Aberdeen past and future laid bare
August 2009
This man died a very violet death. Sharp blade injuries have removed his upper jaw, broken the left side of his skull, removed his nose and made a large gouge on the top of his skull. The rear of the skull was probably fractured as well. There were other similar injuries on other parts of his body.
by Arthur Winfield
How old is the Kirk of St Nicholas? An easy question to ask, but not to answer. At one level it can be said that the West Kirk dates from 1755, whilst the stonework of the East Kirk is ‘new’, dating from 1837. However, those basic dates do not do justice to the complexity of the history of this building in the centre of Aberdeen.
In the middle ages the term matrix ecclesia, in Scots, the Mither Kirk, indicated an important church central to the life of the city. This hints that its history is far longer than at first appears. The kirk has kept changing – and it is in the process of changing again, altering the interior for 21st century use by the people of Aberdeen and surrounding areas. The Mither Kirk Project will create a new four-storey building inside the shell of the East Kirk. As preparation for this, an archaeological dig which took place in 2006 has taught us a lot more about the building and its early development.
This series of articles will consider different aspects of the kirk over the centuries and give a glimpse of what the future holds.
Tradition indicates that the kirk was founded in 1060, although there is absolutely no basis for this date. The first written evidence is a mention a century later in a papal document in 1157. Drum’s Aisle, which also includes the ‘Oil Chapel’, represents the transept of that building. It would be expected to be of a cruciform-shaped, so an excavation under the East Kirk would be expected to contain evidence of the eastern part of the building.
This was the case. Walls of that building were uncovered, although the side walls had been cut into to house the pillar bases of the later expanded building. The walls were sandstone and about a metre thick.
Kirk on the hill above the Putachie Burn
Interestingly there were two separate ‘east ends’ with a gap of about half a metre between. Why? It is not obvious now, but the kirk was on a hill, with quite a steep drop into the valley of the Putachie Burn – think of the steps down the side of the kirk into Correction Wynd.
There was evidence that the ground was quite unstable and slightly boggy. It seems that, shortly after being built, the east end slipped into the valley. The surviving stonework clearly showed how the new east end, strengthened with buttresses, had been built into the older sidewalls. Some of the sidewalls have been retained and can be seen from the viewing window off Drum’s Aisle.
These walls, along with those in Drum’s Aisle, were thought to be the oldest standing walls in Aberdeen. However, the archaeology gave us a surprise. Just beneath the viewing window emerged a curved apse-end of an earlier building, together with some of the mortar floor. Unfortunately a much later family burial area has removed some of the stones, but it clearly indicates that there was an earlier church here. How old is uncertain.
One view is that the stones were put in place about 1100, replacing an earlier wooden building. This suggestion arises because, within a few inches of the apse, there was an arc of babies’ burials. A radiocarbon date has been obtained on one of the skeletons and indicates a date of death between 890 and 1020 and wood from a hollowed log used as a coffin gave a date of early 11th century. The child had eaten a large proportion of fish in the diet and this affects the accuracy of the radiocarbon date from the skeleton, but these dates suggest a church has been here for more than 1,000 years ago. Building the wall without damaging the burials would have been very difficult, so it could be that the wall is much earlier than this.
When you look through the viewing window (accessed from Drum’s Aisle), the early apse is just below the window. The next most obvious feature is the wall running north to south at the far end of the dig. This is the west wall of St Mary’s Chapel, which will be discussed in the next article. The wall dates from the 15th century and was clearly built across the earlier graveyard, because many of the burials uncovered in this area were ‘cut off’ at the ankle by the construction of the wall built adjacent to them. From a slightly later date there are remains of the external wall of the 15th century expanded church. On the south side, the present wall was built straight on top of the remains of the demolished earlier wall.
The coffin with 10 handles
The archaeological dig did not only find walls. The building was progressively expanded over the previous graveyard. Thus there were burials – over 900 in total. It would be misleading to suggest that these were all ‘outside’, because some were burials inside the church. It cost four times as much to be buried under the chancel (the east end) than outside, thus some of these people would have been the ‘great and the good’ of their time.
Unfortunately, it has not yet been possible to identify any individual – the written records are not sufficiently detailed. One man was over six feet tall, decorated with silk, and his coffin had no less than 10 handles on it. All the bones have been recorded and studied and have produced a wealth of information.
One quite startling finding was that the average person buried here was very slightly taller than in the latest survey of people in Scotland. Most of us have been brought up to believe that people were far smaller in the past. Perhaps the findings are distorted because these people could afford good nutrition.
Many diseases were found – including osteoporosis, rheumatoid arthritis, rickets and syphilis – all shown by the bones. There were also many fractures – some still fractured, some well healed, others badly (probably very painfully) healed. One unfortunate man had been killed in battle – he had lost large parts of his upper jaw, due to a blade wound, and there were blade marks on his skull. One skull showed evidence of a craniotomy – a clean cut had removed its top, presumably during an autopsy.
There was one very touching burial – a mother who died in childbirth, the baby still in her pelvic girdle. Dental work also featured, with one skull having a twisted gold brace between two teeth! All the remains will be reburied – more about this in the last of the series.
There was much more to the dig than uncovering bodies. The soil in the church was very dry, so many items have survived which would not normally have done so. Contrary to the common myth about Aberdonians, there were more coins found in this dig than in all the other archaeological digs carried out by Aberdeen City Council Archaeological Unit put together. Many were placed on or in the wooden coffins, which allowed an accurate dating for those particular burials. With a few coffins the wood was well preserved, as were the metal fittings used.
Many of the burials were not in coffins and nothing remains of the linen shrouds other than the pins used to fasten them. It seems that vegetable-origin materials were not well preserved, but animal-origin materials were. Thus there were a number of examples of silk ribbons being used, there were fragments of leather and some woollen items – one which appears to be a knitted headdress.
A beautiful heart-shaped brooch
Very little jewellery or ornamentation was found, but there was one beautiful heart-shaped brooch, placed over the chest of an individual, possibly a love-token. Two gold earrings were found, one an intricate spiral shape. Another was a lead alloy cross on a copper chain. There were other, more religious adornments. One small pewter brooch features the Pieta. Only about an inch long – part of it is missing – it is typical of a pilgrim token in memento of a pilgrimage made. We know of no other like it featuring a pieta.
Four examples of a very well known pilgrim token were uncovered – scallop shells which came from Santiago de Compestella in northern Spain. The first was found loose in the soil. The second was on the thigh of a man, in the position where it was normal to wear it. Two were found in one burial during the last week of the dig around the head of a man, presumably having been on a head covering of some sort.
There were many other artefacts such as broken pottery and glass, parts of clay pipes, an ear scoop, even a pair of spectacle frames and one of the lenses. Bone was commonly used in past times, so many bone objects were found, incuding a comb, beads, various carved items of uncertain purpose and even a bone dice – church is not like that now!
A few remains indicated that the site had experienced other uses. The earliest was a collection of flint flakes and tools, such as would be produced by flint knapping – perhaps some 8,000 years ago. Slightly more recent was a collection of fish bones and evidence of fire, suggesting some form of fish processing taking place – tantalizing glimpses of times long gone.
An archaeological dig does not end when everything has been removed from the ground – there is post-excavation study to be carried out, using sophisticated scientific techniques. This ongoing work is likely to take many more years before it is complete. Eventually it is intended to publish all the findings as a book. At present there is a short illustrated report available with a brief description of the key findings and a little bit of the early post-excavation work. Copies can be purchased from the kirk or the Project Office (the lodge, just inside the Schoolhill gate to the kirkyard) at a cost of £2.50.
Even from this short article it is obvious that the Kirk of St Nicholas is a major heritage site in the City of Aberdeen. Part of the contribution from the Heritage Lottery Fund will be used to preserve the early apse, some of the 12th century church walls and the mediaeval staircase.
A £7m kirk for the 21st century
On the second floor there is to be an area where displays about the heritage of the kirk, its kirkyard and the city can be mounted. In the slightly longer term it is hoped to develop heritage tours, initially around the kirk, but – if they are successful – around parts of the city as well.
The Mither Kirk Project has taken about six years to reach this stage. We anticipate that contractors will be on site shortly to begin Phase 1 – the repair and restoration of the exterior fabric. Phase 2, the interior structures and fit out will follow as soon as funding permits.
When the project is finished, the completed building is to be known as OpenSpace. Creating a facility of this complexity and extent is expensive – over £7 million.
A great deal of money still has to be raised. If you are interested in helping, or learning more, please contact me at The Lodge, Kirk of St Nicholas, Back Wynd, Aberdeen, phone 01224-643580 or email arthurjwinfield@yahoo.com.
Arthur Winfield spent most of his working life teaching Pharmacy at Robert Gordon University and later at Kuwait University. Since retirement he has been full-time volunteer running the Mither Kirk Project. He is an elder and organist in the Kirk of St Nicholas Uniting.
This is an article from the August 2009 edition of Leopard Magazine. To read much more like this every month, see our subscription details.