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Site of a hospital founded in 1531-2 by Bishop Gavin Dunbar of Aberdeen as an almshouse dedicated to St Mary; it was in existence until 1786. The late medieval hospital was located to the west of the Chanonry of Old Aberdeen beside Kettle Hill, close to the gate leading to St. Machar's Cathedral, at the north of Tillydrone Road between the manses of Tullynessle and Monymusk. The description of the size and layout of the almshouse given in the foundation charter of 1531/2 stated that the hospital was 100 feet long and about 32 feet wide. It was divided to accommodate twelve poor men in separate rooms and both parts of the house had six rooms, each 14 feet long and 12 feet wide. In addition, there was a wall in some part of the house where there was a fireplace and between the rooms, a hallway that was 8 feet wide. The rest of the house, which was 36 feet long and 32 feet wide, was divided and on the north side there was a common room, 16 feet wide and 36 feet long, for all the poor men so they could have a common fire. Opposite to this on the south side of the house, there was a well-furnished oratory, the same size as the common room of the house, which was provided with an altar. There was also a desk for the chaplain and seats for the poor men and a small baptistery in the south wall. Above the common room there was a common floor to keep items that the hospital used, such as fuel, food and other necessities. However, there was not a floor above the oratory, which created an open space. There was a wooden bell tower in some part of the house housing a bell. There was an inscription on above the door of the hospital that read: Duodecim Pauperibus Domum Hanc Reverendus Pater Gavinus Dunbar Huius Alme Sedis Quodam Pontifex Edificari Iussit Anno Christi Nato 1531'. This translated as: 'Gavin Dunbar, a reverend father of God, who was sometime bishop of this holy See, ordered this house to be built for twelve poor men, in 1532.' There was also another inscription in the oratory: 'Whoever thou be that comest to pray to God in this place, I beeseech thee remember in thy prayer and safety the soul of Gavin Dunbar, sometime bishop of the holy See of Aberdeen, founder of this little cell for the poor, who died in St. Andrews on 6 March 1531. But those whom he alimented are bound to pray for him. It is the glory of a bishop to provide for the poor but a reproach to a priest to study only how to make himself rich. The Lord will not suffer the poor to parish should this be perish' (Orem, 169). In addition, there was a cut stone on the south side of the hospital that contained the royal arms and armorial bearings of Gavin Dunbar and King James V (Kennedy, ii, 316). Dunbar made a second donation to the almshouse by giving an annual payment of £20 out of certain lands of Skene: Kirkton, Garlogie, Ord in the barony of Skene and Auchquhartin in the barony of Kintore. The annual rent was originally granted by the bishop to the chaplain of the altar of St. Sebastian and the south aisle of St Machar's cathedral for the performance of certain obits. The bedesmen received an annual rent of salmon from the heritors of the Cruive and Neither Don fishings, but nothing has been discovered on the origin of this. There were no women allowed in the hospital and only men who were free, not married, tenants and inhabitants in Aberdeen were selected; they were to be over the age of sixty and no more than twelve should be admitted. If these men did not meet these criteria, others were selected as those who had spent their lives constructing the church, the (bishop's) palace. If no men met these criteria other men were selected if they had fallen into poverty, were blind, lame, and deaf or dumb, mutilated by war and not able to work for a living. In addition, at foundation Lord John Erskine got from the king £200 yearly out of the fishings and lands of Aberdeen and Dunbar later bought this from Erskine and gave it to the hospital (Orem, 167). The foundation charter also granted the hospital an annuity of £100 Scots; bedesmen were allowed 10 merks yearly, 1 merk for purchasing a white coat and 10 merks for procuring common fuel for the whole establishment. Further donations to the hospital in the seventeenth century allowed for its success in the post reformation period. In June 1641, Mr. Alexander Gordon left books to the hospital but there is no indication as to which books were left to the bedesmen. In 1642, George King gave two riggs on the west side of Old Aberdeen and in December 1656, Dr. William Guild gave a tenement on the east side of the city and half the interest in the sum of 1000 merks and a half croft at Crabstone. In May 1664, James Jamesone, merchant burgess, gave crofts on the east side of Old Aberdeen known as Lindsay croft and Brickfield. Dr. Alexander Adam gave £20 rent out of certain crofts, barns and houses about the Gallowgate head and Spittal for the main tenancy of a bedesman in August 1691. He specified that he would like the bedesman to be one of his kindred or the name of Adam, Davidson or Simpson. In May 1697, Jean Young allocated a tenement of land with houses and biggings on the east side of Aberdeen. Later in the eighteenth century, the hospital was still receiving grants. In May 1701, Patrick Sandilands of Cotton allocated a tenement of land on the east side of the Chanonry to the hospital and later in May 1709, George Paton of Grandholm provided the Cruivecroft of Monymusk Manse on behalf of himself and other heritors of the Cruive fishings on the Don, on condition that an old Cruive fisher becomes a bedesman. We know little of the fabric of the hospital during its lifetime as there were no reports of the additional needs of the building or bedesmen. However, it was clear that repairs were needed in 1702 as the Master of the Hospital, Mr John Robertson, took a number of hewen stones from the churchyard of St. Machar to repair and rebuild a large part of the back wall of the hospital and the back stair. In 1725 there were eight bedesmen that received 50s. monthly and 100 loads of peat yearly; in addition, they also were given a side of beef at Christmas (Orem, 170). The hospital was sold in July 1786 to James Forbes of Seaton in exchange for a larger house in Don Street. The condition was that the proprietor of Seaton obtained the right to present two bedesmen. The price of the hospital was appropriated into the common funds, which had increased to £2000 by this time. At the time of closure, there were eighteen men living there. The hospital site lies just inside the gate entrance to Seaton Park, to the west of St. Machar's Cathedral. It is now planted over with a number of mature trees.
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Historic Environment Records (HER) 
Aberdeen City
HER -
NJ90NW0256 - BISHOP'S HOSPITAL, OLD ABERDEEN