Famous Visitors to the Chapel
Countless authors and artists, royalty and celebrities have visited the chapel. Here are just a few:
Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip, Prince Charles, The Queen Mother, Princess Margaret, Mary Queen of Scots, Queen Victoria, Prince Albert, King George and Queen Mary, King of the Hellenes.
Ben Johnson, Robert Burns, Alexander Naysmith, Joseph Michael Gandy, James Boswell, William and Dorothy Wordsworth, Sir Walter Scott, Samuel Johnson, JMW Turner, John Ruskin, Louis Daguerre*, David Octavius Hill, Robert Adamson, Paul Sandby, David Roberts.
recent visitors:
Billy Connolly, Robbie Coltrane, Celia Imrie, Jim Davidson, Kula Shaker the band, John Sessions, Sir Ian Richardson, Kirsty Wark.
Sir Walter Scott 1771-1832.
His writing did much to attract tourists in search of the romantic Scotland he portrayed.
The Lay of the Last Minstrel
Canto Sixth.XXIII
O listen, listen, ladies gay!
No haughty feat of arms I tell;
Soft is the note, and sad the lay,
That mourns the lovely Rosabelle.
--"Moor, moor the barge, ye gallant crew!
And gentle ladye, deign to stay!
Rest thee in Castle Ravensheuch,
Nor tempt the stormy firth to-day.
"The blackening wave is edg'd with white:
To inch and rock the sea-mews fly;
The fishers have heard the Water-Sprite,
Whose screams forebode that wreck is nigh.
"Last night the gifted Seer did view
A wet shroud swathed round ladye gay;
Then stay thee, Fair, in Ravensheuch:
Why cross the gloomy firth today?"
" 'Tis not because Lord Lindesay's heir
To-night at Roslin leads the ball,
But that my ladye-mother there
Sits lonely in her castle-hall.
" 'Tis not because the ring they ride,
And Lindesay at the ring rides well,
But that my sire the wine will chide,
If 'tis not fill'd by Rosabelle."
O'er Roslin all that dreary night
A wondrous blaze was seen to gleam;
'Twas broader than the watch-fire's light,
And redder than the bright moonbeam.
It glar'd on Roslin's castled rock,
It ruddied all the copse wood glen;
'Twas seen from Dryden's groves of oak
And seen from cavern'd Hawthorn-den.
Seem'd all on fire that chapel proud,
Where Roslin's chiefs uncoffin'd lie,
Each Baron, for a sable shroud,
Sheath'd in his iron panoply.
Seem'd all on fire within, around,
Deep sacristy and altar s pale;
Shone every plllar foliage bound,
And glimmer'd all the dead men's mail.
Blaz'd battlement and pinnet high,
Blaz'd every rose-carved buttress fair--
So still they blaze when fate is nigh
The lordly line of high St. Clair.
There are twenty of Roslin's barons bold
Lie buried within that proud chapelle;
Each one the holy vault doth hold--
But the sea holds lovely Rosabelle!
And each St. Clair was buried there,
With candle, with book, and with knell;
But the sea-caves rung, and the wild winds sung
The dirge of lovely Rosabelle
If you click the link you can go to the Walter Scott Digital Archive at Edinburgh University.
Robert Burns 1759-1796
wrote a poem to Annie Wilson, the Inn Keeper of the cottage
adjacent to the chapel, thanking her for her food. He scratched it onto a pewter plate.
My Blessings on you sonsie wife!
I ne'er was here before;
You've gi'en us walth for horn and Knife,
Nae heart could wish for more.
Heaven keep you free from care and strife,
Til far ayont fourscore;
And while I toddle on through life,
I'll ne'er gang by your door.
Daguerre, Louis Jacques Mande 1787- 1851
inventor of an impressive illusions theatre, which he called a Diorama, one of which was Rosslyn Chapel. The tour of this was shown in Paris 1824, London 1826, Liverpool 1828, Dublin 1828 and finally in Edinburgh in 1835. Known as Daguerre's Diorama theatre, it consisted of a revolving floor that presented views of three stages. Each stage contained an enormous canvas (72'x 48') with scenes painted on both sides. With clever play of light, Daguerre could make one scene dissolve into another, an early sort of multimedia show or installation. He later went on to pioneer photography with his invention of the Daguerreotype.
*An unusual painting of the Chapel by Daguerre gives a clue to the fact that he may not have actually visited at the time of painting but had simply studied architectural drawings, the people are half the size they should be!
For more information on Walter Scott, a great resourse is maintained by the Edinburgh University Library. To visit the site please click the Walter Scott Digital Archive link.
