A Biblical Solution to a Glass Code.
I think it's time to set the record straight regarding the path of a Grail seeker. There are people in the modern world who presume we
spend every minute of the working day manufacturing solutions to the codes of the ancients. For instance I noticed on one of Dan
Green's blogs that somebody took offence to a particular Grail article he had written, basically I think, because it was lacking biblical
content. This resulted with a less than savoury outburst commenting that "Nothing ceased to amaze her with regard to how quick we are
at believing a window or a painting rather than what is written in the bible." Hang on I say to this vexed spirit you need to open your eyes
a little, because at the moment you seem to be suffering from blinkered vision. Before we confirm symptoms of blindness we should
examine that statement in a little more detail and realise that not everything in life is as straight forward as it seems.
You see fortunately we live in what can only be described as a tolerant age where free will and speech is far more acceptable today
than in the time when our ancestors existed. They too, being no different in this respect, wished to be heard but fear of consequence
meant they valued their lives just as importantly. Hence the dire situation of living during this troubled period determined their chosen
method of communication. Either that or maybe this knowledge was meant to be in plain sight but only the initiated were privy to its
secrets. Either way just because it was not boldly written in an accepted holy book does not qualify it as being any less truthful.
Placing her doubts of truthfulness aside I want to show, that there may be another solution to the glass code that was glaringly
secreted within the Epiphany Window (at Langley Chapel), after all. One that follows a more biblical route which should then hopefully
appease the doubting Thomas’s of this world. That could be quite a challenge I hear the reader whisper but bear with me while I take you
on a journey. What will truly surprise everyone in the end is that no matter which one of these two paths are taken, they both lead to the
same location. With this in mind I sat down and thought long and hard, about the three original locations that Graham Phillips had
successfully decrypted from the three bible passages, originally left by Jacob Cove-Jones. I have to agree with Graham and Dan when
they described this antiquarian as a true genius because of both the complexity and attention to detail involved with this code. The
passage taken from Solomon 5:13 was as follows.
His eyes are as the eyes of doves by the rivers of waters, washed with milk, and fitly set. His cheeks are as a bed of spices, as sweet
flowers: his lips like lilies, dropping sweet smelling Myrrh. Hands are as gold rings set with the beryl.
This clue led to the beryl stone being discovered in a wall right next to a weir at "The Saxon Mill" public house located on Crown tree
lane. So at this point I asked myself, why this pub, what was the significance. Was it just a random place that seemed to fit the bible
passage perfectly? I concluded there must be more to this clue than meets the eye and I decided almost immediately that the main
aspect of this passage was the water washed with milk. This according to Graham was the main clue that helped them to discover the
gemstone hiding place when they crossed over the weir to the other side. It was hidden in the wall right next to the weir so in my opinion
the weir was the principle part of the clue. At this moment I thought right this must be important so decided to Google “famous weirs”.
Unfortunately as I sniggered to myself, nothing stood bold amongst the pages of famous people that were presented before me and so
as this did not provide me with any useful information, I put it to one side. Before continuing I made a mental note that this clue
originated from Gaspar's gift and his bible passage before swiftly moving on to the second bible passage as presented by Balthazar in the
window taken from Genesis 2:10-12.
The name of the first is Pison: that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold; and the gold of that land is
good: there is bdellium and the onyx stone.
When we look at the clue and how Graham interpreted it, we soon realise that the primary key to it is the bridge at Brierley where the
second gemstone was discovered. I deduced from this that the fourth artefact would also probably be revealed by the position of a
particular bridge. After googling famous bridges I realised yet again that this did not narrow the search down enough either, to make any
meaningful deductions. Then as I stared at the window again it came to my attention that as well as the bridge image on the casket there
was an arch of a second bridge image down the bottom right. Both images are shown here.
I thought this too must be relevant to the quest but then I got distracted by the window tiles that seemed to portray subjects with halos
around them as shown in their glory. This chosen wording will soon become apparent.
I concentrated my research on these for a while because there were four small tiles depicting them and something struck me as being
odd about them. They were usually associated with saints or the head of Christ but in this window the halos surrounded other subjects
such as a swan, knight, horse or a phoenix. This I knew must be a clue of some description because of its blatant misuse so I looked up
the definition of the word "Halo". I was surprised to learn of another particular word associated with it, namely “gloriole”, which is a ring
of light used to surround a figure in art. Why I asked myself again was Jacob drawing our attention to it by surrounding these particular
subjects with a gloriole? At this point something triggered an alarm bell and I remembered my family had been to Lincoln recently, to
check out the University there with my Grandson and on his return, he showed me a picture of a bridge with shops built on it that he had
photographed during his visit. At the time I remembered Googling it and discovering that the narrow opening created by the arch of this
bridge, had been called the 'Glory Hole' by boaters for a number of years. The bridge itself was called High Bridge but what struck me
more than anything else was this nickname. The passage itself was not always known locally as the ‘Glory Hole’ however as in the Middle
Ages, it was termed the ‘Murder Hole,’ because according to locals whenever a body was thrown into the River Witham, it would often
wash ashore under or near the bridge. Its name was later modified to ‘Glory Hole’ to distant itself from any further death connotation. So
“Glory Hole/Gloriole” is a slang term used to refer to the Halo surrounding the heads of saints or Christ but in the context of this bridge it
describes the arch and passage going underneath. I wondered whether I had unwittingly stumbled upon our location through this
particular clue within the window. There does appear to be a figure underneath the arch in the image at the bottom right as shown here
giving the perspective of a boater as they pass underneath.
This particular bridge is quite important historically because there has been one on this site since Roman times and it is also only one of
three bridges in England that still has mediaeval buildings on it. At this point I was still not one hundred percent convinced about the
derived information discovered so far or the validity of Lincoln being the location of the fourth artefact referred to in the Epiphany
Window. I therefore decided it would take a little more research before complete acceptance could be possible. I decided it was time to
look at the third bible passage to see if it too could be linked to Lincoln. The passage was taken from Revelation 21:10.
Having the glory of God: and her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal;
And had a wall great and high, and had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are the names of
the twelve tribes of the children of Israel:
Before I go any further I would like to draw our
attention to the word glory in that passage from a
purely coincidental view point, in light of the recent
Glory Hole development. Indeed like a guiding light a
further example is shown in the verse as it appears at
the bottom of the window. Look to the right where I
have highlighted it in red. We know this to be the
fifth or last verse of a Christmas Hymn called ‘Earth
Has Many a Noble City’.
Which I want to highlight the fourth verse from
the hymn as follows:-
In it we are informed of the mystical meanings of
the three gifts that the three wise men brought
namely that Myrrh foreshows the tomb of the
King and in the Epiphany window this particular
gift happens to be depicted right next to the red
casket image. I will talk more about the casket
later but is this yet another coincidence maybe.
The third bible passage led Graham to The St. Michael and All Saints church at Claverdon which, used to have twelve gates surrounding
it, of which the gemstone was found in the brickwork next to of one them. I studied the clues carefully and thought the gates are the
most important subject in this clue but then asked myself why. Reading about the passage and its meaning, the twelve gates in
Revelation belong to the “New Jerusalem” which came down from heaven to the new earth. From this I realised the potential of Lincoln
being a candidate by the fact that like Jerusalem, it too had many gates that allowed entry though it's medieval walled city. In fact it has
a North, South, East and West gate like Jerusalem and many of the roads around the city today still have gate in their names. More
interesting than this however was that I remembered Dan had pointed out to us, within one of his many articles and blogs the
following information. There is a place to the East of Lincoln called "Jerusalem" which no one has yet determined its foundation date. Is
this the actual place alluded to by Melchior’s clue the "New Jerusalem" because it seems highly significant and would we not expect his
gift of gold to be the most revealing of the three clues. There is no other place name in England called Jerusalem so to all intents and
purposes this might be the only place it could possibly be pinpointing. Well now I was intrigued because two of the bible clues so far
might have led us to Lincoln. Let us examine the weir clue again and see whether we can confirm that it too plays a part. Unbelievably
after a short search around Lincoln I found a suitable candidate. Remarkably there is a channel of water to the south of Lincoln called
"Bargate Weir" (shown in the left hand image below) which in my opinion would be far too coincidental for it not to be the one we
were searching for on account that surprise, surprise it contains the word gate in it. It has been there for a hundreds of years so
definitely there in Jacobs day. Also if we look at the window this name almost comes implied by the fact that the weir tile to the bottom
right is just above a bar going across the window and Melchiors gift that features prominently in this section does have a gate on it so
it could be derived quite easily once one is familiar with the name.
Therefore after careful analysis of the
three original bible clues I have hopefully
managed to link them to Lincoln. I have
summarised everything deducted so far
just from these passages and displayed it
diagrammatically to the left.
Bargate Weir is in effect a mirror of the one at the Saxon
Mill pub, High Bridge is the mirror of the Brierley viaduct
bridge and lastly the “New Jerusalem” is a tiny hamlet
found about 3 miles to the west of Lincoln that is so
cleverly linked to by the third passage taken from
Revelations. Our doubting Thomas should be pleased I
have managed to identify the implied location from the
three bible passages. However I would expect her to say,
that it was all supposition and not founded on any real
evidence. On that basis I thought she may be right so I’d
give her the benefit of the doubt. I started to delve a little
deeper by placing the three locations onto my laptop
copy of Google Earth. Almost Immediately I observed
that if we align “Bargate Weir” with “High Bridge” it
passes through to the “Bishops Palace” and then all the
way through to yes can you guess Lincoln Cathedral.
These points of interest are all depicted in the window as
shown in the image to the left and the map alignment of
these points shown to the right. In a similar fashion I
overlaid some of the other locations like Melchior’s “New
Jerusalem Road Sign” to the east of Lincoln with Lincoln
Castle (coupled with the crown court) plus “The Morning
Star” pub.
Then by placing the two alignments together we end up with a crossing point as shown on the image above.
This is what we get if we align the beacon and the bridge as
implied by the two curved red lines on the tiles shown to the
right.
So now doesn’t this become interesting? By analysing the three passages and then linking the original gemstone locations to three
implied new ones we have identified Lincoln Cathedral as the possible location of the fourth artefact. Analysing further I can also
demonstrate the part Pubs/Inns/Taverns play in pinpointing this area.
If we look at the Epiphany Window
towards the top left there are two
panels appearing adjacent and one of
them shows a combination of letters
that we would normally expect as a
monogram IHS for Jesus Christ. As I
have explained though there does
appear to be a gap between where an
“H” would not expect one.These letters
when put together become ICSL which
is an abbreviation for “Inns of Court
School of Law” or “Lincoln's Inn” the
short name. I wondered at this point
whether this was a clue that some of
the tiles might represent inns located
around Lincoln. For instance the tile
adjacent to this one could well be “The
Shakespeare” as it is well known that
the “Spear Shakers” were thought to
have held meetings at Gray’s Inn and
the head of the group was William
Shakespeare himself.
I have shown all possible
pubs/inns/taverns that
may be derived from the
window and illustrated
them to the left.
Their map locations are
shown here except the
“Dovecote” which is
slightly further South
West beyond the bottom
boundary. Notice the
“The Ivy Tavern” situated
positionally very close to
the Church of St.
Nicholas and the “M” tile
seemingly shown
overlaying ivy which is a
Xmas decoration.
Absolutely priceless clue
used to finalize the
eventual location.
Align the Dovecote pub with “High Bridge” and the “Dunstan Pillar” with “High Bridge” as implied by the tiles from the window,
shown to the left and then further indicated by the map image to the right. You end up with an arrow pointer that because of its ‘V’
shape must imply that it is a guide pointer to “Lincoln Cathedral because of a “V” possibly being symbolic of the Grail. “Dunstan
Pillar” used to be a land lighthouse as explained below left that used to light up Lincoln Heath. It would have been well known in
Jacob’s day.
Overlaying ”Bar Gate Weir” - ”High Bridge” - ”Bishop’s Palace” alignment on the same map helps focus pointer with more accuracy.
One last alignment could possibly be the “G” tile that clearly shows a spiral staircase running through it. I think some of the tiles are
multi-purpose in their final decryptions and therefore the “G“ with a spiral staircase could well be alluding us to the Greenstone
Place/Stairs path.( Coincidentally as Dan has mentioned “Grees” means a flight of steps but a very interesting translation of another
similar pronounced old French word namely “Greal” which we know to mean a cup or bowl is almost too coincidental)
I have shown pictorially below where we end up if we align “High Bridge” through to the “Greestone Place” sign. It places us
through to where the gravestones are and I have projected a South East line from the Cathedral just to complete our rough ‘X’
marks the spot location.
There is always the question as to how
we know it is the tomb of Mary
Magdalene being implied as the Holy
Grail.
There is always the question as to how we know it is the tomb of Mary Magdalene
being implied as the Holy Grail. I suppose the main clue is a biblical one in that the
bible tells us that, when Jesus was crucified by the Romans, it was Mary Magdalene
who was there at Calvary supporting him. She also later discovered the empty tomb
and witnessed his resurrection. As we can see the red casket sits between two tiles
depicting such a theme in the window. The top left shows an Ouroboros, which in this
instance, is the ancient symbol of a serpent shown eating its own tail. The snake is
quite often a symbol of resurrection as it appears to be continually reborn on shedding
its skin. It represents the cycle of life, death and rebirth leading to immortality as does
the Phoenix too depicted to the bottom right.
The second clue is the colour of the casket as she was depicted as the scarlet woman
and was always painted red in art.
The third clue is the Crown over M theme which can be seen in numerous forms on the
window. The crown in my opinion represents the Cathedral Church of the Blessed
Virgin Mary because it sits on the crown of a hill overlooking Lincoln. The M at the
bottom tries to imply the crypt of Mary Magdalene that sits beneath the level of the
Cathedral.
In a similar fashion Clue four shows these two tiles sitting on top and below the bar
that runs across the window. On top is the rose again that represents the Cathedral
Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary and below the bar grapes which are a known
symbol for the Grail.
Clue five seems to be a depiction of a vase or vessel and a symbol often associated
with Mary Magdalene.
The castle tile as agreed with Dan, must be Lincoln Castle because it is located on different levels, as is clearly portrayed in the
window. The many towers could well be because within the castle walls there is another building the “Lincoln Crown Court” as
implied by the crown/wigs tile next to it.
I have tried to incorporate as many biblical clues as possible in this solution to hopefully remove any doubt as to the final resting
place of the Magdalene. The actual location within Lincoln Cathedral has been shown to us already by Dan Green because of the
plethora of masonic clues left around the cathedral itself.
Before I finish I would just like to point out one more
little clue that I have spotted in addition to Dan’s
original observation. Can we observe the word “ROSE”
also hidden in the plaque as well as the “SE” direction?
I think there is enough evidence/synchronicity /coincidence and bible content presented here to give everyone second thoughts.
The glass code that was installed within Langley Chapel (c. 1908) and partially solved by Graham Phillips and friends back in 2004,
could well be ready to give up its final secret. How Jacob Cove-Jones became privy to this information alas is still a mystery. Unless
of cause he had successfully decoded it from the murals in the Burton Dassett Church which did in fact have a chalice depicted on
one of them. Either that or maybe he had links with a secret society, of whom someone shared the secret with him thus ensuring it
was encoded once more. The secret remained lost for over a century before fate played its part with Dan Green the first to identify
Lincoln as the potential final resting place of Mary Magdalene and hopefully now a second confirmation presented in these pages.
Could this solution be a revelation I hear whispered and I have to say alas, it may well have been Bible Revelations that could well
have given us the breakthrough needed to solve this code in glass.
Thanks for taking this journey with me.
J.B. Guest.