Cross of Lorraine

A less obvious Templar connection to the Clyde was the wartime presence of the Free French. This heroic order were set up by Charles De Gaulle, who was himself believed to be a member of one of the Knights Templar's controversial modern successors The Priory of Sion. The Priory was of course popularised by Baigent, Leigh and Lincoln's  "The Holy Blood and The Holy Grail" and more recently, Dan Brown's "The Da Vinci Code", however, there are many who completely refute its existence and insist it is nothing more than a hoax. There is an excellent database of Priory material you can spend hours looking through here.

The Free French Order of the Liberation deliberately borrowed organisational elements from medieval knights, a new chivalry serving a cause and a religious ideal; the freedom of France from the invading infidel. It is for this reason that De Gaulle adopted the Cross of Lorraine as the symbol of these new crusaders.

The cross, commemorated locally upon Lyle Hill, is also the cross of the Knights Templar. In fact Godfrey de Bouillon, Duke of Lorraine founded the Order of Sion, a precursor to the Knights Templar, set up during the French occupation of Jerusalem.