Building record MAB23920 - 4-6 TRINITY STREET, ABERDEEN

Building remains of medieval date, possibly associated with a medieval Royal palace, comprising building foundations and parts of walls.

Building remains of medieval date, possibly associated with a medieval Royal palace, comprising building foundations and parts of walls. William the Lion (1165-1214) had a palace in Aberdeen which he is said to have bestowed on the Trinitarian Friars. The location of the royal palace (and royal residence) of King William has not been proven, but suggested that it was near the site of Nos. 4 and 6 Trinity Street (RCAHMS), currently the Lorne Bar. It has been claimed that King William built his residence sometime in 1181 but has not been proven. In 1211, King William was said to have gifted his royal residence to the Trinitarians in order to establish a friary at that place (see NJ90NW0052). In the twelfth century, there was no difference between the royal residence and the palace of the king; the building would have been the place that King William would have stayed in while he was in Aberdeen. When the buildings of the Trade Hospital were taken down in 1857 to make way for the extension of the Aberdeen railway, it was observed that below the lowest part of the excavated building were the remains of an older building. There were oaken beams that were thought at that time to have supported rafters of the older structure, possibly the royal palace. There are medieval remains of a building in the basement of Nos. 4 and 6 Trinity Street. There are sandstone walls with windows of dressed ashlar, now whitewashed. However, these remains may be of the friary and not of the palace.

BOGDAN, N, 2008, EARLY CASTLES OF ABERDEENSHIRE (Bibliographic reference). SAB3811.

Record last edited

May 14 2020 2:50PM