| Details |
Church built in 1828 and site of an earlier church which served the fishing community of Fitty (or Futty, now Footdee). The first historical evidence for the church dates from the mid-15th century, although it is suggested that this may have been a chapel rather than church. Surprisingly little is known about the church in the medieval period and its occurrence in the historical record is scanty. In 1498 all white fishers in Fittie paid 2s from each master of a boat having 2 lines and 1s for each boatman in order to support the church. Whilst in 1510 they contributed 1s for every line towards the costs of celebrating mass twice a week. On 9 September 1505 'Sir' Thomas Lammingtone was appointed by the Burgh Council to be chaplain of the church. The church probably went out of use at the time of the Reformation. Certainly on 8 March 1560 Aberdeen Burgh Council granted licence to Patrick Menzies to occupy the chapel, on the provision that he kept it water tight .By the early 1630s the church had completely fallen out of use. Moreover it would seem that it had not been used for some time: by this point there was a growing movement in Aberdeen to see the church reinstated. The impetus for this seems to have come from Robert Barrone, minister of St Nicholas church. On 22 June 1631 he noted that certain townspeople had voluntarily contributed 5400 marks for the provision of a minister to Fittie church. He asked the council to agree to 'the necessitie of the plantatioun.'. The Council agreed and an entry at the start of Council Register volume 62 lists the names of those who had contributed to this undertaking and in many ways it represents the great and good from Aberdeen at the time. Amongst those listed are the artist George Jameson, William Guild, patron, minister and principal of King's College and Alexander Jaffray, provost and diarist. Thus the church was re-established: in 1650 George Davidsone, burgess, built a dyke to enclose the graveyard of the church. A stone plaque was erected to commemorate this. On 22 April 1785 the Council were informed that the church was in 'immediate need of some necessary repairs.'. They appointed 4 tradesmen to report on the church. The tradesmen concluded that 'the walls.might be repaired, tho in several places they were bad, but as the roof and sclatting were so rotten and spent it was their unanimous opinion that it would be very improper to think of repairing.' By 5 October the situation was now so bad that Mr Fullerton, the minister, wrote to the Council asking for permission to stop preaching there due to the danger to himself and his congregation. On 22 October the council agreed that Fullerton could preach to his congregation in the College (Greyfriars) Kirk as a temporary solution until plans for a new church in Fittie were completed and executed. Despite the temporary nature of this arrangement it continued for two years: each Sunday the inhabitants of Fittie would attend service led by Fullerton in the old Greyfriars kirk between 12 and 2pm. It was only when Fullerton died that one of the congregation, Baillie John Copland, took the lead in the situation. On 20 September 1787 Copland offered to pay for a new church, designed on plans approved of by the Council. The new church building was completed in 1788. During the rebuilding the churchyard dykes were altered from Davidson's 1650 originals. The were straightened in line with the road leading to Pocra Quay and Garvock's Wynd, also at this time part of the old churchyard was removed from the church and became part of the new road leading in front of the church and yard. On 14 January 1789 a council committee remitted to consider the rebuilding work reported that it was now finished. It was only 38 years later that the church was again in need of rebuilding. On 19 June 1827 the Reverend Dr John Thomson requested £1500-1600 from the council to rebuild the church. In this instance the rebuilding was needed because the church was by now too small for the congregation. Thomson was willing to pay the bill in the meantime in return for a legal voucher from the Council. The council approved of his plans On 25 September 1827 the provost laid plans for the new church before the council. They noted that the new church was 'to be erected in an Area to the Eastward of the present Church.'. George Duncan's tender for the stone work was the lowest at £865 and James Bryce's was the lowest for the wright work at £999. One year later on 11 September 1828 the Town's Chamberlain, Mr Hardie, reported to the council that the church was finished at a cost of £1800 and some additional expenses. Hardie noted that it had been necessary to rebuild part of the churchyard walls and finish them off with cast iron railings and gates to the front (although it was remitted to the Council's Standing Committee to decide finally if they were to be cast iron, or malleable iron). Thomson eventually agreed to pay the whole bill of £1864, despite having agreed to only pay £1600, but with the stipulation that the town was pay any further costs (Council Register Volume 72, f.23r). On 7 April 1829 the council set the new burial rates for the churchyard. Interment of under 12s cost £4, those aged between 12 and 21 were set at £6 and £8 for over 21s. Lying stones cost £2/5/, head stones varied from 10 to 20s and the cost of opening a new lair was set between £3 and £5, depending on its position within the churchyard. Like most of the churches in Aberdeen St Clement's was affected by the Disruption in 1843. A roll dated February 1843 records the names of around 1000 members of the congregation who adhered to the notions that would underpin the later Disruption. Alexander Spence, then minister, was one of those who walked out of the established church. St Clement's Free church, later West St. Clement's, soon had around 800 communicants. When the Free Church became known as West St. Clement's the original church of St Clement's became known as East St. Clement's. Although the United Free Church reunited with the Church of Scotland in 1929 two churches in Fittie continued to operate until 1963 when both congregations were reunited in St. Clement's church. One of the key reasons for the reunion of the congregations was dwindling numbers attending service. This continued to be a problem and by the 1980s the congregation numbered around 500, compared to the 2000 recorded in East St Clement's in 1875. The church remained in use until 1987, when the last service there was held on 24 May. The last minister, when the congregation was dissolved, was Arthur Jones.The church, designed by local architect John Smith, is 3-bay and symmetrical in Gothic style with an advanced central pinnacled, crocketted and balustraded 4-stage entrance clock tower. Built of coursed and snecked granite rubble with smooth rubble dressings, and a grey slate roof. It stands within a churchyard containing mostlt 19th century gravestones, some with decorative carvings and many with nautical inscriptions. The boundary wall dates from 1650 with later additions: on the north there is a carved plaque with inscription 'GEORGE DAVIDSONE ELDER BURGESS OF ABD BIGIT THIS DYK ON HIS OWN EXPENSES 1650'. The church building today is in private hands whilst the churchyard remains under City Council care. See also NJ90NE0064 and NJ90NE0065 for plaques on the church. The graveyard includes the grave of Benjamin Grimmer, Royal Naval Reserve, killed during World War II and five First World War Commonwealth war graves.
|
Historic Environment Records (HER) 
Aberdeen City
HER -
NJ90NE0017 - EAST ST CLEMENT'S CHURCH