Wednesday 18th June
Rosslyn Chapel National Mining Museum of Scotland
Today Robyn decided to stay home and attend to some domestic jobs- such as washing. This meant a quiet day for her. However, she must have been bored and decided to take the bus to Musselburgh. This is a town of about 20,000 people; big enough for a Tesco Extra. She bought groceries there and checked out the town and the “pound shops” in the area. A bus service runs through the town on its way to and from Edinburgh- very convenient for the trip from Cockenzie.
ex, Glen and Carol headed for Rosslyn Chapel. Yes, Dan Brown fans it is the chapel in the Da Vinci Code (book and film). We were not much interested in recalling scenes from the movie though. The chapel was impressive enough on its own merits. William St Claire, a rich local landowner decided that he needed a private chapel, complete with Canons to pray for him (to get to heaven). So in 1446 he set aside some land and began building the chapel. He died before it was complete, and his son quickly “finished” it by simply installing a wall at the west end of the existing incomplete structure.
Today what exists is, of course, the result of many chapters in the life of the building. It was even abandoned in 1592 and not used again for over 140 years. Repairs and restoration were begun by one of the St Clairs in 1736. More work was done over the centuries that followed to bring the chapel to its present state. The main attraction of the chapel is the exquisite carving of the stonework. Inside it is beautiful, and extensive. The outside stone is badly weathered, but the architecture of thee building is very impressive.
Photography was not allowed inside the chapel, but they did sell a book about the place.
The interior was magnificent.
After lunch in the Rosslyn café, Carol drove us to Scotland’s National Mining Museum at Newtongrange (near Dalkeith). The journey was only about twenty minutes, and it was well worth it. The place on the site of the Lady Victoria pit, and is dedicated to the history of Scottish coal mining. The pit was named after the wife of the owner, Lord Lothian. It has a museum showing mining history and equipment, and also the lives of the workers and their families. There were also displays and films about industrial disputes, especially in the 1970s, but also dating back into the 1800s and early 1900s.
At 2:30 a guide named Sinclair arrived to take us on a tour of the mine. It was mostly above ground, taking in all aspects of the operation from the machinery used at the coalface to the trucks used to bring it to the surface, the wash plant and the train loadout. There was also the machinery used to power the mine. It ran on coal! The steam produced in the boilers powered the winding room, which lowered or raised men into or out of the pit up to (or more correctly down to) a maximum of 1600 feet. The same system was used to lower empty coal “boxes” (open carriages) and bring full ones to the surface. A very enjoyable and informative tour. I can recommend it to anyone.
Two coal boxes; 1 ton of coal in each
The museum was once a working coal mine.
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