that purpose -- some look to me like symbols I've seen before that were wards for protection against witchcraft).

Heading back up:

Many carvings, such as those seen horizontally below, were of plant life.

The plant life in the picture below looks very much like corn, but this work was done approximately 50 years before Columbus journeyed to the Americas, in other words, this was done when corn should have been unknown in Europe . . . hmm . . .