Bede House

The story of a Bede House in Old Aberdeen starts in 1531 when Bishop Gavin Dunbar of St Machar's Cathedral, under the instruction of James V of Scotland, had built a hospital for the elderly poor in Old Aberdeen. The church of St Machar, founded in the 5th century, was a centre of community life in the area of Aberdeen immediately to the south of the river Don in what is now Seaton Park. The Bishop, whose predecessor William Elphinstone had helped found the University of Aberdeen, was a reforming cleric who took seriously his responsibilities to his flock. Such hospitals were not uncommon in medieval times with many in Scotland and England. There was another hospital, St Peters, just…

The Bede House is described in a few written accounts. It is recalled by Roger (1902) as "a good specimen of a seventeenth century Scottish Town House". The original house consisted of three stories and an attic. Entry to the house from Don Street is through a "pend" or alleyway leading to two doors. To the left is access to what is now cellars, the second door opens into a spiral stone staircase leading to the upper floors. The pend has a gate dating from 1965. The tower at the rear, which is capped with a pyramidal roof, carries the stairs to the second floor. From the second floor to the attic there is a set of stairs with a corbelled turret. These stairs are now closed off but can be…