| Description | COUNCIL REGISTER, VOLUME 71, FOLIOS 228r - 246r
Council meeting, 9 January 1828
[Sederunt given]
The Council resumed consideration of the agreement proposed to be entered into between the Town's clergy and the Council respecting the division of the Parish of St Nicholas, the augmentation of the ministers' stipends and the intended erection of a new church for the North Parish. They unanimously ratified the proceedings and authorised the presiding Baillie, Baillie Milne, to sign the agreement in the Council's name. They further resolved that, with the approval of His Majesty's Commissioners for the Plantation of Kirks and Valuation of Teinds, the Parish of St Nicholas shall be disjoined upon obtaining a decreet of disjunction and division. It was agreed that the said Parish be divided into six separate parishes as follows:
NUMBER ONE: to be called the East Parish and to consist of that part of the present Parish of St Nicholas comprehended within the following line; beginning at the centre of Union Street opposite the Back Wynd, keeping along the Back Wynd to Schoolhill, along the Schoolhill and Upper Kirkgate eastward to Broad Street, along Broad Street south to Union Street, along Union Street, Castle Street and Justice Street eastward to Park Lane and the road leading along the foot of Castlehill to James's Street, along James's Street southward to the south side of the Quay and then along the south side of the said quay westward to opposite the Shore Brae, up the Shore Brae and Ship Row to Union Street and along Union Street westward to the point of commencement opposite the south end of Back Wynd, excepting the West Church which is situated within the bounds previously described and the ground on which it stands.
NUMBER TWO: to be called the West Parish and to consist of that part of the present Parish of St Nicholas comprehended within the following line; beginning at the north boundary of the Parish of St Nicholas with the Parish of Old Machar at or near the north end of Spa Street and thence along the Woolmanhill, Schoolhill and Upperkirkgate to the south end of the Gallowgate, then northward along Gallowgate and the east branch of the turnpike road leading from Aberdeen to Inverury to the north boundary of the Parish at or near Causewayend, thence west and southward along the boundary between the Parishes of St Nicholas and Old Machar to the point of commencement aforesaid at or near Spaw Street. Which West Parish shall also comprehend the area whereon the church called the West Church stands and the Church itself, though not locally situated within the line before described.
NUMBER THREE: to be called the North Parish and to comprehend that part of the present Parish of St Nicholas within the following line; beginning at the north boundary thereof in King Street at or near Love Lane, keeping southward along King Street as far as North Street then along Queen Street to Broad Street, then along Broad Street to Union Street, along Union Street, Castle Street, Justice Street and Bowl Road, eastward to the Links, crossing the Links from the east end of Bowl Road in a direct line due east to the Sea Beach and along the Sea Beach northward to the line of march between Old Machar and St Nicholas Parishes and along that march westward to the point of commencement in King Street aforesaid.
NUMBER FOUR: to be called the South Parish and to comprehend that part of the present Parish of St Nicholas within the following line; beginning at the north boundary of the Parish of St Nicholas with the Parish of Old Machar at or near the north end of Spaw Street and thence holding along Woolmanhill and Schoolhill to opposite the north end of Back Wynd, along the Back Wynd to Union Street, along Union Street eastward to opposite the head of Shiprow, down Shiprow to opposite Shore Brae, down the Shore Brae to the south side of the Quay and then keeping along the south side of the Quay and along the Floodmark west and southward to the Denburn and from thence along the march between the Parishes of Old Machar and St Nicholas to the point of commencement at or near the north end of Spaw Street.
NUMBER FIVE: to be called the Greyfriars Parish and to comprehend that part of the present Parish of St Nicholas within the following lines; beginning at the north boundary thereof in King Street at or near Love Lane and thence along King Street as far as North Street and then along Queen Street to Broad Street, then along Broad Street and Gallowgate and the east branch of the turnpike road leading from Aberdeen to Inverury to the boundary of the Parishes of St Nicholas and Old Machar, at or near Causewayend and from thence eastward along the boundary between the said Parishes to the point of commencement in King Street at or near Love Lane.
NUMBER SIX: to be called Saint Clement's Parish and to comprehend that part of the Parish of St Nicholas within the following line; beginning at the Sea Beach at a point due east from the east end of the Bowl Road, keeping across the Links in a straight line due westward to the east end of Bowl Road and along Bowl Road to Park Lane, along Park Lane and the road leading from it by the foot of Castlehill to James's Street, keeping along James's Street to the south side of the Quay and along the Floodmark west and southward to the Denburn, then along the march between the Parishes of Old Machar and St Nicholas to the extremity of the Parish of St Nicholas on the north bank of the River Dee, there crossing the River and holding eastward along the boundary with the Parish of Nigg to the mouth of the River, and after there crossing it, holding northward along the Sea Beach to the point where the line commenced opposite the Bowl Road.
The Council further agreed that the East Parish shall be served by the East Church, the West Parish by the West Church, the North Parish by the new church to be built, the South Parish by the Chapel of Ease in Belmont Street, the Greyfriars Parish by the Greyfriars or College Church, and St Clement's Parish by the Chapel of St Clement's in Footdee. The new church to hold 1,600 persons allowing sixteen inches per person and to be built after obtaining the decreet of disjunction and division. The Chapel of Ease to be given over in terms of the agreement between the Managers and the Trustees of the Chapel of Ease.
On obtaining the decreet the cures of the Parishes shall be undertaken as follows; the West Parish by the Rev Dr George Glennie, one of the present Town's Ministers, without prejudice to the rights of and obligations on the Rev Dr William Lawrence Brown serving in the West Church as his colleague; the East Parish by the Rev James Foote, another of the Town's Ministers; Greyfriars Parish by the Rev Abercrombie Lockart Gordon, the present Minister of the Greyfriars or College Church; the North Parish by the Rev John Murray, another of the Town's Ministers, Mr Murray to assist Mr Foote until the new church is constructed; St Clement's Parish by the Rev Dr John Thomson, the present Minister of St Clement's Chapel; the South Parish by the Rev John Bryce, at present Minister of the Chapel of Ease in Belmont Street.
The Council further obliged themselves and their successors in office to pay each of the Four Ministers at present officiating in the East and West Churches an annual stipend of £250 from Whitsunday 1828. After obtaining the decreet and building the new church the Council undertakes to make the following payments: to each of the Ministers officiating in the East, West and North Churches an annual stipend of £300, and to the Ministers with sole cure of the South, Greyfriars and St Clement's Parishes an annual stipend of £250 [the Minister at St Clement's to have the option to draw on the various rents associated with the Chapel and land there].
(228r - 232r)
The Council having resumed consideration of the articles proposed by a deputation of the Trustees or Managers of the Chapel of Ease in Belmont Street and a Committee of the magistrates in 1825, to be entered into on the appropriation of the said Chapel for one of the new parishes, and considering that the Managers and congregation only consented to yield the Chapel on condition of a constitution for the management thereof and the conditions as to the exercise of the patronage being conceded to them and their successors in the manner contained in the agreement. All which the Council consented and agreed. [Resolution relative to the constitution to be granted to the Church in Belmont Street engrossed]. (232r - 236r)
The Council resolved to engross the articles of agreement between the magistrates of Aberdeen and the Town's Ministers relative to the division of the Parish of St Nicholas and referred to in the foregoing minutes [The agreement was signed by James Milne, Baillie, for himself and on behalf of the Town Council in the absence of the Provost, George Glennie, John Murray, James Foote, Dr John Thomson, Abercrombie Lockart Gordon, John Bryce, Ministers, William Simpson, Robert Brown, Alexander Webster, Arthur Farquhar, Robert Spring, William Carnegie, witness, James Hardie, witness, Charles Gray, witness, Thomas Sang, witness, Robert Morrice, advocate, witness, Thomas Lessel, writer, witness]. (236r - 245v)
The Council resolved to notify the President and Governors of Gordon's Hospital of the uncollegiating of the East and West Churches and the other arrangements in case it affected its interests, to allow it to take such steps as necessary for remedying thereof and to ensure that the number of clerical governors of the said Hospital is maintained. (245v - 246r) |