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Archaeology Notes

Event ID 712634

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/712634

(NT 2749 6306) Roslin Chapel (NR)

OS 6" map (1966)

Roslin Chapel, formerly St Matthew's Collegiate Church: This building was erected by Sir William St Clair, building starting about 1446, and continued until his death in 1484. It was intended to comprise a choir, nave and transepts, but only the choir was completed.

The aisles are returned across the E end, forming a processional aisle of four bays, beyond which are three chapels, while from the S bay a stair descends into a crypt-chapel or sacristy extending SE of the main building. The E walls of N and S transepts remain, but nothing further seems to have been built. The remarkable elaboration of ornamental detail have been built. The remarkable elaboration of ornamental detail gives this an exceptional place among Scottish churches of the period. The choir, with a lofty clerestory, is covered with a pointed barrel vault divided into bays by cusped transverse arches. The structure was defaced by a mob in 1688; no repairs were carried out until 1736. A further restoration took place in 1861-2. It probably did not have a collegiate constitution until the early 1450s (I B Cowan and D E Easson 1976).

RCAHMS 1929, visited 1928; D MacGibbon and T Ross 1897

Roslin Chapel is generally as described. It is no longer used for worship.

Visited by OS (SFS) 29 October 1975

Scheduled as Rosslyn Chapel, ecclesiastical and related remains.

Information from Historic Scotland, scheduling document dated 7 October 1996.

NT 275 631 Groundworks were monitored on Chapel Loan between College Hill and the new visitor centre to the NW and NE of the chapel respectively. The foundations of the visitor centre, a stables/coach house of two phases (17th and 19th century), were found to have been built of reused dressed ashlar and other worked stone, with a single protruding base course built directly onto subsoil.

At the chapel, a services access trench was excavated archaeologically at the foot of the pier at the junction of the partly completed N transept and the existing E wall of the crossing tower. Here the founds of Kerr?s baptistery of 1880-81 were exposed, overlying the 15th-century founds of the pier itself. The latter were found to be of substantial construction, the pier foot resting upon two courses of massive roughly hewn red sandstone blocks set into natural.

Further work to the visitor centre permitted a full assessment of the structure and its flooring which, in the smaller eastern bay, consisted of parts of a cobbled stable floor with drain, perhaps of the 17th century. The larger western bay had been enlarged in the 19th century retaining earlier S and E walls, the latter still displaying a crow-stepped gable head. Much of the fabric of the visitor centre from both phases consisted of reused dressed ashlar, moulded and sculpted sandstone blocks. The protruding found course within the western bay had been largely built of the massive sandstone blocks seen at the chapel pier base.

Deconstruction of the walling dividing the two bays revealed the fossilised jamb of a gate pier and some 20 carved stones ranging from simple but substantial arcade voussoirs, to moulded jamb stones and a number of sculpted stones. Of the latter, two appear similar to 17th-century details of the surviving wing of Rosslyn Castle, while two further fragments form a complete finial or dormer pediment. This takes the form of a circular rosette surmounting a triangular body that frames a carved panel of four leaf- or petal-like lobes (Addyman 1998, fig 44). An identical finial can be seen upon the exterior wall-head of the N aisle of the chapel, although this itself may have come from ruined parts of the castle.

The creation of the new car park involved the grading of an area of open field at the corner of Chapel Loan and the lane to Rosslyn Castle. A series of very substantial pit-like features were revealed. These contained masonry and other debris, wine bottles and domestic rubbish that can most likely be associated with the use of College Hill as an inn during the later 18th and earlier part of the 19th century. The foundation course of what was interpreted as a barn was revealed along the side of the castle lane. Its masonry contained finely worked blocks of robbed medieval ashlar, while an internal sub-division and possible barn entrance into the field to the W were its only discernible features. A later well-constructed boundary wall was erected running from the N wall of the barn. The masonry of each was overlain by a later 19th-century domestic rubbish dump. The barn can probably be associated with the use of College Hill and may similarly date from the mid- to late 18th century.

A report will be lodged with the NMRS.

Sponsors: Historic Scotland, Rosslyn Chapel Trust.

T Addyman 1998

NT 2749 6306 In advance of ongoing conservation works the sacristy was recorded by a stone-by-stone survey. This revealed that while the interior was largely of 15th-century construction, only the lower walls and E window survived from this phase on the exterior. The upper walls had clearly been substantially rebuilt, perhaps in documented repair works in the earlier 18th century, and incorporated a number of reused carved medieval stones. The parapets had seen a second phase of reconstruction. Repairs to the adjacent boundary wall on the N side of the sacristy revealed that it too contained numerous architectural fragments, some of which were recovered during repairs.

Service trenching on the N side of the sacristy revealed that the medieval lower parts of the existing 'cell' walls had extended further to the N. Trenching on the S side of the sacristy revealed the lower courses of ashlar work and the footing of the SE angle of a further chamber that had existed in that area.

Service trenches along the E gable wall of College Hill revealed the footings and interior floor make-up levels of a range of buildings known to have been demolished in the later 19th century. Repairs within College Hill itself revealed the partly damaged remains of an early 18th-century moulded fireplace surround within the W ground-floor room, W wall. Still adhering to the cheeks of the fireplace were a number of delftware tiles, hand-painted with pastoral scenes in underglaze blue.

Sponsors: Historic Scotland, Rosslyn Chapel Trust.

T Addyman 2001

Standing building recording; watching brief; evaluation NT 274 631 A 3-D survey of the interior and exterior elevations

of Rosslyn Chapel (NT26SE 22) was carried out between April and December 2005 using a laser scanner, to aid the condition assessment prior to renovation.

A watching brief was also carried out during the excavation of six small test pits prior to bore holes being sunk within the grounds of Rosslyn Chapel. The test pits were excavated to a depth of 1m, but no significant archaeological features or artefacts were encountered.

Archaeological supervision of machine-stripping over the extent of the proposed car park area to the W of Rosslyn Chapel was also carried out. The area was stripped down to natural subsoil. No significant archaeological features or artefacts were encountered.

Archive to be deposited in NMRS.

Sponsor: Page and Parks Architects.

G Cavers, V Clements and D Wilson 2005

People and Organisations

References