East Kirk of St Nicholas dig - 21 to 28 July - Week 26
Judith Stones, Keeper of Archaeology, writes..
This week I’m starting with a fine view of what may be the east end of St Nicholas church as it was perhaps from the late 12th or 13th century until it was extended in the 15th century. The wall you’re looking at is the later of the two walls (one upstanding, the other a foundation) that I discussed at some length last week. During the intervening days we’ve dug down further and exposed more of the wall.
From here you can see two or three courses of masonry and something of the rubble on which it was founded. You can also see the remains of some of the many people who were buried in its graveyard, immediately to the east of the building, on the slope down towards what is now Correction Wynd. So far 15 individual burials have been found there, including those of eight children. Several of the graves intercut each other, which tends to suggest burial over a longish period of time. Of course that graveyard was later incorporated into the ‘footprint’ of the church itself, when it was extended eastwards during the 15th century.
In the same burial area, just beyond the bottom left corner of the same photo, four broken parts of a stone sarcophagus were found. The next picture shows part of the ‘head’ end and you can see where it has been shaped to provide a secure fit.
The word ‘sarcophagus’comes from the Greek words for ‘flesh’ and ‘eating’ and tends to be used for specially constructed stone containers for burial. I have read that early Greek coffins were said to have been made from a special kind of rock that consumed the flesh of the corpse inside – a type of limestone. It’s interesting that our sarcophagus appears to have been of limestone too – not a local stone in the Aberdeen area. The broken pieces may have been used, prior to the 15th century, as a setting for a grave, or a grave marker, but originally, and at an earlier date, the whole sarcophagus would have been used for burial inside the church somewhere.
The next photo looks along the line of the wall I mentioned above, from a slightly lower viewpoint (see left of photo). At the far end you can see a short piece of wall jutting out from it, towards the east (right). That’s one of several buttresses which gave support to the structure, probably much needed in view of the placing of this east wall on the slope I mentioned above.
This buttress includes a couple of very large stones in its base, one of which is posing in the next picture beside Stewart Buchanan.
Stewart is an archaeology graduate of York University. He worked for several seasons at the Pictish monastic site at Tarbat in Ross-shire, set up and ran the archaeological company Alba Archaeology for a couple of years and is now working as Assistant Director at the St Nicholas excavation. Following a very useful visit from Richard Fawcett and Allan Rutherford from Historic Scotland this morning we’re now thinking that this buttress may have been added after the initial construction of the east end, perhaps to increase its stability on the falling ground.
That buttress is one of two at the corner of this medieval church building. The other one is visible next. More of its superstructure survives and it is probably contemporary with the wall, rather than a later addition.
As you can see, it’s a beautifully constructed piece of sandstone masonry, but interestingly contains some re-used pieces of stone, not surprisingly as this is part of the third stone-built church on the site.
For further information or comment, please contact judiths@aberdeencity.gov.uk: 01224 523658.