Rosslyn Chapel from the roof and its role in history....

"Wild roses by the Abbey towers
Are gay in their young bud and bloom;
They were born of a race of funeral-flowers
That garlanded, in long-gone hours,
A templar’s knightly tomb.
He died, the sword in his mailed hand,
On the holiest spot of the Blessed land,
Where the Cross was damped with his dying breath,
When blood ran free as festal wine,
And the sainted air of Palestine
Was thick with the darts of death."

~ Fitz-Greene Halleck ~
From 'Alnwick castle'

More photographs in the Rosslyn Chapel Set with information on history, architecture, ghosts and legends under various photographs.

"The area around Rosslyn has played an important role in the history of Scotland, and the castle was a key holding during the wars of independence. A battle was fought here in 1303, when small force of Scottish Knights defeated a larger English army three times in 24 hours.

From what can be ascertained from the scattered surviving historical references, the chapel was built for the Prince of Orkney, Sir William St Clair in 1446. The chapel being part of a large-scale project involving a cruciform structure that was never completed. The Prince of Orkney died in 1484 and was buried within the chapel.

According to Father Richard Augustine Hay, who published a study on the genealogy of the St Clairs of Rosslyn. The workers and the materials were brought from far and wide. The village of Roslin being created for the numerous stonemasons and other labourers. It was in this period that the Apprentice is supposed to have been murdered for far surpassing his master's skills."

From the Mysterious Britain website

The official Rosslyn Chapel website:
www.rosslynchapel.org.uk/htm/architecture.htm

Information on dimensions of chapel here.
Restorations over the years here
More history here
Ghosts and Legends here and here
The famous 'Apprentice Pillar' here
Investigation into 'codes' here