Shortly before making the presentation to our publisher, Century, we decided that it was important to tell the people currently concerned with Rosslyn about the content of our book, so one sunny afternoon we met with the curator, Judy Fisken, and Bob Brydon, a Masonic and Templar historian connected with the Chapel who proved to be a mine of information. Judy duly arranged to meet with Niven Sinclair, a London-based businessman who holds the right to control excavations on the site. We met Niven for lunch. Niven has devoted a large part of his time and substantial amounts of money to the upkeep and promotion of Rosslyn Chapel, and solving the mysteries of the building has become a driving passion for him. He had the right, given by the current Earl, to excavate the vaults.
A further meeting was then arranged to present our discoveries to a group called ‘the Friends of Rosslyn’. The audience included historians, Scottish Grand Lodge members, two clergymen, the most senior Knights Templar in Scotland and Baron St Clair Bonde who is a direct descendant of William St Clair.
We overlaid the acetate drawing of the foundations of the ruined Herodian Temple on top of the plan of the chapel.
They were not similar. They were the same!
Rosslyn is not a free interpretation of the ruins in Jerusalem; as far as the foundation plan is concerned, it is a very carefully executed copy. The spot that we identified as being at the center of the Seal of Solomon turned out to correspond exactly with the center point of the medieval world: the middle of the Holy of Holies; the spot where the Ark of the Covenant was placed in the Temple at Jerusalem.
To the east lies Scotland’s own Kidron Valley and in the south runs the Valley of Hinnon.
William St Clair was indeed a genius.
We now know exactly where the copper scroll, the treasure map of the Essenes and the Templars, is hidden.
