Aboyne-Dinnet Vault

There is a large Vault under the Church in which members of the Huntly Family are buried.

The Vault is reached by a door in the North Wall of the Church, from which a stone built staircase descends to the Vault. There are 18 steps to the lower landing and from it two more 2 steps down into the Vault. The lower landing is covered by an arched ceiling. The staircase is under the stair leading to the Church gallery.

The Vault is 24' 0" long x 16' 2" broad. The side walls are 3' 0" high and the vault which is arched with stone rises to a height of 9' 2" in the centre.

The entrance to the Vault proper is by an arched doorway 6' 0" high at the side and 6' 9" in the centre. The stone arch of this doorway appears to have been re-built but not pointed on the side next to the Vault. The door is of wood. The outer door in the Church wall is of wood and is locked.

The floor of the Vault which is 12' 2" below the floor of the Church is laid with granite slabs. There two ventilators, one a slit of 1" broad by 1' 9" high from the Vault into the staircase, and the other a vent from the staircase to the outside, which is finished with a grating 19" x 10" placed behind the buttress at the front door.

One of the columns supporting the gallery rests on the Arch of the Vault and another on the side wall.

This Vault was no doubt originally built when the first Church was erected on this site after the Parishes of Aboyne and Glentanar were united. The date given is about 1763 but this was probably the date of the completion of the Church and a burial could have taken place in August 1762.

In the outside wall over the door leading to the Vault there is an old date stone 1761 with a coat of arms which is considerably decayed. The doorway in the North wall is probably of the same date as the present Church 1845.

Apart from the pointing of the Arch already referred to, and a few pieces of plaster damaged, the Vault is in good order and quite dry.

The above information was extracted from a paper with the date 1926 typed on the back of it and has an architect's plan of the vault drawn by 'Geo. Bennett Mitchell & Son, Architects, Aberdeen Feb 1937'. This paper is in the records held by the Session Clerk. The following information has been added by the Session Clerk, Adrian Sims in November 2013.

The information in the above document referred to four coffins in the Vault and one recorded interment under the floor. Since 1926 there have been a further two internments and the inscriptions are as follows –

Lady Margaret Stewart (ll) - Countes of Aboyne - Fourth daughter of The Earl of Galloway - aged Thirty - Died the 12th August 1762

On a stone at the West end of the Vault there is the following inscription:
Charles Gordon, 4th Earl of Aboyne (l) - Lies Buried Here - Born 1726 - Died 1794

In front of this stone there is a cross cut on the floor (now covered by a later coffin) with the letters - C E A

George Gordon (lll) - Marquis of Huntly - Born 28th June 1761 - Died 17th June 1853

Lord Esme Gordon (lV) - Died 28th September 1900 - Aged 47 years

Amy Marchioness of Huntly (V) - Born January 17 1850 - Died May 13th 1920 - R. I. P.

Isabelle (Vl) - Marchioness of Huntly - Born 16th September 1869 - Died 17th May 1939

Charles Gordon (Vll) - 11th Marquis of Huntly - Born 5th March 1847 - Died 20th Feby 1937

There are no records of other burials and there would appear to be none unless they are under the floor.

The family tree showing the above persons are –