CODEBREAKER DIES
BY SARAH WARD AN AMATEUR codebreaker who helped to crack a mystery hidden in the walls of Rosslyn Chapel has died.
Tommy Mitchell, 85, died last week, four months after his son Stuart, 52, passed away.
Together, the father and son team spent nearly three decades deciphering musical cymatics carved into the ceiling design of Rosslyn Chapel, in Roslin, Midlothian, which was made famous by The Da Vinci Code.
Their work transformed the understanding of the church, made famous in Dan Brown’s 2003 novel and the 2006 film starring Tom Hanks and Audrey Tautou.
Tommy called the pitches and tonality of rectangles adorning its arches “frozen music”.
In his book Music of the Cubes, he provided a unique insight into the hidden symphonies contained within the carvings at the historic building, dating from 1446.
Tommy’s surviving son, Ali, 57, said: “They were working on it for 27 years, and were recognised with a documentary in 2005. The patterns were musical shapes, like a tone or a key which created a shape.
“Stuart wrote a piece called the Rosslyn Motet, which was performed in the chapel using instruments dating from that time.”
The family lived in the southwest of Edinburgh and regularly visited the chapel eight miles away, sparking a fascination for Tommy and Stuart.
Ali added: “They were working