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sqh I read your extremely helpful Post on the LCVA. I was there a year ago beacuse I am researching the life of Stani Radziwon who was wice-starostwo of Wilensko-Trocki and worked for Grodzki powiat also. He escaped in 1939 and eventually came to Scotland where he met my Aunt. I am working with his nephew, Stan Radziwon, who is an engineer in Poznan but based in Canada. I wihs I had had your List when I went to LCVA. They were polite but did not help me at all. It was a stone wall! Anyway, we would be grateful if you could contact us at my email: corbie41@hotmail.com. Best wishes, Michael Turnbull

Sain Andrew: Scotland's Myth and Identity

Have a look at BBC Religion and Ethics - Saint Andrew

http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/christianity/saints/andrew.shtml

ROSSLYN CHAPEL REVEALED

Dear Sir or Madam, My book 'Rosslyn Chapel Revealed' has recently been published by The History Press. Would you like a review copy? Many thanks, Michael T R B Turnbull ROSSLYN CHAPEL REVEALED EXPLODING THE MYTHS ‘Rosslyn Chapel Revealed’ is unique in exploring the landscape of Midlothian in depth — the geology, the flora and fauna, illustrated by fascinating antique maps. It was this landscape that supplied the pink, yellow and grey stone for Rosslyn Chapel, cut from the ancient wildernesses of Roslin Glen. ‘Rosslyn Chapel Revealed’ explains in detail what few have done before — the daily life of the priests and choirboys at Rosslyn Chapel, one of 40 collegiate churches set up as powerhouses of prayer and song — some of the music still happily preserved in major libraries across Europe. ‘Rosslyn Chapel Revealed’ makes clear the central role of the Scots scholar Fr Richard Augustine Hay, related to the Sinclair by marriage, and involved in the strange but brief years around 1688 when King James VII set up a Roman Catholic Chapel Royal at Holyrood, a printing-press and a school and Fr Hay took part in the services. ‘Rosslyn Chapel Revealed’ explores the landscape of Midlothian from Temple village (home of glass artist and clarsach player Alison Kinnaird and folk musician Robin Morton, and once home to painter Sir William Gillies and author George Scott-Moncrieff), to Soutra Aisle and the unique ecumenical community of the Transfiguration. ‘Rosslyn Chapel Revealed’ uncovers the role of Sir Walter Scott in increasing the Chapel’s reputation for mystery and the ways in which successive poets, painters and photographers celebrated the extraordinary design of the Chapel. ‘Rosslyn Chapel Revealed’ ends with a new mystery, a challenge to its readers to uncover the truth behind an act of sacrilege committed in the Chapel in the 1470s, the answer to which lies in the Secret Vatican Archives in Rome. Among the myths ‘Rosslyn Chapel Revealed’ lays to rest are: • The Apprentice Pillar (also known as the ‘Prince’s Pillar) is a story found at a number of other medieval churches in Britain and the Continent. Interviews with 3 working stonemasons and an apprentice mason (at St Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral Workshop, Edinburgh) show that no apprentice would have the skill to carve such a pillar that would take a year to complete • Knights Templar the Sinclair family were Crusaders (fighting to free the Holy Land). Templars had to swear vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. The Sinclairs were married, well-to-do and vowed allegiance only to the King. • American Corn two academic botanists with PhDs are quoted as finding no evidence of any specific botanical specimen in the decoration of the Chapel, apart, perhaps, from Hart’s Tongue Fern, an ancient plant that still grows in Roslin Glen. • Freemasons Freemasonic images were added to the Chapel in the 1860s when the Fourth Earl of Rosslyn, Grand Master Mason of Scotland, commissioned the architect David Bryce to ‘restore’ the Chapel. He took out a number of damaged stone ‘bosses’ in the Lady Chapel and replaced them with new, quasi-masonic carvings • The Red Light-Box photographs by Hill & Adamson show that the medieval tracery of the East Window was entirely different to that in the window today. New stone tracery and stained glass were inserted in the 1860s, including the triangle of red glass said to be a ‘light-box.’ Michael T R B Turnbull Rosslyn Chapel Revealed (The History Press, 2009 paperback) ISBN-13: 978-0750944823 All these facets of Rosslyn Chapel are profusely illustrated with some 30 colour photographs and 200 black and white images, as well as a copious footnotes substantiating all the evidence provided in the book, a detailed index and a contact list of useful organisations.

A Scottish Accent: Contact details

SCOTTISH CATHOLIC ARCHIVES Columba House, 16 Drummond Place, EDINBURGH EH3 6PL 0131 556 3661 Keeper and Archivist Andrew Nicoll archivists@scottishcatholicarchives.org.uk

Fears over Catholic archive fate

The Edinburgh-based collection at the Scottish Catholic Archives is of national (ie British) importance. It is the only national Catholic archive in Britain.
Prominent Scottish historians have voiced fears about the fate of a collection of Catholic archives of national importance.
They claim there has been a lack of consultation with academics about the Scottish Catholic Archives.
The papers are presently held in Edinburgh but some collections are to go to Aberdeen University.
The Catholic Church said the present building was no longer suitable to house the collection.
Peter Kearney, a spokesman for the church, denied the archive was being split.
He said: "The historic collection will remain as a collection, but its location will change.
"The material is the property of the Catholic Church... it is for the bishops to decide what to do with their own property."
The material, he added, could be better preserved at Aberdeen University.
There is no protocol for the splitting of an archive - it's just not what you do
Gilbert Markus Glasgow University
But there has been concern among historians and academics.
Professor Tom Devine, of Edinburgh University, said the archives were "vital" to research with almost all primary documents to do with the Catholic Church in Scotland held there.
Speaking to the BBC Scotland news website the described the fragmentation as "negative," but added: "My beef is about lack of information, transparency and consultation with users, especially the community of academic historians and researchers in Scotland."
The archives themselves hold records of the Catholic Church in Scotland dating back centuries and illuminate diverse periods of Scotland's church and social history.
Petition
The Scottish Catholic Historical Association is unhappy at the move and has made its opposition known.
Gilbert Markus, from the Celtic department at the University of Glasgow, is on the association's council and plans to circulate a petition around academics and researchers.
He told the BBC Scotland news website: "There is no protocol for the splitting of an archive - it's just not what you do.
"This is a national collection; archivists and librarians in Edinburgh have created a research community. This is not being done with a view to the welfare and usefulness of the archive."
Other users of the archive include Catholic historian Michael Turnbull who described any splitting up as a "disaster."

Rosslyn Chapel Revealed

If you have an questions about Rosslyn Chapel - look at my new book, Rosslyn Chapel Revealed (Sutton Publishing Ltd.). It surveys all the work on Rosslyn Chapel to date and discusses the many myths.
If you want a comprehensive guide, 'Rosslyn Chapel Revealed' supplies over 200 photographs, copious footnotes, an index and a list of useful organisations and addresses.
This book is full of ideas for exploring Midlothian as well as Rosslyn Chapel, Castle and Roslin Glen.
Best wishes for 2008 and enjoy!

Michael T R B Turnbull