IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Back Wynd, ABERDEEN, AB10 1JP

Coat of arms, with "skinny" leopards flanking it, in the West Kirk of St Nicholas, Aberdeen. www.kirk-of-st-nicholas.org.uk

One of a pair of historic coats of arms for Aberdeen, within the West Kirk of St Nicholas. www.kirk-of-st-nicholas.org.uk

St Nicholas is sometimes called the "Mither Kirk" in Aberdeen. It sits on Union Street and dates back to mediaeval times. The nave houses two churches - East and West Churches.

Specialist Scottish costume and souvenir shop at the corner of Back Wynd and Schoolhill in central Aberdeen. http://www.aberdeencity.gov.uk www.kiltmakers.co.uk

The church spire belongs to the Kirk of St. Nicholas Uniting.

The kirkyard (as opposed to the church itself) has its own A-listing, for the interest of its monuments from the 17th Century onwards: http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/sc-19967-union-street-9-back-wynd-schoolhill-and-c .

Built 1755 and A-listed: http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/sc-19966-union-street-back-wynd-schoolhill-and-cor . The link gives a flavour of the complex history of Aberdeen's churches.

In the west entrance to the church, the monument commemorates Ann Allardyce (née Baxter) who died from complications of childbirth in 1787. The Allardyce family made their fortune from slave plantations in Jamaica: http://www.abdn.ac.uk/slavery/6p3.htm. The sculptor was John Bacon: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Bacon_(sculptor). There is an almost identical monument at Widworthy (Devon), but apparently not yet photographed for Geograph...

Sable, a wolf salient or, in chief three estoiles (six-pointed stars) argent impaling the Arms of his wife, Christian(?) Robertson [Gules a chevron between three wolves' heads erased argent]. The motto means "I look for all things from above." As seen on a memorial against the west wall of St Nicholas' Kirkyard, Aberdeen. For more details, see Scottish Notes and Queries (April 1889 edition), p 166, available on archive.org

William Guild (see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Guild ) was an important 17th Century benefactor in Aberdeen. Here on his memorial, which sits against the west wall of St Nicholas' kirkyard, we see his arms (Sable, a chevron or between three roses gules slipped vert) impaling those of his wife Katherine Rolland (Argent a fesse chequy sable and or between three ships with sails furled sable). The colours appear to have not quite been rendered correctly for his wife's arms. See Scottish Notes and Queries (December 1888 edition, p. 103) for more (available on archive.org).