| Details |
Remains of a Cromwellian fort constructed in the 1650s on the Castle Hill, surviving elements comprising a pentagonal bastion and two adjoining stretches of walls. Originally a roughly square-plan fort comprising earth and stone walls and bastions. It was erected with stones from St Machar's Cathedral and enclosed a small chapel called St Ninians. Only a four-facetted bastion at the southeast corner and short stretches of adjoining walls remain. This fortification was built by English troops on Castlehill during the period of enforced military union between England Scotland. After the execution of Charles I Scotland declared Charles II king. Charles was emboldened by this and launched an attack against the Republic. After Charles's army was defeated at the battle of Worcester Cromwell sent troops into Scotland to enforce the peace of the republic. The troops arrived in Aberdeen on 1 September 1651. The English troops remained in Aberdeen until 1659. During this period they constructed a fortification on Castlehill. It is not known exactly when this was built. Writing in 1661 Parson Gordon noted that it was built in 1655. Given how close he was writing to when the fortification was built then this may be accurate. However, even at the time there was confusion, or rather lacunae, with regards the date. In the document from 1659, quoted below, the Council recorded that the fortification had been built in '165 '. Parson Gordon also wrote that the English soldiers had built part of the fortification with stones taken from the ruins of the Bishop's Palace in Old Aberdeen. Again this is the best evidence that this occurred. It is also said that stones were taken from the central tower of St Machar's cathedral, although there is no evidence for this. When the time came for the troops to depart from Aberdeen in October 1659 General Monck ordered Colonel Fairfax to have the fort broken up. Fairfax indicated to the Town Council that his troops had spent some £800 on the construction of the fort and that he was willing to sell the stones to the Council. Fairfax, being a fair-minded man, offered the stones to the Council at a knock down rate of £50 Sterling. Unsurprisingly the Council refused, claiming they had no use for the stones. In reality they must have realised that Fairfax's troops could not very well leave with the stones (Stuart, Extracts III, 183). When Parson Gordon drew his map in 1661 he does not show the fortification, so it seems fair to conclude that it had been removed soon after 1659. What he does show in this location is a chapel, probably St Ninian's Chapel which he described as within a 'new sconce'. By this he means within a new outer wall: the new outer wall has a very distinctive shape which is still to be seen on Castlehill. It is feasible that the wall which remains there today incorporates elements of the sconce referred to by Parson Gordon (or more accurately that the lower course of the wall may incorporate such elements). It is also feasible that elements of this wall may have dated from the time of the fortification. The site of the fort was used for an infantry barracks in the late 18th century (see NJ90NW0747), incorporating the bastion. Curiously writing in 1972 in the second edition of City By the Grey North Sea Fenton Wyness noted that 'In 1969, within 'Cromwell's bastion', a kitchen midden of the 'round head' occupation was discovered-pottery shards, animal and fish bones, shells and part of an antler of an unusually large red deer.' Presumably this refers to work being carried out to erect the blocks of council flats which now occupy this site.
|
Historic Environment Records (HER) 
Aberdeen City
HER -
NJ90NW0208 - CROMWELL'S BASTION