Explore The Lady Chapel

The Lady Chapel is fifteen feet high, seven and a half feet deep and extends the whole thirty five foot width of the Chapel. It is divided into compartments and ribs from all four corners of a compartment rise to meet at a central point, with a decorative stone (known as a pendant boss), hanging down on the central point.

One pendant boss, with an eight-pointed star on its base, represents the star of Bethlehem and around its sides are eight figures associated with the story of the birth of Christ. At the top of the three pillars are carvings of angels singing in celebration and playing instruments including a lute, violin, psalter and bagpipes.

The Lady Chapel is the most highly decorated part of the building and among the features are the 'dance of death', a face which is claimed to be the death mask of Robert the Bruce and a number of Green Men. For a time, the heads of the St Clair family were hereditary Grand Master Masons of Scotland and the Lady Chapel contains a number of carved angels in positions which some people interpret as having a significance in the rites of freemasonry.