Handbook and guide to Aberdeen / compiled for the Local Executive Committee by J. Scott Riddell.

  • British Medical Association
Date:
1914
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Handbook and guide to Aberdeen / compiled for the Local Executive Committee by J. Scott Riddell. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.

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    lighted window in the west end, the latter of which forms part of the granite work built by Bishop l.ichton or Leighton about 1450! The cathedral as it was in the sixteenth cen- tury was vastly larger than it is now. “ In 1560,” says Father llav (quoted in Baronial and Ecclesiastical Antiquities of Scotland), “ the Barons of Mernes, accompanied with some of the townsmen of Aberdeen, having demolished the monasteries of the Black and Grey Friars, fell to rob the cathedrale, which they spoiled of all its costly ornaments and jewels, and demolished the chancell. They stripped the lead, bells and others utensils, intending to expose them to sale in Holland ; but all this ill-gotten wealth sunk, by the just judgement of God, not far from the Girdleness ” [where the lighthouse now stands], “ The body of the cathedrale,” he continues, “ was preserved from utter ruin by the Earl of Huntly, and in 1607 repaired and covered with slate at the charge of the parish.” The little of the interior that had been spared was destroyed by the Cove- nanters in the Civil War. The following description of the manner in which the work of destruction was carried out is given by Douglas in his Account of the East Coast of Scotland : The high altar, a piece of the finest workmanship of anything of the kind in Ivurope, had to that time remained inviolate, but in (lie year 1649 was hewed to pieces, by order and with the aid of tile parish minister. Tile carpenter employed for this infamous purpose, awed by the sanctity of the place, and struck with tile noble workmanship, refused to lay a tool on it, till the more than Gothic priest look the hatchet from his hand and struck the first blow. The wainscottiug was richly carved and ornamented with different kinds of crowns on top. admirably cut ; one of these large, and of superior workmanship —even staggered the zeal of the furious priest ; lie wished to save it. perhaps as a trophy over a fallen enemy. Whatever his motives may have been, his hopes were disappointed ; while the carpenter rudely hewed down the supporting timbers, the crown fell from a great height, ploughed up the pavement of the church, and flew in a thousand pieces. The roof is the only woodwork now left of tire original fittings of the cathedral. This heraldic ceiling, which is still well preserved, was put up by Gavin Dunbar about 1520; on it may be seen three rows of shields with the blazons of “ Kings, Priests, Prelates, Potentates and Peers.” Some attempt to patch up the ruined building was made in 1607, but Cromwell’s soldiers found the eastern part a con- venient quarry for materials with which they built a citadel on Castle Hill. Owing to the dilapidation thus caused, the great steeple, which rose at the junction of the choir and nave, fell down in 1688, crushing the choir and transepts, and doing much damage to the nave. Since the suppression of the last Jacobite rising in 1745 the history of the city of Aberdeen has been one of steadily increasing prosperity.
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