Archaeology Notes

Event ID 850477

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/850477

NJ90NW 7.00 9398 0813

NJ90NW 7.01 NJ 93956 08149 Chapel

NJ90NW 7.02 NJ 93943 08152 Elphinstone Monument

NJ90NW 7.03 NJ 93936 08246 24 High Street, Sacrist's House

NJ90NW 7.04 NJ 93976 08104 Quadrangle, Library.

NJ90NW 7.05 NJ 94054 08096 Sports pavilion

NJ90NW 7.06 NJ 93974 08310 Taylor Building Block D

NJ90NW 7.07 NJ 9403 0819 Watching Brief (Elphinstone Hall)

NJ90NW 7.08 NJ 93950 08234 High Street, New Kings Building

NJ90NW 7.09 NJ 93937 08264 Taylor Building Block E

NJ90NW 7.10 NJ 93930 08211 New Kings Building, Gateway

NJ90NW 7.11 NJ 94014 08198 Elphinstone Hall

NJ90NW 7.12 NJ 94002 08148 Cromwell Tower (Elphinstone Hall)

NJ90NW 7.13 NJ 93977 08130 King's College Quadrangle, Well

For trial excavations within the area of College Bounds, see NJ90NW 104-6.

For associated buildings in College Bounds, see NJ90NW 272 and NJ90NW 683 -709.

For Powis Gates (NJ 93925 08022), see NJ90NW 2625.

(NJ 939 081) 'King's College', originally dedicated to the Virgin Mary, but thereafter known as the 'Royal College' or 'King's College' after James IV (Kennedy 1818), was the original college of the Unviersity of Aberdeen, instituted in 1494, although building apparently started in 1500. The only original buildings surviving are the chapel (NJ 9397 0815) and the 'Ivy Towere' (NJ 9400 0811) (MacGibbon and Ross 1897), which formed part of the SE corner of the old building. Immediately east of the chapel on the north side of the modern quadrangle is the 'Cromwell Tower' (NJ 9400 0814) built in 1658 (Simpson 1939).

The chapel, founded in 1500 is a long, narrow building with an apsidal east end. A tower at the SW corner is surmounted by one of the very rare 'crown' spires. The buttressed exterior of the chapel is decorated with coats of arms.

The Ivy Tower also dates from the 16th century, but is a rubble-built, semi-circular tower, three storeys high of much inferior workmanship to the chapel. The original windows have been blocked and others inserted. The Cromwell Tower, allegedly erected by Cromwell's troops, bears the date 1658 and is a plain rectangular building, three storeys high, with an apparently modern battlemented top. The original windows have been blocked and others inserted as in the 'Ivy Tower'.

All three buildings bear evidence of restoration. The other buildings of the college are of 19th and 20th century date.

W Kennedy 1818; D MacGibbon and T Ross 1897; W D Simpson 1939.

Visited by OS (JLD) 12 September 1952.

Several small trenches were opened up during the installation of floodlights on the W front. The foundations of the 1832 frontage were exposed. A drainage channel was discovered running parallel to this frontage and was thought to be associated with its connstruction. At the front of the site was a cobbled area which may be of fairly recent date.

J A Stones and A S Cameron 1989.

Air photographs: AAS/00/12/CT.

NMRS, MS/712/100.

A watching brief was carried out in October 2004 during the installation of an electric cable through the lawn to the N of King's College Chapel. In a trench running between the High Street, Old Aberdeen and the Elphinstone Hall there was no evidence of any activity that might have been associated with the medieval frontage of the High Street - an area shown as garden ground on both Gordon's map of 1661 and the 1866-67 OS map of Aberdeen. In a second trench, running parallel to and E of the High Street to New King's Building, two walls and an area of flooring were uncovered, which are tentatively identified as relating to a 19th century professorial manse.

H K Murray 2004

Sponsor: University of Aberdeen

An archaeological excavation was carried out in December 2003 prior to the installation of a new organ in the chapel. Concrete flooring was removed and the ground excavated to natural level. In one trench a cut was revealed in the natural subsoil. The cut contained looses loam, stones and gravel, and a small number of iron nails with wood adhering. A fragmentary skeleton was cleaned. The grave had been disturbed, probably when the previous organ was installed, in 1959. Brick and stone supports were inserted under the floor during this time to add strength. It was ascertained that the burial took place in the chapel after its construction, thought to be around 1497-8.

A Cameron 2004

NJ 939 081 Monitoring of trenches took place in August and September 2005 for the floodlighting of various University of

Aberdeen buildings including King's College Chapel (NJ90NW 7 ; c 1500), New King's and Elphinstone Hall. The foundations of the chapel were recorded, including an Xshaped mason's mark on a sandstone block in the foundation of a buttress in the NE corner of the chapel. The foundations of the N wall of the chapel were 0.5-0.6m wide, whereas there was no foundation on the W side: the sandstone blocks were laid immediately onto the stone and gravel subsoil. A stone culvert was recorded adjacent to the W wall of the chapel; this was recorded in 1989 (DES 1989, 18) during a previous floodlighting scheme. One wall foundation was recorded in a trench in front of New King's; it was probably one of the walls of the brewery seen on the 1867 OS map.

Archive to be deposited in NMRS.

Sponsor: City of Aberdeen.

NJ 939 081 Previous watching briefs (Stones and Cameron, DES 1989, and Murray, DES 2004) in the area uncovered the foundations of the 1832 frontage and associated drainage channel and also walls and an area of flooring thought to be related to a 19th-century professorial manse. An archaeological watching brief was carried out in April 2006 on the ground-breaking works associated with the installation of floodlighting in front of King's College, Aberdeen. Excavation of a small service trench revealed the remains of an earlier N/S running wall extending from beneath a buttress of the present wall. Also traces of a parallel stone-built culvert were observed. No dating evidence was observed but these features appear to correspond to those identified in an earlier watching brief undertaken in 1989, which identified the wall as being part of the 1832 frontage.

Archive to be deposited in NMRS.

Sponsor: Aberdeen University

Victoria Clements, 2006.

NJ 9398 0813 A watching brief was undertaken on 5 April 2007 on a number of engineering test pits within the area of the medieval burgh of Old Aberdeen. No archaeological features or finds were evident.

Report deposited with Aberdeen City SMR and RCAHMS.

Funder: University of Aberdeen.

J C Murray, 2007.