Roslin
a Midlothian village, near the wooded glen of the North Esk, 61/2 miles S. of Edinburgh, Scotland. Its castle, dating from the 14th century, was the seat of the St. Clairs, Earls of Orkney from 1379 to 1471, and afterward of Caithness, and hereditary grand-master of Masons of Scotland from 1455 to 1736.
The exquisite "chapel" built about 1450, is really the choir of an intended collegiate church, and is only 70 feet long, 35 broad, and 42 high. Its beauty lies not in the outline, but in the profusion of stone-carving lavished on pinnacles, niches, vaulted roof, and clustered columns, and especially on the famous "Prentice pillar." Much damaged by an Edinburgh mob in 1688, it was restored by the 3d Earl of Rosslyn and has served since 1862 as an Episcopal church. On Roslin Moor the Scotch are said to have twice defeated the English in one day, Feb. 24, 1303.