All posts by Arthur

Problems with a corbel

Progress
Post 23 (a) North East Ceiling Corbel 14 March 2010
Intact boss and corbel before any damage
Post 23 (b) Corbel & Clean Plaster Break from Below Left.
The base of the corbel after removing the boss

In an earlier post (on 1st June 2104), we showed what had happened to one of the decorative bosses in the gallery of the former East Kirk when wet rot had destroyed the strength of its internal wooden structure. No-one was hurt when it crashed through the floor overnight, but there was concern about the safety of all the other decorative bosses, so they were carefully checked. One was found to be loose, so the decision was taken to carefully remove it. The first two pictures show an intact boss and a close-up of what remained after it had been removed. This was in an area which had already been treated for dry rot. On looking inside the small opening of the corbel, there was some concern that there could be some dry rot inside the plasterwork – but it was not possible to see enough to be sure. Complicating the matter was that nothing was known about the internal structure of the corbel. Obviously there would be structural wooden beams, which were supporting one of the main roof beams. If there were dry rot it could rapidly destroy the strength of the wood and so potentially cause a partial or total roof collapse.

Post 23 (c) Plaster removed from corbel showing structure of beams P1020025 Corbel 01.06.2011
The interior structure of the corbel

The decision had to be taken to remove all the decorative plaster from this corbel so that any necessary treatment or replacement could be carried out. However, before this could be done, it was necessary to install some scaffolding to support the roof beam, just in case the wood had already lost its strength and it was only the plaster which was supporting the roof beam. Fortunately it became obvious that there was no dry rot, which was a great relief! Removing the plaster also revealed the internal structure of the corbel. This showed only two support timbers, resting on a stone protruding from the wall. One timber was vertical (the king post), whilst the other went up at a steep angle, far more steeply than the decorative plaster work would have suggested. The final photograph shows the exposed wood inside the corbel (with the support scaffold still partially in place). All the plaster was removed carefully and kept, so that it will be possible to reinstate the corbel when the interior build takes place, either using plaster or fibreglass.

An early church building

History

Being certain of the age of an old building is almost impossible. Frequently there is very little written evidence and what there is may be inconclusive. Dating therefore comes down to using circumstantial evidence, archaeological findings and experience. In an earlier post, the apse of what was probably the first building on the site of the present Kirk of St Nicholas was shown.

In this post we move forward several decades, perhaps even a couple of hundred years – we just do not know. Part of the walls of the present day Drum’s Aisle, particularly around the ‘Oil Chapel’ date, probably date back to around 1150s. Drum’s Aisle was the transept of a cruciform church, but it was not necessarily all built at the same time. During the archaeological dig in the former East Kirk of St Nicholas, the lower levels of the whole of the choir, the east end that building, were found. The choir would have housed the altar and so, if the erection had been in stages, this would have been built first. The walls uncovered show that the width of the choir as the transept were approximately the same. The choir was about 60 feet long measured from the transept – that is only about half the length of the present building. From this it might be assumed that the nave would also have been of a similar width. Parts of it could still remain under the floor of the West Kirk.

Post 22 (a) View 12 century east end looking north

The walls of the choir were quite substantial. However two different east ends to the building were found. It seems unlikely that this was as a result of making the building larger because the gap between the east walls was only a little over a foot. This poses the question ‘why?’ The stonework in the adjacent side walls probably answers that, since it indicated that the original east end had slipped down the slope of the Putachie Burn and had to be replaced along with a partial rebuild of the side walls. This may have happened as soon as 50 years after it was originally built. The soils exposed during the excavation indicate that the ground was marshy, so could have been quite unstable. The ‘new’ east end was reinforced with buttresses and made of beautifully worked sandstone. The two photographs show a general view of the east end as it was being uncovered (looking in a northerly direction) and the second one is a close-up of one of the north-east corner. The quality of the stonemasonry is obvious.Post 22 (b) Close up of NE buttress of rebuilt east wall

Aspects of the side walls of the choir will feature in a future post.

 

(The photographs are copyright Aberdeen Art Gallery & Museums Collections and are used with permission).

Rickets

Archaeology
Rickets in a young child
Rickets in a young child

Rickets was once a common bone disease of children. It has a number of potential causes, such as lack of Vitamin D or calcium, which lead to impaired mineralisation of the bone. Whilst Aberdonians in the past would have had a diet fairly rich in fish, which would have helped provide Vitamin D, any population is likely to have some cases of malnutrition. Rickets is usually regarded as a disease of the urban poor because they would probably also suffer from lack of sunlight (we can make Vitamin D in our skin when it is exposed to sunlight) as a result of cramped and smoky living conditions. One of the younger people buried in the grave yard of the Kirk of St Nicholas (and uncovered during the archaeological dig in 2006) had rickets. One of the legs is shown in the photograph. The effect of rickets is to make the bones soft and easily broken. It can be seen how thin and fragile the bone appears, although there is no evidence of a breakage.

Osteomalacia in the thighs of an adult
Osteomalacia in the thighs of an adult

The same condition in adults is called osteomalacia, although there can be some other causes as well as diet in adults. It is typically characterised by ‘bent legs’ although it can affect any bone not just those of the legs. The accompanying photograph shows the thigh bones of a person with osteomalacia. The curvature of the bone is very clear, but again this person does not seem to have any fractures.

 

As a footnote, in recent years there have been report of an increasing incidence in rickets in children. This is not because of poor living conditions but because of a wide and sensible use of sun protection!

Both the photographs, which are copyright of Aberdeen Art Gallery & Museums Collections and are used with permission, were taken during the detailed scientific study of the bones by Dr Paul Duffy, Brandanii Archaeology and Heritage who is a specialist osteoarchaeologist.

Grave slabs in St Mary’s Chapel – Part 3

History

Th last of the grave slabs in this series is at the opposite side of the ‘John Fendour’ desk to the Burnet brother’s gravestone.

Post 20 (c) Marjorie Burnet Grave Slab St Mary's Chapel DSCN0367It is the one shown in this photograph and is for Marjorie Burnet. The inscription for her reads “Heir restis the bodie of Mariorie Bvrnet the loving wyf of Alexander Toasch departed [M]aii 9th 1683 and of her age the 24th yeir” The Bible verse reads “The righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance” (Psalm 112, verse 6).

The shield displays both the Burnet and Toash arms. The latter, to the left being those of the man, shows a galley and an arm with the hand grasping a heart, with a ring above. There is a slight difference in the Burnet arms from those shown previously in that this one also has a ring towards the top of the middle holly leaf. It can also be seen that the margin round the edge of the gravestone is blank. It would, as was the tradition, have been left to record the death of Alexander Toash, but the inscription was never made.

One small footnote – the Kirk and Bridge Work Accounts of the City of Aberdeen show that the burial took place on 11th May, just two days after she died, and that it cost £20.

Grave slabs in St Mary’s Chapel – Part 2

History

This is the second of the series on grave slabs in St Mary’s Chapel. It records one of the more tragic incidents in Aberdeen’s history. The gravestone is shown here.

Post 20 (b) Thomas and Andrew Burnet Grave Slab St Mary's Chapel DSCN0366Around the edge the inscription reads “Heir lyes Thomas and Andrew Bvrnet brothers, bvrgesses of ABD qvho departed this lyf 13 Septr 1644″. The brothers were killed in the ‘cruell and bloodie feight and conflict quhiche was fochten betuixt the Crabstane and the Justice Mylnes”. The fight took place because Aberdeen (then dominated by the Covenanting party and reinforced by militia from Fife) refused to surrender to the Royalist Marquis of Montrose. In those days, to be a Burgess of the City meant that you had to be prepared to take arms and fight to protect the City. It was a tragic loss for the family.

Also mentioned on the gravestone is ‘Alexander Burnet, son of Thomas Burnet who died on 29th April 1686 and Sicklyke Agnes Moir, his wife, who died on 18th June 1686’.   The stone has been broken diagonally across the centre at some time, but it does show a finely carved representation of the Burnet arms (three holly leaves over a hunting horn – the horn of Leys) with a helmet and mantling together with the initials of the brothers.

Grave slabs in St Mary’s Chapel – Part 1

History

Before the rebuilding of the West Kirk in 1755 and of the East Kirk in 1837  much of the flooring of the whole Kirk was provided by grave slabs some of which were removed and left in the churchyard. A number of these were taken into St Mary’s Chapel for better preservation when it was restored in 1898 and were incorporated into the floor. This series of posts will deal with the three most prominent of these.

Post 20 (a) Robert Burnet Grave Slab St Mary's Chapel DSCN0364This post shows the gravestone for Robert Burnet. The inscription reads “Here lyes Robert Bvrnet, merchant, Burg of ABD who departed the 23 of March 1674”. In the centre can be seen the arms of Burnet of Leys, (three holly leaves above a hunting horn) with, in this case, a square in the centre to differentiate this holder from the head of the family.  These are combined with those of Gray family arms (a lion rampant) together with the initials RB and MG of husband and wife The Latin motto can be translated ‘Courage grows by wounding’.

The stone itself is central in St Mary’s Chapel just in front of the desk which featured a few weeks ago in these posts.

Problems with earwax?

Archaeology

We like to think that the modern world is sophisticated and far more advanced than our predecessors. When it comes to health and hygiene is this always true? Most of us will have experienced troublesome ear wax and it has probably been a problem throughout history. What do we do about it? Today we would probably use cotton wool buds or apply almond oil on cotton wool, if it does not clear go to the doctors to have our ears syringed. In the past there were ear scoops examples of which have been found to be in use from Roman times.

Post 19 Ear Scoop with belt loopIn the archaeological exploration in the former East Kirk of St Nicholas a beautiful ear scoop was found and is shown in the photograph to the right. This one has an intricately decorated shaft and near the end opposite to the scoop is a suspension loop. The latter may well have been used to fasten it to a collection of other cosmetic ‘tools’ such as scissors and tweezers, perhaps from a belt. The scales in the photographs have 1 cm divisions.

Post 19 (b) Plain ear scoop and tooth pickA second ear scoop was also found during the dig was a much plainer example. It can be seen in the second photograph that there is very little decoration, but it does have the short point at the opposite end to the scoop. This is similar to most ear scoops found in digs at other places in the UK. The sharpened point at the opposite end to the scoop was probably used as a tooth pick.

Why it was felt appropriate to include these items in burials? Or did they get into the soil some other way? This is open to speculation, but we can be grateful that we are able to enjoy the small but fascinating and beautiful object centuries later. A short health warning should be added. Inserting metal objects into the ear risks damaging the ear drum and so should be avoided. Remember the old adage “never put anything in your ear smaller than your elbow”!

(The photographs are copyright Aberdeen Art Gallery & Museums Collections and are used with permission).

Dry rot

Progress

In a previous post, we showed pictures of the dramatic effect that wet rot had on the structure of one of the bosses in the former East Kirk. This was caused by water getting in through the leaking roof. We have also had problems with dry rot. The name is slightly misleading since it too has a need for an increased level of moisture, but this is lower than with wet rot. Dry rot normally thrives with 20-40% moisture.

 

The fungus Serpula lacrymans is the main cause of dry rot. An outbreak starts with a spore germinating when conditions are right (often about 30% moisture). This develops thread-like hyphae which are capable of  finding ways through stone and mortar as well as wood. A mass of hyphae forms a mycellium, which can look like grey fur (as shown in the first photograph). Post 18 (a) 01.06.2011Growth of the fungus in wood rapidly destroys its strength so that it may no longer be capable of load bearing in a building. Eventually the fungus will produce a ‘fruiting body’ to release more spores. The hyphae can travel considerable distance from the original spore. One of the outbreaks we have had started inside the gallery structure and was first seen two storeys lower and about 20 feet away.

 

Growth of dry rot on arch head of South Window 2nd from West 7sept09Often dry rot will start when a building is starting to dry out. This has been the case with the former East Kirk building, where there have been a number of outbreaks. The fruiting bodies can appear on wood or stone, as shown in the photographs. The first one shows a fruiting body on stone (above a window in the gallery).

 

 

Fruiting Dry Rot NE Corner of St Mary's Chapel 1 June 2011The second shows it on some of the 17th century carved wood in St Mary’s Chapel. The orange colour is caused by the spores ready to be released.

 

 

Treatment is possible, but the sooner the better – so constant vigilance is required where there is a known risk.

 

 

 

John Fendour, master wood carver

History,

John Fendour was a master wood carver of Flemish origin. Around 1500 he was renowned as one of the best wood carvers in the world. Aberdeen is fortunate that he was active at two churches – King’s College Chapel and St Nicholas Church. According to the records of the day, it was in 1495 that John Fendour was employed to work on the building work involved in expanding St Nicholas Church to make it one of the largest parish churches in Scotland. Initially he worked on the ceiling. Whilst the building was dedicated in 1498, the ceiling was not finally finished until 1515. In the intervening years he also worked on the choir stalls and he was also working on King’s College Chapel and Falkland Palace in Fife. Unfortunately, the east end of the building was  demolished in 1835 to make way for the present building. As a result, the ceiling and most of the woodwork was lost. However  a few years before it was demolished the ceiling was described as a ‘timber wagon roof, decorated with slender cross ribs, foliate sprays and an ornamental cornice’. John Fendour was commissioned to work on King’s College when building work started there in 1500. It is, therefore, not surprising that scholarship has established that the work at King’s College and St Nicholas Church were of a similar style, and indeed were influenced by styles used in a number of churches in the Netherlands. Thus, whilst we cannot know exactly what the stalls and ceiling in St Nicholas Church looked like, surviving pieces of the former and drawings of the latter together with those still visible in King’s College Chapel give a good indication of their appearance.

 

Post 17 (a) Fendour Wood in desk in St Mary's Chapel DSCN0359The most substantial part of John Fendour’s work surviving in St Nicholas Church is the long desk at the west end of St Mary’s Chapel  (shown in the first photograph) with seven panels on the front and one on either end.   Post 17 (b) Fendour wood in desk in St Mary's Chapel Close up view DSCN0362One similar panel has been incorporated in a Victorian reading desk and others in furniture made for the 1937 refurbishment of the East Church. Upper parts of the choir stalls are in the National Museum of Scotland. Other panels were incorporated into the Deacon Convener’s Chair of the Incorporated Trades of Aberdeen. The second photographs shows one of the panels in closer detail. The carving was carried out in 1508.

Early dental work

Archaeology

There is archaeological evidence for dental procedures going back over 8000 years. In the middle ages in the UK dentists as we know them had not evolved as a profession. When people had dental problems they usually went to either a barber or a general physician, as was the case with many other medical problems. Practices were crude by modern standards, but the basic concepts of the causes of dental disease were starting to be understood. During the archaeological dig in the former East Kirk of St Nicholas, many of the human remains retained some teeth. In this post we are showing two examples where there had been some sort of dental work.

 

Post 16 (a)In the first photograph a gold wire is fastened by twisting round a tooth (to the right) and is then looped round a peg (to the left). This burial dates from between the 16th and 18th century, but was ‘disarticulated’, meaning that it was not a complete skeleton, but part of a burial which had been disturbed by later gravediggers. Evidence from other sites show that these pegs could be made of wood or could be real teeth, presumably purchased from another individual. One is left to speculate about the motives and any remuneration involved in such instances. However, the supporting teeth are rotten, so the ‘patient’ may have been more comfortable had they been removed.

 

Post 16 (b) False toothThe second photograph is much earlier – between mid 12th and mid 15th centuries – and was only found during the detailed study of the human remains.. Exactly what was intended is not clear, but the jaw of this middle age adult has a sawed square of bone or ivory in a cavity in place of a tooth. Medieval texts indicate that dental treatment from this period was largely based on herbal remedies, charms and amulets. However, there are also references to dentures made of human or cow bone, which fits what is shown here. It can also be seen that the other teeth are in a very poor condition and there is an abscess as well, so this man would have had a lot of pain. As a result he would have gained little if any relief, so it could be that this ‘peg’ is being used as a charm rather than an actual attempt to have a false tooth.

 

(The photographs are copyright Aberdeen Art Gallery & Museums Collections and are used with permission).