Building the Chapel

In 1446 Sir William St Clair, 3rd Prince of Orkney, founded Rosslyn Chapel. It was said of him: 'William, with his age creeping upon him... came into his mind to build a house for God's service, of most curious work . . . that it might be done with greater glory and splendour.'

If you visit the Chapel today, you can see a series of shields high up along the north wall of the Chapel displaying the letters:

W L S F Y C Y Z O G M iii 1L
which stand for: ‘William Lord Sinclair Fundit Yis College Ye Zeir Of God MCCCCL’ (1450). We know that the Chapel was begun in 1446 and so this inscription suggests that its foundations took at least four years to build.

The Chapel itself took some forty years to build. It required a large number of workmen and it is thought that the village of Roslin grew up to house them.
Building the Chapel

All kinds of craftsmen would have worked on the building: quarriers hewed the stone, masons carved it, blacksmiths sharpened tools, and carpenters modelled designs in wood before they were sculpted in stone by the masons.
Building the Chapel

What you see today is thought to be only one part of a larger scheme. Excavations in the 1800s uncovered foundations stretching a further 30 metres (91 feet) beyond the west end of the Chapel, suggesting that a cruciform building was intended. However, William died in 1484 and work on the Chapel seems to have ceased after this time.
But nearly 600 years after it was built, the Chapel still stands testament to the fascinating mind which conceived this extraordinary design scheme. William’s plan for a building of ‘curiosity’ and ‘splendour’ has clearly been fulfilled.
Building the Chapel

Rosslyn Chapel is open all year (closed 24 and 25 December and 31 December and 1 January)

We are currently open:

Monday-Saturday	09.30 - 17.00
Sunday	12noon - 16.45

Last admission 30 minutes before closing.

For more details on what to see and do, our coffee shop, tickets, information for groups and families, access and directions please continue to visiting the Chapel.

Rosslyn Chapel,
Chapel Loan,
Roslin,
Midlothian,
EH25 9PU

Tel: 0131 440 2159
Email: mail@rosslynchapel.com

Rosslyn Chapel Trust is a charity registered in Scotland number SC024324