<>MCLEANSCOTLAND<> have taken advice from within in order  to create perfect tours for brethren to enjoy the experience of Scottish Lodges, Templars and for the enthusiastic Bruce followers an exciting trip to Rosslyn Chapel (pictured below). We are privileged to have knowledge of secret locations of Templars graves which are off the beaten track. We design a tour to suit your requirements not ours! Please contact; masonic@mcleanscotland.com

<> Bruce & Knights Templar tours are a speciality of mcleanscotland so all you need do is supply us with your dates, numbers, details and we will work together with you to create an everlasting tour that will stay in your memory for a lifetime. Tour manager for Templar tours; Andy Grant.  andy@mcleanscotland.com

DA VINCI CODE TOUR  a great tour with all sorts of goodies.

NEW JERSEY FREEMASONRY - Grand Master's Tour of Scotland 2007, 4 nights in Edinburgh & 4 nights in Inverness, includes private whisky sampling

<>Edinburgh<> Mary's Chapel No.1. Origins and history of the oldest still extant Masonic Lodge <>http://lodgeofedinburgh.org.uk

The Mother Lodge of Scotland is situated in the Ayrshire town of Kilwinning.  This old and ancient Lodge dates back to the building of Kilwinning Abbey around 1140. www.grandlodgescotland.com

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<> MASONIC TOUR GUIDE. <>COLIN ALGIE<>   <>Brother Colin Algie of Lodge Tay & Lyon 276 Kenmore, highland Perthshire. He has a BA Degree in Tourism and is a Lodge Member here in Scotland, he can guide your Masonic tour with MCLEANSCOTLAND. Please tell us where you wish to see, visit and which locations and we'll do the rest. We work with you to design an exclusive tour for your Lodge. Colin has worked at the exclusive Gleneagles Hotel and also has a great knowledge of the Scottish whisky industry, also having worked at Edradour Distillery. His hobbies include; reading, snooker, golf and all things Scottish whisky!

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< color="#000000" face="Verdana">For more Historic tours follow this link Scottish and Celtic history.

Knights Templar in Scotland
1128 - Hugh de Payen, a relative by marriage to the St Clairs of Roslin, travels to Scotland where he stays with his relatives. The Templars are granted land – which becomes their headquarters in Scotland at Ballontrodoch – now Temple.   1203 - The sack of Constantinople. Important relics looted and fall into Templar hands. The Orkney Crusade saw Scottish Templar families, including the Sinclairs, join the crusade.   1307 - 11 October, it is recorded in French Masonic history that the Templar ships leave at midnight from La Rochelle, heading to Scotland.   1311 - Bishop Lamberton of St Andrews gives the Templars his protection.   1314 - Possibility that Knight Templars fought at Bannockburn.   1790 - Alexander Deuchar revives the order in Scotland in an attempt to re-start a new chivalry. They set the gold and silver standard for coin weight, and introduced the "note of hand" – a kind of 12th century credit card. Christians at the time were not allowed to charge interest on money, but the Templars got round this by charging "rent". The order quickly became the richest bankers in Europe, lending to kings, princes and influential people across Europe. King Philip IV of France (1268-1314) was one monarch among many who was heavily in debt to the Knights Templar. The death of the Pope gave the King an opportunity to bribe the incoming Catholic leader and initiate enquiries against the order. They were charged with heresy and on a Friday the 13th, in October 1307, Jacques de Molay, the Grand Master of the Knights Templar, and 60 of his senior knights were arrested in Paris. Across Europe thousands of Knights Templar were taken into custody. But when King Philip raided the Templar treasure house he found it empty and the fleet gone from Larochelle. Anyone found sheltering a Templar was under threat of excommunication. At the time Scotland was already excommunicated for Robert the Bruce's involvement in the murder of John "Red" Comyn. Since Robert the Bruce could not afford to turn away wealthy and powerful allies in his struggle against Edward I, it is not too fanciful to suppose that Scotland may have welcomed the homeless knights. French Masonic ritual seems to indicate that Scotland was designated as the place of refuge for the Templar treasures. It is certainly a matter of fact that their land in Scotland was never seized but was transferred to the Knights of St John for safekeeping.