Aberdeen, St Peter's Church And Hospital
Chapel (13th Century), Church (13th Century), Hospital (14th Century), Mausoleum (19th Century)
Site Name Aberdeen, St Peter's Church And Hospital
Classification Chapel (13th Century), Church (13th Century), Hospital (14th Century), Mausoleum (19th Century)
Alternative Name(s) Aberdeen, St Peter's Cemetery; St Peter's Chapel; Moir Of Scotstoun Mausoleum
Canmore ID 20064
Site Number NJ90NW 16
NGR NJ 94100 07692
NGR Description NJ 94100 07692 and NJ 94082 07659
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/20064
- Council Aberdeen, City Of
- Parish Aberdeen
- Former Region Grampian
- Former District City Of Aberdeen
- Former County Aberdeenshire
NJ90NW 16.00 NJ 94100 07692
NJ90NW 16.01 St Peter's Hospital 94082 07659
For St Peter's Cemetery (centred 9420 0765), see NJ90NW 575.00.
(NJ 9408 0766) Site of St Peter's Hospital (NR)
(NJ 9409 0769) St Peter's Ch. (NR) (Remains of)
OS 25" map, (1926).
The site of the hospital for 'infirm brethren' dedicated to St Peter and founded between 1172 and 1179. In 1266 there is also a reference to 'the sisters living therein'. Although the hospital was apparently suppressed in 1427 the sick were still being maintained there in 1541.
W Kennedy 1818; J Milne 1911; D E Easson 1957.
St Peter's Chapel was associated with the hospital and after the suppression of the latter in 1427 the chapel continued until the Reformation as a place of worship and was made a parish church.
I B Cowan 1964.
Both sites lie in St Peter's Cemetery. Nothing remains of the hospital but the outline of the church is still visible a a turf-covered wall 0.5m in maximum height, although part of the north wall has been buried and a modern vault has been built over the eastern perimeter. The interior is covered with graves.
Visited by OS (JLD) 12 September 1952.
The site of St Peter's Church is situated on a knoll on the highest part of the modern cemetery. Measuring 21.65m from E to W by 6.6m transversely overall, the ground-plan of the church appears to have been preserved by an early-19th century mausoleum, at its E end, a low turf-capped wall on the W and S, and a mortared revetment wall on the N. The interior of the church is occupied by graves marked with 19th- and 20th-century headstones.
Visited by RCAHMS (JRS), 20 May 2002.
NMRS REFERENCE:
Aberdeen, St. Peter's Church.
Plans:
I.G Lindsay Collection. W/252.
Publication Account (1997)
St Peter's Hospital was founded by Bishop Matthew Kininmund (1172- 99) to sustain 'infirm brethren'. A reference to the 'sisters living therein' in 1256 suggests that in due course women also were maintained. It stood to the east side of the street, the Spital, which takes its name from the hospital, and consisted also of a chapel and a burial ground. This latter was the nucleus of the present St Peter's Cemetery, where the outline of the chapel can still be seen. The hospital is next recorded in 1427 when Bishop Henry Lichton learnt that the revenues of the hospital were being appropriated by the masters to their own use and to the neglect of the poor. In consequence most of the hospital revenues were diverted to the foundation and support of two chaplainries in the cathedral, although some endowments were retained by the hospital. The sick were still being cared for at St Peter's in 1541. (See alro entry for St Maria ad Nives, Area 16, below.) The fragment of St Peter's Chapel is the only physical relic of the historic buildings which once stood in Area 15.
Information from ‘Historic Aberdeen: The Archaeological Implications of Development’ (1997).
