from English domination, surprised Edward’s garrison at Aberdeen, but
unable to effect anything, hastily withdrew from the neighbourhood.
Edward was back in Aberdeen in 1303 and paid another visit to Kildrummy
Castle, then in the possession of Bruce. Then Bruce, having fled from
the English court and assassinated the Red Comyn at Dumfries, was
crowned at Scone and the long struggle for national independence began
in earnest. In 1307 he came to Aberdeen, which was favourable to his
cause. At Barra, not far from Inverurie and Old Meldrum, his forces met
those of the Earl of Buchan (John Comyn) and defeated them (1308). It
was not a great battle in itself, but its consequences were important.
It marked the turn of the tide in the national cause. The Buchan
district, in which the battle took place, had long been identified with
the powerful family of the Comyns; and after his victory at Barra,
Bruce devastated the district with relentless fury. This “harrying
of Buchan,” as it has been called, is referred to by Barbour as an
event bemoaned for more than fifty years. The family of the Comyns was
crushed, and their influence, which had been liberal and considerate to
the native race of Celts, came to an end. The whole of the north-east
turned to Bruce’s support, and in a short time all Edward’s garrisons
disappeared. This upheaval created a fresh partition of the lands of
Aberdeenshire. New families such as the Hays, the Frasers, the Gordons
and the Irvines, were rewarded for faithful service by grants of land.
The re-settlement of the county from non-Celtic sources accentuated
the Teutonic element in the county. After Bannockburn, Bruce rewarded
Aberdeen itself for its support by granting to the burgesses the burgh
as well as the forest of Stocket.
The great event of the fifteenth century was the Battle of Harlaw,
which took place in 1411 at no great distance from the site of the
Battle of Barra. It was really a conflict between Celt and Saxon,
and was a despairing effort on the part of the dispossessed native
population to re-establish themselves in the Lowlands. The Highlanders
were led by Donald of the Isles, who gathering the clansmen of the
northern Hebrides, Ross and Lochaber, and sweeping through Moray
and Strathbogie, arrived at the Garioch on his way to Aberdeen. The
burghers placed themselves under the leadership of the Earl of Mar
(Alexander Stewart, son of the Wolf of Badenoch), a soldier who had
seen much service in various parts of the world. The provost of
the city, Robert Davidson, led forth a body of his fellow-citizens
and joined Mar’s forces at Inverurie, within three miles of the
Highlanders’ camp. The two forces were unequally matched—Donald having
10,000 men and Mar only a tenth of that number, but of these many
were mail-clad knights on horseback and armed with spears. It was a
fiercely contested battle and lasted till the darkness of a July night.
The slaughter on both sides was great, but the tide of barbarism
was driven back. The Highlanders retreated whence they came and the
county of Aberdeen was saved from the imminent peril of a Celtic
recrudescence. This is the only really memorable battle associated
with Aberdeenshire soil. Its “red” field, on which so many prominent
citizens shed their life-blood (Provost Davidson and Sir Alexander
Irvine of Drum being of the number), was long remembered as a dreary
and costly victory.
Another battle of much less significance was that of Corrichie, fought
in Queen Mary’s reign in 1562 on the eastern slope of the Hill of Fare,
not far from Banchory. It was a contest between James Stewart (the
Regent Murray, and half-brother of the Queen) and the Earl of Huntly.
Huntly was defeated and slain, and his son, Sir John Gordon, who was
taken prisoner, was afterwards executed at Aberdeen. Queen Mary, it is
said, was a spectator both of the battle and of the execution.
In the seventeenth century, at the beginning of the Covenanting
“troubles,” Aberdeenshire gained a certain notoriety as being the place
where the sword was first drawn. In 1639 the Covenanters mustered at
Turriff under Montrose, to the number of 800. The Royalist party under
the Earl of Huntly, to the number of 2000 but poorly armed, marched
to the town with the intention of preventing the Covenanters from
meeting, but they were already in possession, and when Huntly’s party
saw how matters stood, they passed on, the two forces surveying each
other at close quarters without hostile act or word. This bloodless
affair is known as the first Raid of Turriff. A few weeks later a
somewhat similar encounter took place, when the Covenanters, completely
surprised, fled without striking a blow. The loss on either side was
trifling, still some blood was actually shed, and the Trot of Turriff,
as it was called, became the first incident in a long line of mighty
events.
Montrose, both when he was leading on the side of the Covenant,
and later when he became a Royalist leader, paid several visits to
Aberdeen, which, although supporting the Royalist cause, suffered
exactions from both parties. In 1644 Montrose made a forcible entry
of the town, which resulted in the death of 150 Covenanters, and in
the plundering of the city. Later on, after his victory over Argyll at
Inverlochy, Montrose gained a success for the Royalist cause at Alford
(1645).
In 1650, after the execution of Charles I, his son Charles II landed
at Speymouth, and on his way south to be crowned at Scone, visited
Aberdeen, where he was received with every manifestation of loyalty and
goodwill. The next year General Monk paid the town a visit, and left an
English garrison, which remained till 1659. The Restoration was hailed
with rejoicing: the Revolution with dislike. Yet at the Rebellion
of 1715 scant enthusiasm was roused for the cause of the Pretender,
who himself passed through the city on his way from Peterhead to
Fetteresso. In the thirty years that passed before the second Jacobite
Rebellion, public sentiment had grown more favourable to the reigning
House. The ’45 therefore received little support in Aberdeenshire. A
few of the old county families threw in their lot with the Prince, but
the general body of the people were averse to taking arms. The Duke
of Cumberland, on his way north to meet Prince Charlie at Culloden,
remained with his army six weeks in the city; when he started on his
northward march through Old Meldrum, Turriff and Banff, he left a
garrison of 200 men in Robert Gordon’s Hospital, lately built but not
yet opened. After Culloden small pickets of troops were stationed in
the Highland districts of the county, to suppress the practice of
cattle-lifting. Braemar Castle and Corgarff Castle in the upper reaches
of the Dee and the Don still bear evidence of their use as garrison
forts. The problem of dealing with the inhabitants of the higher glens,
where agriculture was useless, and where the habits of the people
prompted to raiding and to rebellion, was solved by enlisting the young
men in the British Army. The Black Watch (42nd) as reorganised (1758)
and a regiment of Gordon Highlanders (1759) were largely recruited from
West Aberdeenshire, and this happy solution closed the military history
of the district.
17. Antiquities—Circles, Sculptured Stones, Crannogs, Forts.
Aberdeenshire is particularly rich in stone-circles. No fewer than 175
of them have been recorded as existing in the district. Unfortunately
many of them entirely disappeared when the sites were turned to
agricultural uses; others have been mutilated, and owing to the
removal of some of the stones, stand incomplete; a few have been
untouched, and from these we may judge what the others were like. One
of the best preserved is that at Parkhouse, a mile south-west of the
Abbey of Deer. A circle of great blocks of stone, irregular and of
unequal height, some standing erect, some evidently fallen down, is the
general feature. Sometimes inside the circle, but more usually in the
circumference of the circle itself, there is one conspicuously larger
stone, in a recumbent position. This it has been usual to call the
rostrum or altar stone. It is well marked at Parkhouse, being 14 feet 9
inches long, 5 feet 9 inches high, and estimated to weigh 20 tons. The
so-called rostrum is usually on the south side of the circle and the
stones facing it on the north are of smaller size.
[Illustration: White Cow Wood Cairn Circle; View from the S.W.
From _Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland_, 1903-4]
[Illustration: Palaeolithic Flint Implement
(_From Kent’s Cavern, Torquay_.)
Neolithic Celt of Greenstone
(_From Bridlington, Yorks._)]
The size of the circles varies, the largest being over 60 feet in
diameter, the smaller ones less than 30. Parkhouse measures 50 feet.
They are found all over the county, in the valley of the Dee, in
the valley of the Don at Alford, Inverurie and Dyce, as well as in
Auchterless, Methlick, Crimond and Lonmay. The recumbent stone
is invariably a feature of the larger circles. One of the largest is
in the circle at Old Keig in Alford—a huge monolith computed to be 30
tons in weight. Other good examples are at Auchquorthies, Fetternear
and at Balquhain near Inveramsay.
In the smaller and simpler circles, there is no recumbent stone, and
the blocks are of more uniform height.
What the circles were used for is still a matter of dispute. They have
for long been called “Druidical” circles, and the received opinion
was that they were places of worship, the recumbent stone being the
altar. But there is no certitude in this view; and, indeed, the fact
that several exist at no great distance from each other (more than a
dozen are located in Deer) would seem to be adverse to it. They were
certainly used as places of burying, and some antiquarians hold that
they were the burying grounds of the people of the Bronze Age. A later
theory is that they were intended to be astronomical clocks to a people
who knew nothing of the length of the year, and who had no almanacs to
guide them in the matter of the seasons. The stone-circles, however,
still remain an unsolved problem.
[Illustration: Stone at Logie, in the Garioch (4 feet high)
From Anderson’s _Scot. in Early Ch. Times_, 2nd Series]
Besides the circles, Aberdeenshire has another class of archaeological
remains, called sculptured stones. These are of three kinds: (1) those
with incised symbols only, (2) those with in addition Celtic ornament
carved in relief, and (3) monuments with Celtic ornament in relief
and no symbols. The first class is the only one largely represented
in Aberdeenshire and a good many representatives are in existence.
The symbols most commonly seen are the crescent and sceptre, the
spectacles, the mirror and comb, and the so-called “elephant” symbol,
a representation of a beast with long jaws, a crest and scroll feet.
Another is the serpent symbol. What the symbols signify is still a
mystery, but the fact that the stones with symbolism are unusually
common in what was known as Northern Pictland seems to point to their
being indigenous to that area. Out of 124 stones in the first class
Aberdeenshire has 42. It would seem as if the county had been the focus
where the symbolism originated. The richness of the locality round
Kintore and Inverurie in symbol stones is taken to indicate that region
as the centre from which they radiated.
Another form of archaeological remains found in the county is the
Eirde or Earth-Houses. These are subterranean dwellings dug out of
the ground and walled with unhewn, unmortared stones, each stone
overlapping the one below until they meet at the top which is crowned
with a larger flag-stone, or sometimes with wood. The probability is
that in conjunction with the underground chambers there were huts above
ground, which, being composed of wood, have now entirely disappeared.
At many points in these earth-houses traces of fire and charcoal are
to be seen, stones blackened by fire and layers of black ashes. In
one at Loch Kinnord a piece of the upper stone of a quern as well
as an angular piece of iron was found. It may be inferred that the
inhabitants, whoever they were, were agriculturists, and that the
period of occupation lasted down to the Iron Age. Specimens of these
houses, which usually go by the local name of Picts’ houses, are found
in the neighbourhood of Loch Kinnord on Deeside, at Castle Newe on the
Don, and at Parkhouse, not far from the circle already referred to.
[Illustration:
“PICTS” OR “EIRDE HOUSE”
AT
MIGVIE
ABERDEENSHIRE
From _Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland_, Vol. V.
1865]
The common notion of the purpose of these underground dwellings was
that they were meant for hiding-places in which the inhabitants took
refuge when unable to resist their enemies in the open, but if, as has
now been discovered, they were associated with wooden erections above
ground, they could not have served this purpose. On the surface beside
them were other houses, cattlefolds and other enclosures; once an enemy
was in possession of these, he could hardly miss the earth-houses.
Moreover, the inhabitants, if discovered, were in a trap from which
there was no escape. It is more probable that the dwellings were
adjuncts of some unknown kind to the huts on the surface. The fact that
pottery and bronze armlets have been unearthed from these underground
caverns proves that the earth-dwellers had reached a certain
advancement in civilisation. They reared domestic animals, wove cloth
and sewed it, and manufactured pottery. They used iron for cutting
weapons and bronze for ornament, and must have possessed a wonderfully
high standard of taste and manual skill.
Along with the earth-houses at Kinnord are found crannogs or
lake-dwellings. Artificial islands were created in the loch by forming
a raft of logs, upon which layers of stones and other logs were
deposited. As fresh materials were added the raft gradually sank till
it rested on the bottom. The sides were afterwards strengthened with
the addition of stones and beams. In this way was formed what is called
the Prison Island on Loch Kinnord. In all probability the other island
in the same loch, the Castle Island, may also be artificial, although
it has usually been regarded as natural. Crannogs in pairs—one large
and the other small—occur in several lochs.
[Illustration: Loch Kinnord]
A number of hill-forts, more or less disintegrated, are traceable in
the higher ground in the vicinity of Lochs Kinnord and Davan. These
show concentric lines of circumvallation, with stronger fortifications
at various points. Vitrified forts, where the stones have been run
together by the application of heat, are found at Dunnideer near Insch,
and on the conical summit of Tap o’ Noth near Rhynie. The Barmekin at
Dunecht encloses an area of more than two acres, and consists of five
concentric walls, three of earth-works and two of stone.
Numerous cairns, barrows or tumuli exist all over the county, at
Aberdour on the coast, at Birse, Bourtie, Rhynie, Turriff, and
elsewhere. Human remains have been found in most of these; and as a
rule flint arrow-heads and other implements are also associated with
them.
18. Architecture—(_a_) Ecclesiastical.
The history of Scotland from an architectural point of view does not
reach very far back into the past. Till the tide of civilisation flowed
into Scotland from the south in the eleventh and twelfth centuries,
there existed in the country no architecture worthy of the name.
When the Normans became the ruling power in Britain, they brought
architectural ideas with them and these superseded the crude attempts
at church building hitherto made. The Scottish churches built under the
influence of Columba were simple and rude, consisting of a small oblong
chamber with a single door and a single window. The Norman style, which
obliterated these structures, dates from the twelfth century and, being
carried along the coast of lowland Scotland, gradually changed the
manner of building. It is characterised by simple, massive forms and
especially by arches of a semi-circular shape, sometimes enriched by
zig-zag, and by the use of nook shafts and cushion capitals. Of this
period the remains in Scotland are not numerous, and they are very few
in Aberdeenshire. The earliest specimen we can point to is the ancient
church of Monymusk, which contains some Norman building incorporated in
the modern church erected on the old site. Monymusk is on Donside seven
miles up the river from Kintore. It is a place of great antiquity. The
Culdees first appear there in the twelfth century, and the Earl of
Mar built a convent for them on condition that they should submit to
canonical rule. The lower part of the church tower and the chancel arch
are of the Norman style. The tower has been entirely rebuilt except the
lower doorway, which has a round arch-head with a hood mould enclosing
it. These small fragments suggest that they were part of the convent
erected by the Earl of Mar very early in the thirteenth century.
The rounded arch gave place in the thirteenth century to the early
Gothic, of which the most striking feature is the pointed arch.
This is the _First Pointed Period_. Ornament was more general, the
mouldings were richer and more graceful and the foliage of trees
was occasionally copied. The windows were narrow, lofty and pointed,
giving an impression of space and lightness. Aberdeenshire is too far
north to have developed many examples of this early style, but it has
some. The Abbey of Deer is perhaps the most ancient ecclesiastical
building, but it is now a complete ruin, all the best parts of it
having disappeared within the last fifty years. It was founded in the
thirteenth century. Deer had been an ecclesiastical centre long before
that time. The story goes that Columba and his pupil Drostan travelled
from Iona to Aberdeenshire when Bede was Mormaer (Earl) of Buchan. They
were first at Aberdour on the coast, but ultimately journeyed to Deer,
where Columba requested the Mormaer to grant him a site for a church.
At first the Mormaer refused, but his son fell ill and in consideration
of the efficacy of the prayers of the two holy men in bringing the
youth back to health, the Mormaer granted them the lands of Deer and
this was probably the first place in Aberdeenshire where a regular
Christian church was erected. No trace of that church, built in the
sixth century, is left.
The Abbey was an entirely different structure and not begun till early
in the thirteenth century. It was founded by William Comyn, Earl of
Buchan, and was really a Cistercian Abbey, originally occupied by monks
sent from Kinloss. From the ruins now within the grounds of Pitfour
House, it can be made out that the length of the building (nave and
chancel) was 150 feet. A few mouldings and the arches of some windows
indicate that it belonged to the first pointed period. The building
was of red sandstone probably brought from New Byth, some 12 miles
distant. After the Reformation the Abbey fell to decay and its walls
became, as in many other cases, a quarry from which other buildings
were erected. In 1809 the ruins were enclosed with a wall by the then
proprietor, Mr James Ferguson of Pitfour, but since then they have
dwindled.
No mention of Deer is possible without reference to the famous _Book
of Deer_—a manuscript volume of the highest value, emanating not from
the Abbey but from Columba’s monastery in the same region. The book
was brought to light in 1860 by the late Mr Henry Bradshaw, University
Librarian at Cambridge. It had lain unrecognised in the Library since
1715. It contains the Gospel of St John and other portions of scripture
in the writing of the ninth century; but of even greater importance is
the fact that on its margins it contains memoranda of grants to the
monastery, made by Celtic chiefs of Buchan and all written in Gaelic.
These jottings are of the highest historical value.
Some traces of the Early Pointed style are found in St Machar Cathedral
(the greater part of which, however, is much later). The old church of
Auchindoir close to Craig Castle has a good doorway and other features
of this period.
[Illustration: From _The Book of Deer_]
From the middle of the fourteenth to the middle of the fifteenth
century (1350-1450) is in Scotland the _Middle Pointed Period_. The
windows were made larger, the vaulting and buttresses less heavy. The
Cathedral of St Machar belongs in part to this time. The legend goes
that St Machar in obedience to the commands of Columba, of whom he was
a disciple, journeyed to Scotland and at Old Aberdeen founded a church.
This church in the twelfth century became the seat of a bishopric
founded by David I. The original church was superseded probably about
1165, the only relic of this Norman period being part of the abacus
of a square pier. All other traces of earlier work have vanished. In
the fourteenth century Bishop Alexander Kyninmonth II rebuilt the
nave, partly of red sandstone with foliated capitals of great beauty
and decorated with naturalistic imitation of leafage, one capital
representing curly kail (colewort). The same kind of decoration is seen
in Melrose Abbey. Later on the two impressive western towers, which are
to-day conspicuous objects in the eastern landscape to all travellers
northward-bound from Aberdeen, were added. They form a granite mass of
solid and substantial masonry, and, being finished with machicolation,
parapet-paths and capehouses, were really like a castle in Early
English architecture. Still later on, in the sixteenth century, Bishop
Elphinstone, who founded the University of Aberdeen, who built the
first Bridge of Dee, and gave a new choir to St Nicholas Church,
completed the central tower and placed in it fourteen bells “tuneable
and costly.” The sandstone spires over the western towers were added by
Bishop Dunbar early in the sixteenth century, in place of the original
capehouses. The central tower fell in 1688, crushing the transepts.
[Illustration: St Machar Cathedral, Old Aberdeen]
[Illustration: St Machar Cathedral (interior)]
In 1560 the government ordered the destruction of the altars, images
and other monuments of the old faith, and this cathedral suffered
with the rest. It was despoiled of all its costly ornaments and the
choir was demolished. The roof was stripped of its lead and the
bells were carried off. All that remains to-day is the nave (now the
parish church), a south porch, the western towers and fragments of
the transept walls, which contain tombs of Bishop Lichtoun, Bishop
Dunbar, and others. This is the only granite cathedral in the country,
and, though dating from the Middle and late Pointed periods, has
reminiscences of the Norman style in its short, massive cylindrical
pillars and plain unadorned clerestory windows. Another feature is
the great western window divided by six long shafts of stone. The
finely carved pulpit now in the Chapel of King’s College is a relic of
the wood-carvings destroyed in 1649. The whole is extremely plain but
highly impressive and imposing. Its flat panelled oak ceiling decorated
with heraldic shields of various European kings, Pope Leo X, and
Scottish ecclesiastics and nobility (48 in all) is worthy of mention.
This heraldic ceiling was restored in 1868-71.
[Illustration: King’s College, Aberdeen University]
Of later date is King’s College Chapel, at no great distance from
the Old Cathedral. It is a long, narrow but handsome building begun
in 1500, shortly after the foundation of the University by Bishop
Elphinstone. The chapel and its graceful tower are the oldest parts of
the College buildings which had originally three towers.
[Illustration: East and West Churches, Aberdeen]