ABERDEEN-OLD, or Old-Machar, a parish, chiefly without, but partly within,
the city of Aberdeen, in the county of Aberdeen; comprising the
former quoad sacra parishes of Bon-Accord, Gilcomston, Holburn,
and Woodside; and containing 28,020 inhabitants. This place,
originally a small hamlet, consisting only of a few scattered
cottages, was, from the erection of a chapel near the
ancient bridge of Seaton by St. Machar in the ninth
century, called the Kirktown of Seaton. It was undistinguished,
however, by any event of importance till the
year 1137, when it became the seat of a diocese, on the
removal of the see of Aberdeen by David I. from Mortlach,
in the county of Banff, where it was originally
founded by Malcolm II., and had continued for more
than 120 years. Bishop Kinnimond, at that time prelate
of the see, founded a cathedral church on the site of
the ancient chapel of St. Machar; and towards the end
of the thirteenth century, this church was taken down by
Bishop Cheyne, for the purpose of erecting a structure
of more ample dimensions, and more appropriate character;
but in the contested succession to the throne of
Scotland, becoming an adherent of Baliol, he was compelled
to retire into e.xile, and the rebuilding of the
cathedral was suspended. On the establishment of
Robert Bruce, that monarch recalled the exiled bishop,
who recommenced the work; and the undertaking was
continued by his successors, of whom Bishop Elphinstone,
the founder of King's College, with the assistance
of James IV., made rapid progress in the rebuilding of
the cathedral. It was completed by Bishop Dunbar, in
1.518, and, since the abolition of episcopacy in Scotland,
has been appropriated as the parish church. In the
Burgh Seal.
long line of bishops who made this place the seat of
ecclesiastical state, there were some who by their deeds
and character threw a lustre even upon their high and
holy office.
The TOWN is pleasantly situated on a gentle eminence,
near the river Don. Across the river is an ancient picturesque
bridge of one lofty arch, in the early English
style, said to have been built by Bishop Cheyne, though
by others ascribed to King Robert Bruce, and concerning
which, under the appellation of the Brig of Balgownie, a
traditionary legend prophetic of its downfall is quoted
by Lord Byron. Considerably to the east of this, is
another bridge, affording a passage from Aberdeen to
the north, erected from the funds for keeping the old
bridge in repair, originally left for that purpose by Sir
Alexander Hay, and which, from £2. 5. 6., had accumulated
to £20,000: it is a handsome structure of five
arches, built of granite. The principal street, which
consists of houses irregularly built, extends from south
to north, to the town-house, where it diverges into two
branches, one leading to the church, and the other to
the old bridge; the streets are lighted, and the inhabitants
are well supplied with water by commissioners
appointed by the rate-payers. The environs are extremely
pleasant, and richly wooded; and in the immediate
vicinity of the town are numerous villas.
On the establishment of the see at this place, the town
was made a burgh of barony, by charter of David I.;
and the various privileges conferred upon it by subsequent
sovereigns were confirmed by charter of George I., who
granted the inhabitants the power of choosing their own
magistrates. The government is vested, by charter, in a
provost, four bailies, a treasurer, and council of eight
merchant and five trade burgesses, assisted by a townclerk,
procurator-fiscal, and other officers. There are
seven incorporated trades, viz., the hammermen, weavers,
tailors, wrights and coopers, bakers and brewers, fleshers
and fishers, and shoemakers, who elect their own deacons,
and also a deacon convener. The fees on entrance
to these trades, which confer the privilege of carrying on
trade in the burgh, are £8, and a payment of £3 to the
court of conveners; and for a merchant burgess £5. 7.
The jurisdiction of the magistrates extends over the
whole burgh, but is seldom exercised: not more than
two civil causes have been determined in one year; in
criminal cases, their jurisdiction is limited to petty misdemeanors,
and all more serious offences are referred
to the sheriff's court. For parliamentary purposes the
burgh is associated with Aberdeen, and the right of
election, under the Reform act, is vested in the resident
£10 householders of the place. The number of members
of all the several guilds does not in the aggregate
exceed 120, and of these not more than fifteen exercise
any trade. The town-hall, which is situated at the
northern extremity of the principal street, was built by
subscription, in 1702, and has been since rebuilt. It
contains a spacious hall for public meetings, a couucilroom
for the occasional use of the magistrates, and
various other apartments; in the upper floor is the
grammar school, and on the ground floor a school for
English. Opposite to the town-hall was formerly an
ancient cross, consisting of a pedestal bearing the arms
of the Bishops Dunbar, Stewart, and Gordon, from which
rose a pillar surmounted by an effigy of the Virgin Mary;
but this was removed on the rebuilding of the hall.
Since the dissolution of the see^ the town has owed
its chief prosperity and support to its university, which
was founded by Bishop Elphinstone, in the reign of
James IV., who for that purpose procured a bull from
Pope Alexander VI. The college was first dedicated to
St. Mary; but from the great liberality of the monarch in
its endowment, it was subsequently
called King's College, a designation it has
ever since retained. The first principal of the college
was Hector Boethius, the celebrated historian, under
whom and his successors it continued to flourish till the
Reformation, when many of its functionaries were expelled.
In 1578, the institution received a charter from
the parliament, after which it languished under the gross
mismanagement of its principals, who sold the ornaments
of the chapel, alienated the revenues for their own
emolument, and committed other abuses. In 1619,
however. Bishop Forbes, by great perseverance, recovered
part of the alienated property, and restored several
of the professorships, to which, in 1628, he added a
professorship of divinity, which was afterwards held by
his son. From this time, the institution revived, and
continued to flourish till the introduction of the Covenant,
for refusing to sign which several of the professors
were expelled, among whom was Dr. Forbes, the divinity
professor. Many of the new professors appointed by
the Covenanters were, in their turn, ejected by Cromwell,
under whom General Monk despatched Colonels Desborough,
Fenvvick, and others, to visit and reform the
college: these officers, though they removed some of the
professors, and appointed others, still promoted the
general interests of the establishment, and subscribed
liberally towards the erection of houses for the students.
After the restoration of Charles II., the bishops of Aberdeen
assumed their authority as chancellors of the university,
and reformed the disorders which had been
introduced during the interregnum.
The university, as at present constituted, is under
the direction of a chancellor, generally a nobleman of
high rank, who is elected by the senutus acadciiiicus; a
rector, chosen by the same body; and a principal and
sub-principal, elected by the rector, procuratores gentium,
and the professors, and admitted by the chancellor.
There are nine professorships, of which those of Greek,
humanity, medicine and chemistry, and civil law, are in
the patronage of the rector, prncuratores, and senatus
(icademicus; that of divinity in the patronage of the
synod of Aberdeen, the principal, and dean of faculty of
theology; those of mathematics, natural philosophy, and
moral philosophy, in the patronage of the senutus academicus;
and that of oriental languages, in the patronage
of the crown. There are also eleven lectureships, of
which that of practical religion is in the patronage of
the trustees of John Gordon, Esq., of Murtle, the
founder; and those of the evidences and principles of
the Christian religion, Murray's Sunday lectures, materia
medico, anatomy and physiology, surgery, practice of
medicine, midwifery, institutes of medicine, medical
jurisprudence, and botany, are all in the patronage of
the senutus academicus. The number of bursaries is
above 150, varying from £5 to £50 per annum, and
mostly tenable for four years. Of these, ninety-six are
open to public competition, and the others are in the
patronage of the professors of the college, or representatives
of the founders.
The site of the college occupies a quadrangular area
of considerable extent, surrounded with buildings raised
at different periods, of which the most ancient were
erected in 1500. The whole possesses a strikingly
venerable appearance. In the north-west angle is a
lofty massive tower, strengthened with canopied buttresses,
bearing the royal arms of Scotland, and those
of Stewart, Archbishop of St. Andrew's, and others:
above the parapet is a lantern, supported by flying buttresses
springing from the angles, in the form of an
imperial crown; This kind of lantern also surmounts
the cathedral of St. Giles at Edinburgh, the Cross or
Tolbooth steeple at Glasgow, and at one time surmounted
the central tower of the parish church of Haddington,
and the tower of the church of Linlithgow: in England,
only one example of it is known, namely, that which, far
excelling any of these in the north, crowns the tower of
St. Nicholas' church at Newcastle-on-Tyne. On the
north side of the college quadrangle is the ancient chapel
erected by Bishop Elphinstone, originally a stately
structure of elegant design, with a lofty spire, and internally
embellished with most costly ornaments, which, as
before noticed, were sold by the parliamentarian functionaries.
The nave is now appropriated to the use of the
college library, and the chancel is the college chapel.
There are still remaining, in the former portion, many
traces of its pristine beauty, and an inventory in Latin of
the various ornaments of the chapel; and in the chancel
are the rich tabernacle work of the prebendal stalls, the
pews for the diocesan synod, the carved oak roof, and
the tombs of Bishop Elphinstone and the first principal,
Boethius. The south side of the quadrangle, rebuilt by
Dr. Eraser in 1725, is of plain character, ll'i feet in
length, with a piazza in front, and at the extremities
were circular towers, of which one only is remaining.
The common hall, which is sixty feet in length, and
twenty-three feet wide, contains numerous portraits by
Jamieson, including portraits of Bishops Elphinstone,
Dunbar, Forbes, Leslie, and Scougal, Professors Sandiland
and Gordon, George Buchanan, and Queen Mary.
In the committee-room is a painting, on panel, of the
college as it appeared in the sixteenth century. The
library contains a very valuable and extensive collection
of books and manuscripts, and was formerly entitled to
a copy of every work entered at Stationers' Hall, of
which privilege it was deprived by act of parliament in
1836, the loss being compensated for by an annual
grant of £Z1Q. It comprises about 34,000 volumes.
The museum contains a large collection of specimens in
mineralogy and zoology, numerous Grecian and Roman
coins and antiquities, casts from ancient gems, and some
valuable books of engravings illustrative of these subjects:
this department was, in 1 790, enriched with the
coins and medals bequeathed by Dr. Cummin, of Andover,
and has been subsequently increased by numerous
specimens. A commodious room, in the more modern
portion of the building, was handsomely fitted up by
subscription, in the year 1842, as a museum of natural
history.
Among the many distinguished individuals that have
been connected with the university may be noticed,
George, Earl Marischal, the founder of Marischal College;
Chancellor Gordon, of Haddo, created Earl of
Aberdeen in lee's; Dr. Thomas Bovver, an eminent
mathematician; the celebrated Dr. Reid, professor of
philosophy, and afterwards of Glasgow; Lord Monboddo;
Mr. Charles Burney, a distinguished Greek
scholar; Arthur Johnston, a Latin poet; Dr. James
Gregory, and his sons, afterwards professors of medicine
at Edinburgh; Robert Hall, the distinguished preacher;
and Sir James Mackintosh.
The PARISH originally comprehended the parishes of
New Machar and Newhills, which, after the Reformation,
were separated from it: anciently there was a deanery
of St. Machar. The present parish is about eight miles
in length, and varies from two to four in breadth, situated
on a peninsula, between the rivers Dee and Don.
Its surface rises gradually from the sea-shore, and the
scenery is interspersed with flourishing plantations, and
with the windings of the Dee and the Don, the banks of
which latter are richly wooded, and in some parts, from
their precipitous acclivity and rugged aspect, have a
strikingly romantic appearance. The higher grounds
command extensive views of the German Ocean, of the
lofty and ancient bridge on the one side, and on the
other of the cathedral and the spires of Aberdeen. The
soil is various, in some parts richly fertile, and in others
almost sterile; but the lands are generally in good cultivation,
and the state of agriculture highly improved.
The annual value of real property in the parish is
£67,192.
Ecclesiastically the parish is in the presbytery and
synod of Aberdeen, and patronage of the Earl of Fife
the stipend of the first minister is £2*3. 1. 3., and that
of the second £282. 19. 9., with a manse, and a glebe
valued at £31. 10. per annum. The church was formerly
an elegant structure, of which the choir was destroyed
by the reformers; and the remainder of the
building was preserved from demolition only by the
Earl of Huntly, and Leslie of Balquhan, who, at the
head of a large body of their armed retainers, drove
away the band which had been assembled for its destruction.
The interior of the remaining portion suffered
great mutdation under the Covenanters, who
destroyed the altar, and the rich carvings and other
ornaments; and in 1688, the high tower at the east
end of the nave, which had been undermined by the
soldiers of Cromwell, through the removal of masonry
for the erection of their works at Castle-hill, and which,
with its spire, 150 feet in height, had long served as a
landmark to mariners, fell to the ground, destroying in
its fall a considerable portion of the nave, with several
of the monuments. The great arches on which the
central tower was supported, have been built up, and
the two towers at the west end are in good preservation;
they are 112 feet high, and after rising to the height of
fifty-two feet in a quadrilateral form, are continued by a
succession of octangular turrets, decreasing in size till they
terminate in a finial surmounted by a cross. The nave
is nearly perfect; and its western front, built of the
obdurate granite of the country, is stately in the severe
symmetry of its simple design. The choir seems never
to have been finished; and of the transepts, only the
foundations now remain. The ceiling of the nave is
divided into forty-eight compartments, in which are
emblazoned, in vivid colours recently renewed, the
armorial bearings of the Scottish kings, the ecclesiastical
dignitaries, and the principal nobility. Of the
several monuments still remaining, that of Bishop
Scougal, father of Henry Scougal, author of the Life of
God in the Soul of Man, is the most interesting and
entire; there are also a monument to William Blake of
Haddo, sub-principal of King's College, and tablets to
Gordon and Scott, professors, and David Mitchell, Esq.,
LL.D. The portion of the building appropriated as the
pari.sh church is neatly fitted up, and contains 1594
sittings; the chapel in King's College contains 350
sittings. There are places of worship for members of
the Free Church.
The grammar school, which is held in the town-hall,
is under the patronage of the magistrates and council,
and is visited annually by the professors of the college,
and the ministers. The parochial school affords instruction
to about seventy scholars; the master has a salary
of £30, with an equal sum from the trustees of Dick's
bequest, and the fees average about £30 per annum.
There are also two schools on the Madras system,
founded by a bequest left by Dr. Bell. An hospital was
founded in 1531, by Bishop Dunbar, who endowed it
for twelve aged men; the buildings consisted of a refectory,
twelve dormitories, and a chapel surmounted
with a small spire. The endowment has been subsequently
increased by donations and bequests, and by
the proceeds of the sale of the buildings; the present
funds are about £3000, from the interest of which
twenty-one aged men derive relief. An hospital was
founded in 1801, by Dr. Mitchell, for lodging, clothing,
and maintaining five widows, and five unmarried daughters
of burgesses in indigent circumstances, for which
purpose he bequeathed ample funds, in trust, to the
principal of King's College, the provost and senior baihe
of the town, and the two ministers of the parish. The
building, which is situated near the church, is one story
high; it contains a kitchen, refectory, and dormitories,
neatly furnished; and attached to it is a pleasureground.
A dispensary was established in 1826.