Document record MAB57043 - DOMINICAN FRIARY

Site of a Dominican (Black Friars) friary founded between 1230 and 1249 by Alexander II.

Site of a Dominican (Black Friars) friary founded between 1230 and 1249 by Alexander II. He was said to have bestowed on the friary his palace and garden situated between Schoolhill, Blackfriars Street, Woolmanhill, St Andrews Street and Harriet Street. From the 14th century the Friary features regularly in documentary sources. The Blackfriars convent and grounds occupied a semi-rural location beyond the Upperkirkgate which marked the northwestern entry to the Burgh of Aberdeen. By 1503 the complex housed a prior and 13 friars. The boundary wall was still extant in 1661 (shown on Parson Gordon's map), although the monastery and its church (dedicated to St John the Baptist) had been destroyed by reformers in 1560. Excavations in 1833 uncovered a south-facing building of the monastery, and a stone-built grave containing three bodies. The site is now occupied by Robert Gordon's College (NJ90NW0375). The finds made during building operations between 1833 and 1923 appear to indicate that the main complex and church were situated at the present college gymnasium. See NJ90NW3080 for coffins found 1923, NJ90NW1189 for wall foundations found 2009; NJ90NW1255 for burials found in 2015, and NJ90NW0568 for burials found during works to the Art Gallery in 2016.

DENNISON, E, 1997, HISTORIC ABERDEEN: THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL IMPLICATIONS OF DEVELOPMENT. THE SCOTTISH BURGH SURVEY, pp 37-8 (Bibliographic reference). SAB4057.

CAMERON, A, 2016, FIVE SITES IN THE ENVIRONS OF MEDIEVAL ABERDEEN (Bibliographic reference). SAB7012.

Record last edited

Nov 13 2025 10:11AM