The convent, Aberdeen - November 2008

[Alir147]

This is the convent, designed by the famous church architect, sir John ninian Comper. In the 60's, it was a busy place. The nun's were regularly seen in the vicinity round about King Street. Over the years however, numbers dwindled until finally, only one nun remained. After she left 5 years a go, the complex became semi-derelict before finally becoming fully abandoned 2 years a go. The chapel is Grade A listed, which unfortunately is not working in it's favour at all. Due to the listing, Historic scotland won't allow modern mortar to be used to carry out the much needed repairs for the chapel walls. Instead, the original, old style mortar is to be used. This is extremely expensive and is proven not to work well. Therefore, it seems likely it will head towards a similar fate like it's 'sister', "St margarets church", up in Braemar.

the approach. The house on the left is also disused. To the right is the chapel, which is hiding the main bulk of the convent buildings.




the chapel from the balcony


dismantled organ






an old map of Aberdeen I found in one of the rooms




a room upstairs


water ingress


the chimneys and tower of the abandoned richards textile mills at Broadford works - taken from the convent

[lost]

Nice photos Ali, I wish I could have got into the chapel.

[wolfism]

Nice, I enjoyed this place – needed a bit of climbing to get into the chapel if the door was locked though.

[skin]

Nice, I enjoyed this place – needed a bit of climbing to get into the chapel if the door was locked though.

that must have been when the ladder appeared eh?

[evilnoodle]

I like this very much

[freebird]

Sad that it's likely to end up deteriorating due to the cost of getting the old style mortar. Nice to see though!

[lost]

Nice, I enjoyed this place – needed a bit of climbing to get into the chapel if the door was locked though.

I was half tempted to edge along the flimsy looking overhang to the balcony, but I reckon it would have involved some broken bones.

[wolfism]

It was fairly solid iirc, though I didn't have to put it to the test.

BTW, I disagree about the mortar - the good traditional stuff is lime mortar, which allows the wall to move and breathe without cracking; the cheap modern stuff is cement mortar which is brittle and tends to crack...

[Gorecki]

:Hi :Hi
It's now been bought and is in the process of becoming a wedding venue.
The adjoining house is now up for sale for £350,000 ::

http://www-k.aspc.co.uk/cgi-bin/publ...EFNEBG#picture

[lost]

"How much?"
It's probably a bit of a bargain considering the location, wonder how bad it is internally.