Skeletal remains can show quite a lot about the health of the deceased person. In the human remains uncovered during the archaeological dig in the former East Kirk in 2006, there were clear indications of diseases which are uncommon today, such as the rickets and osteomalacia shown in a previous post. However, some conditions are still prevalent today; indeed, they might be increasing. This post shows such an example ─ bunions!!
Technically, a bunion is called hallux abducto valgus deformity. It forms when there is pro−longed sideways pressure on the big toe (the hallux) forcing it inwards. The tissue around the joint becomes swollen and tender to touch and some bony tissue may be deposited. Both of these contribute to the pain associated with bunions. Not all the swelling is caused by these effects on the joint, because some is the exposed end of the first metatarsal. It is salutary that societies where shoes are not worn do not have cases of bunions.
An example of a bunion found in the dig
A number of individuals were found during the archaeology who had suffered from bunions. One example is shown, the photograph having been taken by osteoarchaeologist Paul Duffy (Brandanii Archaeology and Heritage, www.discoverbutearchaeology.co.uk) during his detailed study of the remains.
St Mary’s Chapel will be open on Saturday, 30th May 2015 between 10 and 12.30.
The Chapel is one of those ‘hidden gems’ of Aberdeen, dating back to the 1440s it has a vaulted ceiling, fascinating carved bosses, the largest collection of carved wood from pews in Scotland, beautiful stained glass – yet is not often seen by people.
The OpenSpace Trust are opening the Chapel on the last Saturdaymorning of May, June, July and August between 10 am and 12.30 pm. There will be people available to explain what there is to see or to answer your questions, and for those who want to test themselves there is a quiz (with a prize!).
Entry will be through the door at the top of Correction Wynd, opposite Marks and Spencer and between Starbucks and GAP.
Entry is free, but we would welcome any donations towards the Mither Kirk Project.
In this post, we continue reviewing the development of the building as shown by the walls uncovered during the archaeology. This one looks at the building of St Mary’s Chapel. As with most of the early work there is insufficient written information to say when the work took place. It is known that from the early 15th century, plans were being made for the expansion of the relatively small main church to create a cathedral-sized building. However, this was hampered by the lie of the land. The existing building was on the top a small hill, with the ground sloping away gradually to the south towards the harbour and to the north towards the Loch. To the west was the Denburn valley and immediately to the east the fairly steep slopes of the Putachie Burn. Some idea of the latter can be seen today in the form of the steps down from the Kirkyard to the top of Correction Wynd.
In order to facilitate the expansion to the east a separate building was erected. This was a chantry chapel, now known as St Mary’s Chapel, which would act as an undercroft to allow the expansion of the church building above it at a later date. During the archaeological dig the west wall of the Chapel was uncovered and is shown as it is today in the photograph. The exact date of building the Chapel is not known, but it was probably around the 1440s. At the time it was erected St Mary’s Chapel was a completely separate building in the burial ground, about 10 feet to the east of the existing church building. There were burials in the ground between the two buildings and the west wall of St Mary’s Chapel was actually built on top of some of the burials.
West wall of St Mary’s Chapel from the dig area
There are two doorways through the wall which would have allowed access to the expanded building above – one can be seen in the photograph to the right, with a light in the Chapel showing through. One doorway lead to a stairway, part of which still remains. The other may have had a stair, but there is also evidence that there was some sort of sloping path or ramp (this will feature in a later blog). The wall itself has various features, the most obvious of which can be seen in the centre of the photograph, namely the protruding stones. It is assumed that these were built like this to allow the expanded church building to key into the wall. They would have acted as the springer, or lowest voussoir, of the arches supporting the floor of the expanded church later in the century. The top of the wall in the photograph was at the floor level of the former East Kirk. The soil which can be seen is at the ground level of Aberdeen a millennium ago. The vertical steel beam to the right is part of the temporary supports for the gallery above.
We return to finds in the archaeological dig for this post. A great many pins were found during the dig. Probably a large proportion of them would have originally been used as shroud pins, but they could have been used for clothing and other related purposes. Most of the pins were of metal. The first one was large, more like a small nail and was found in the area to the north of the 12th-13th century church, in what had been the burial ground. It is very plain and functional.
Pin with glass bead, note marks of 4 other beads
By contrast, the second one is smaller, a little over an inch long, and is more decorative. It is made of a copper alloy and has been decorated with a small glass bead. However, if you look closely, there are marks on the shaft of the pin indicating that, in fact, there had been four other glass beads on the original pin. Given this and its size, this must have been more for decoration than function.
Small carved bone pin
Metal was not the only material used. The final picture shows a small decorated pin made of bone. Again it is quite small, so the carving must have required considerable skill.
(The photographs are copyright Aberdeen Art Gallery & Museums Collections and are used with permission).
One of the most noticeable features in St Mary’s Chapel is the carved wood panels around the walls – the largest such assemblage in the country. Previously we have featured the wood from the choir stalls (by John Fendour in 1508) and the panel for Provost Alexander Rutherford (dated 1606). Around the walls are dozens of wood panels of different size and complexity of carving. Some panels are dated, the earliest being 1601 and the latest being 1677. Where did they come from?
After the Reformation, for which 1560 was the decisive year in Scotland, sermons became a more central and lengthy feature of worship. Seating, which was unusual in the middle ages, became very desirable. Wealthy people and public bodies began to be given permission to erect ‘desks’ or ‘lofts’ with seating, while the less well-to-do and women had to stand, or bring their own stools.
Outside of pew end Inside of pew end
People who had gone to the extent of paying to build a desk wished to mark it as theirs by having the ends, the seat backs, or the gallery breasts carved with a name, family crest, trade symbol or some other identifying motif. Some of these were quite elaborate, were often coloured, and display the skilled craftsmanship available locally. The first photographs show the outside and inside of one of these panels, the latter carved in the upper part, and the ledge for the seat to rest on.
When the churches ‘upstairs’ were changed, the carved wood was no longer required for its original purpose. Some was transferred to Greyfriars Church, some was auctioned and some was stored and later incorporated into the pews built in St Mary’s Chapel. The picture of the Chapel (taken from an old photograph) from the apse end, is from the later 1800s and shows the carved wood as used in this way.
Old photograph showing panels used in pews prior to 1898Wood panels displayed on the wall
During the 1890s, it was decided to restructure the interior of St Mary’s Chapel, the work being completed in 1898. It was felt that the existing arrangement did not do justice to the quality and interest of the wood, so the panels were arranged round the walls in their present day positions. The next photograph is of an area of wall in the north aisle, although unfortunately this wood had to be removed due to outbreaks of dry rot. It is currently stored in a specially built rack to prevent it warping as the building dries out as shown in the final photograph.
Removed wood panels stored in special rack to prevent warping
Several articles have been written about this woodwork, to interpret its meaning and identify those to whom it relates, but much remains to be done. We hope to be able to provide more detail in the future.
Easter Day is when Christians celebrate the resurrection of Jesus. They often greet each other that day with ‘Christ is Risen, He is risen indeed’. The resurrection is the foundation of the Christian faith, showing as it does the divine in Jesus, that he is the Son of God. Christians believe that through his death and resurrection, despite all that we do wrong, we can be reconciled with God.
Depiction of the resurrection is not as easy as for the crucifixion. Symbolically Jesus is often depicted as the Paschal Lamb, from the Old Testament practice of animal sacrifice as atonement for sin. In the non-conformist churches an empty cross is often used, as in this photograph taken in St John’s Chapel (the ‘Oil Chapel’) in the Kirk of St Nicholas.
Good Friday is one of the most sacred days of the year for Christians, when the death of Jesus by crucifixion is remembered. The exact date when this happened is not known. However, the Gospel accounts make it clear that it was on a Friday and scholars, whilst disagreeing over detail, seem to point towards the year AD33 or 34.
There are representations of the crucifixion in many churches – as paintings, sculptures or in stained glass. The photograph with this post is of the stylised representation of the crucifixion in the apse window of the former East Kirk of St Nicholas.
As recounted in the New Testament the Angel Gabriel appeared to Mary to tell her that she was to give birth to a son. The church calls this ‘the annunciation’ and, not surprisingly, celebrates it 9 months before Christmas. Traditionally the Feast of the Annunciation is celebrated on 25th March although the date may be changed depending on when Easter occurs. The first chapter of St Luke’s Gospel gives the fullest account of the annunciation. In it, the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary and told her that she was greatly blessed and would have a son – who would be called Jesus. Mary, who was engaged to be married to Joseph, found it difficult to comprehend, but in faith she was able to respond ‘I am the Lord’s servant, may it happen to me as you have said’. The story not only appears in the Bible, but a shorter version also appears in the Qur’an.
In the Christian church, the annunciation is important because it shows the human and the divine nature of Jesus. Many famous artists have attempted to depict the scene through the medium of paint. But it also features in many stained glass windows in churches – these windows were used to help teach Bible stories to those who could not read well. The picture with this article is part of a window in the West Kirk of St Nicholas which shows the annunciation. The window was made by the London firm of Burlison and Grylls and depicts five scenes from the life of Christ (including the nativity scene shown in the blog for Christmas 2014). In some depictions of the annunciation the Angel Gabriel is seen holding a white lily of purity. In this window, however, he is holding a sceptre – but the lilies are there, on the ground between Gabriel and Mary.
The photograph, which is copyright Aberdeen Art Gallery & Museums Collections, is used with permission.
Smoking tobacco in a pipe became popular in Europe in the late 16th century soon after the introduction of tobacco. At first tobacco was very expensive, so the bowl of a pipe was made small. As production of tobacco increased, so it became cheaper and the bowls were progressively made larger. A wide range of materials were used to make the pipes, but a common one in the early years was clay because it did not burn along with the tobacco. The disadvantage of clay is that it was easily broken. So, through the late 16th century and for the next couple of centuries, many towns around Europe had sizeable cottage industries producing the pipes to meet the demand to replace the breakages!
As with 20th century cigarettes, so with pipes, workmen often liked to have them in their mouths whilst working. To help a short-stemmed pipe was developed for this purpose, which could easily be held in the teeth to make it less likely that it would be dropped – and probably broken!
However, the constant rubbing of the teeth against the clay wore the surface of the tooth away. This produced a characteristic shape in the affected teeth. The first two pictures illustrating this article show the teeth of two individuals found during the archaeological dig on 2006. The ‘clay-pipe teeth’ wearing is obvious. The third photograph shows the same thing, but this time in a younger adult, before the teeth had been fully worn away, but nevertheless indicating that he had been smoking a pipe for quite some time. During the dig a large number of fragments of pipes were found, but none were complete.
(The photographs are copyright Aberdeen Art Gallery & Museums Collections and are used with permission).
Hamilton Memorial 2005 Photograph courtesy of Groves-Raines Architect
The high four-pillared monument, the most prominent in the Kirkyard, which stands near the Union Street Gate, commemorates Robert Hamilton (1743-1829). Made of granite, it was erected in 1843 by public subscription and was designed by the City Architect, John Smith, who some years previously, had designed the nearby screen and gateway.
Robert Hamilton had an interesting life having a variety of employments. Initially this was in banking, then industrial management, followed by school-mastering. In 1777 Robert Hamilton was appointed Professor of Natural Philosophy in Marischal College and later became Professor of Mathematics. He wrote widely, including an influential work on the National Debt. This no doubt included references to his interest in the economic consequences of slavery, as well as the moral awareness which then played a larger part in economic argument than it does today. He made significant contributions to the anti-slavery movement and was the first President of the Aberdeen Abolition Society a position he held until his death. He is still recognised in the City in the name of Hamilton Place.
Hamilton Memorial in 2015
The first picture, above, was taken by our architect about 10 years ago when the memorial was in much better condition. The second shows it as it is today with the central urn missing – it can just be seen to the bottom left unturned behind the memorial to ‘William Allen of Mileend’, and some weeds growing. The inscription to Robert Hamilton is in Latin. The contrast between the photographs shows the need to undertake regular maintenance of these old structures, because decay can quickly set in.
