Mystery stone found near church linked to Knights Templar

Date: 27 October 2009
By CLAIRE SMITH
A MYSTERIOUS carved stone has been uncovered alongside a 12th-century church associated with the Knights Templar.

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The stone has been dated to the 12th century. Pictures: Kate Chandler


What appears to be the carved top of a sarcophagus was unearthed when builders were excavating and reinforcing a wall alongside the old ruined church in Temple, Midlothian.

But the inscriptions, which include symbols similar to those found in Viking monuments, in medieval graves and in West Highland Celtic carvings, have baffled archaeologists.

Crispin Phillips, who is renovating a house alongside The Old Parish Church, said: "I was on a mission to repair the wall – which was falling into the graveyard. We got near the bottom of the foundations and found something buried there.

"We found one stone carved with a cross and then another with these carvings on it."

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Village legend tells of long-lost buried treasure

THE village of Temple in Midlothian takes its name from the Knights Templar, who once had their Scottish Preceptory – their headquarters – there.

The ruined chapel, which nestles in the valley at the foot of the village, is all that remains of what was once an abbey founded by the Templars on lands gifted by David I of Scotland in 1127.

Founded during the Crusades, the Templars was a religious order of knights whose mission was to protect Christians in the Holy Land.

Some say they invented international banking, with a system of credit letters used to pass funds to people fighting in the Crusades. The Templars certainly grew rich and powerful. According to some accounts they were the holders of treasures from Jerusalem.

news.scotsman.com...

Local legend says some of this treasure still lies buried in Temple, there certainly will be much more digging, the construction worker who found this amazing find thought of burying it.



[edit on 29-10-2009 by Aquarius1]

i wish i could find viking/templar treasure.

thats certainly interesting. i would like to have the stone if i cant have the treasure.

of course, i doubt that the templars left their treasure behind.

reply to post by ELECTRICkoolaidZOMBIEtest


I highly doubt that they left their treasure behind also, and of course it may just be urban legend. The world is full of mysteries we hear about all the time, some of them are true...

So what exactly could the Vikings have to do with the KTs? The closest thing I can think of is that it is that the Vikings visited North America about 200 years before the Knights Templar were theorized to have gone there.

Anyone?

Stories like this always catch my attention.

Seems like they are still researching it. Just looking at the pic makes me wonder what it would be like to find something like that.

I have always said my biggest regret in life was not becoming an archaeologist.


Damn you Indiana Jones.

IMO, there are other treasures to be found in that area.

reply to post by jam321


jam321 I feel like you do, think I missed my calling, I can picture myself at archeology dig somewhere, anywhere would be fine, the feeling has to be amazing when you find something unexpected.

reply to post by honkusbobo


Around 800 AD, the Vikings began dispersing themselves in what was called the, "Age of Settlement". They invaded and settled almost everywhere. Finland, Scotland, France, England; the sky was the limit. The Vikings founded the city of Dublin in Ireland.

Considering all of this, it is understandable why there would be evidence of ties between the Templars and Viking symbology buried within a church in Scotland. The country was, after all, one of their only safehavens after the Church and King Phillip of France declared all Templars heretics. The ways of the Scots would likely have been incorporated into their own cultural habits.