Kirk of St Nicholas

Kirk of St Nicholas Uniting
View from the Kirkyard
Denomination	Church of Scotland United Reformed Church
Churchmanship	Reformed
Website	www.kirk-of-st-nicholas.org.uk
Listed Building – Category A
Designated	12 January 1967
Reference no.	20096
History
Dedication	St Nicholas
Administration
Presbytery	Aberdeen
Synod	Scotland
Clergy
Minister(s)	Rev Stephen Taylor

www.kirk-of-st-nicholas.org.uk

The Kirk of St Nicholas is a historic church located in the city centre of Aberdeen, Scotland. It is now officially known as the "Kirk of St Nicholas Uniting" as it has membership of both of the Church of Scotland and the United Reformed Church. It is also known as "The Mither Kirk" (mother church) of the city.

The earliest mention of a church on the site of the present Kirk can be found in a Papal document of 1157. Given Aberdeen's proximity to the sea, St Nicholas was chosen as the patron saint of Aberdeen, as a miracle attributed to him was the rescue of some sailors in a storm.

The Kirk was enlarged in the 15th century. St Nicholas and St Mary's, Dundee, were probably the largest parish churches in medieval Scotland. This work was dedicated by Bishop Elphinstone in 1498. The 500th anniversary of the dedication of the enlarged church was marked with the installation of a special stained glass window at the main entrance to the Kirk, overlooking Drum’s Aisle.

The church contains the Drum Aisle (the ancient burial-place of the Irvines of Drum Castle) and the Collison Aisle, which divide the two congregations and which formed the transepts of the 12th-century church of St Nicholas (architectural detail survives from this period). The West Church was built between 1751 and 1755, to plans given to the burgh by James Gibbs, in the Italian style, on the site of the medieval nave, the East in 1834 in Gothic-revival style on the site of the choir. In 1874 a fire destroyed the East Church and the old central tower with its lead-clad timber spire and its fine peal of nine bells, one of which, Laurence or "Lowrie", was 4 ft (1.2 m) in diameter at the mouth, 3.5 ft (1.1 m) high and very thick. The church was rebuilt and a massive granite tower erected over the intervening aisles, a new carillon of 36 bells, cast in Belgium, being installed to commemorate the Victorian jubilee of 1887. Because the tuning of these bells by van Aerschot was not so good, the bells were replaced in 1950 with 48 bells made by Gillett & Johnston, it is now one of the largest carillons in the UK.