Bishop Dunbar's Hospital

rdf:langString Bishop Dunbar's Hospital

rdf:langString St Mary’s Hospital or Bishop Dunbar’s Hospital

rdf:langString After 1790

rdf:langString Sketch of Dunbar's Hospital: from Alexander Macdonald Munro, and New Spalding Club , Records of Old Aberdeen, Mclvii-Mdcccxci Vol. 2. . - Unknown author.

rdf:langString c. 1789

rdf:langString Scotland

rdf:langString Medieval Sub-Monastic care

rdf:langString Location in Aberdeen

rdf:langString Scotland Aberdeen

rdf:langString Medieval Cathedral Hospital

rdf:langString Bishop Dunbar's Hospital was founded in 1531 by Bishop Gavin Dunbar, the Elder. The hospital was endowed by a mortification just before his death. Dunbar petitioned the King, James V of Scotland, and the charter, signed on 24 February 1531 records the King’s approval that ‘[Dunbar shall] ... found an hospital near the cathedral church, but outside the cemetery...’ It was also known as St Mary's Hospital. In the mortification, Dunbar's charitable purpose is recorded. Bedesmen were supported by a charitable foundation that emerged from the original church control until the twenty-first century. Bedesmen drew their name from the word "bede" - a prayer. The residents of Dunbar's Hospital said prayers in a cycle of Divine Office. The Bede House, Old Aberdeen was used by the Bedesmen from the hospital from 1789 to the end of the nineteenth century. The only remains of the 1531 building can be seen in a perimeter wall for Seaton Park in Old Aberdeen. The last Bedesman died in 1988. The Managers of the Hospital constituted a Charity, Bishop Dunbar Hospital Trust. The Charity ceased active operation in 2012.