Greyfriars (John Knox) Kirk, Broad Street, Aberdeen

Greyfriars Church is a Category A

Listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. It was designed by the architect

Alexander Marshall Mackenzie Alexander Marshall MacKenzie (1 January 1848 – 4 May 1933) was a Scottish architect responsible for prestigious projects including the headquarters of the Isle of Man Banking Company in Douglas, and Australia House and the Waldorf Hotel in ...

and built in 1903. It is situated on Broad Street and forms the south-east corner of

Marischal College Marischal College ( ) is a large granite building on Broad Street in the centre of Aberdeen in north-east Scotland, and since 2011 has acted as the headquarters of Aberdeen City Council. However, the building was constructed for and is on long- ...

, also designed by Mackenzie.

History

A priory was built in the area in 1469. Around 1525 Bishop Dunbar started a new church. This was completed and occupied in 1532 in Pre-Reformation days by Franciscan monks. It was retained for Protestant worship after the Reformation, but the monastery element was demolished to create

(attaching the church) in 1593. In 1605, 1616 and 1640 the

General Assembly of the Church of Scotland The General Assembly of the Church of Scotland is the sovereign and highest court of the Church of Scotland, and is thus the Church's governing body.''An Introduction to Practice and Procedure in the Church of Scotland'' by A. Gordon McGillivray ...

was held here (rather than its usual venue in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

).Fasti Ecclesiastae Scoticana vol.5 by Hew Scott In 1749 the church was redesignated as a chapel-of-ease to the

Kirk of St Nicholas The Kirk of St Nicholas is a historic church located in the city centre of Aberdeen, Scotland. Up until the dissolution of the congregation on 31 December 2020, it was known as the ''"Kirk of St Nicholas Uniting"''. It is also known as ''"The Mit ...

, a status which continued until 1828.

Notable Ministers

Due to the physical connection between buildings, many ministers also served concurrently as Principal of Marischal College. *

Robert Barron Robert Emmet Barron (born November 19, 1959) is an American people, American prelate of the Catholic Church who has served as bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Winona-Rochester, Diocese of Winona-Rochester since 2022. He is the founder ...

1624 to 1635 * Thomas Blackwell 1711 to 1728 * Robert Pollock 1745 to 1760 *Rev Prof Alexander Gerard 1760 to 1771 * Rev Dr George Campbell 1771 to 1795 *

William Laurence Brown William Laurence Brown (7 January 175511 May 1830) was a Scottish minister. Life Brown was born in Utrecht in the Netherlands. His father, William Brown, was minister of the English church there, but was then appointed professor of ecclesiast ...

Daniel Dewar Daniel Dewar (1788–1867) was a Church of Scotland minister who served as principal of Marischal College in Aberdeen from 1832 to 1860. He was a major contributor to the first Gaelic dictionary. He was father-in-law to James Clerk Maxwell. Lif ...

1814 to 1819

References

Category A listed buildings in Aberdeen Churches in Aberdeen Listed churches in Scotland Churches completed in 1903 1903 establishments in Scotland {{UK-listed-building-stub