Description
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Photocopy of letter held at St. Machar's Cathedral from William Paul, on behalf of the Senatus Academicus of King's College, Aberdeen, to the Managers of the Kirk's Work Fund, regarding the occupation of pews not required subsequent to the reopening of King's College Chapel for divine service during the session, 1824.
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Admin
History
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Saint Machar's Cathedral, Aberdeen. Founded perhaps by St. Machar, a hazy character of the sixth century, the Cathedral stands by the River Don in Old Aberdeen. The bulk of the present building is 14th century but it has undergone many changes and restorations. These include work by Bishop William Elphinstone (1431 - 1514) who founded King's College, and by Bishop Gavin Dunbar (Bishop 1519 - 1531), to whom is attributed the famous painted heraldic ceiling. It suffered some damage during the Commonwealth and during the nineteenth century was gutted to be laid out with a central pulpit and pews and lofts facing it. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth century the plan was changed again and some restoration was undertaken involved George Gilbert Scott (1811 - 1878). A communion table was once more set up at the chancel end, the pulpit moved to the side, and the pews set out in straight lines facing east. The curtain wall which had been raised at the east end as a temporary structure during early rebuilding was pierced with a fine stained glass window, and the Cathedral has changed little since.King's College, Aberdeen (King's College and University of Aberdeen)King's College and University of Aberdeen was founded in 1495 by papal bull at the instigation of William Elphinstone, Bishop of Aberdeen. The foundation was the third university in Scotland, and was founded on the principles of the University of Paris, a popular destination for Scottish students. The first courses offered were in Latin, Greek, and later Hebrew, and students were in the main destined for the Church. It was generally more Jacobite that Hanoverian, and was during the Reformation an upholder of Old religion, and as a consequence suffered during the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries. However, it retained a distinctive identity on its original Old Aberdeen site after the merger with Marischal College in 1860 to form the University of Aberdeen.
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