Best viewed in Internet Explorer
PDF
Back to
Updated
03/31/2015 |
Udny Church Mort House
As you may be aware,
as the science of medicine began to flourish in the early 1800s, there
were not enough cadavers available for medical students to study. The
primary source of bodies was that of executed criminals or:
"those bodies
that dye in the correction-house; the bodies of fundlings who dye
betwixt the tyme that they are weaned and thir being put to schools or
trades; also the dead bodies of such as are stiflet in the birth, which
are exposed, and have none to owne them; as also the dead bodies of such
as are felo de se (suicides); likewayes the bodies of such as are
put to death by sentence of the magistrat."
But the number of
executions had been going down as well, thereby worsening the shortage
of cadavers. This lead to enterprising "resurrectionists" like Burke and
Hare who began to rob the graves of the recently deceased to sell the
bodies to anatomists.
About 1816
the first "mortsafe" was invented. These were iron and stone
cages meant to keep out the grave robbers. In some cases they
were temporary and used just until the body had decomposed long
enough to become useless to the anatomists, and the body would
then be the buried in its permanent resting place.
Other ways
of keeping away the resurrectionists included hiring men to
protect your loved one's body for a period of time. In some
church yards "watch houses" were built where a man could stand
guard overnight.
|
|
The year
that the Udny Mort House was built the Anatomy Act of 1832 was
passed. The act gave physicians, surgeons and students legal
access to corpses that were unclaimed after death, including
corpses of those who had died in prison or a workhouse. Further,
a person could donate the corpse of a next of kin in exchange
for burial at the expense of the anatomy school. As a result,
the Udny Mort House was only used for its original purpose until
about 1838. It was used as a rifle store in the Second World War
and is now treated as a "rare and important structure" by the
Scottish Church Heritage Research. |
Another
option was a Mort House. These were secure buildings where the
cadavers could be locked and protected until they decomposed
enough to be beyond the use for study. The circular Udny Parish
Church Mort House was built in 1832. Udny Parish is a
congregation of the Church of Scotland at Udny Green,
Aberdeenshire in the north-east of Scotland, some 15 miles north
of Aberdeen.
The Mort
House (Left) is a windowless, granite chamber with a strong oak
door and a lock requiring four separate key holders, as well as
an inner iron door to secure the defenses.
|
Inside, there is a turntable on which the coffins would
be placed. Bodies could be kept on the turntable in the
order in which they passed, and kept a minimum of 7
days, or up to three months. Common rules for mort
houses included the construction of coffins, which had
to be made from well-seasoned wood, and completely
air-tight. Bodies considered to be infectious were
sometimes required to be sealed in tin plate or lead.
The Udny Mort House was built by "subscriptions", or
donations. Non-subscribers were allowed use of the vault
by paying between five and twenty shillings. The amount
charged was at the discretion committee that organized
the construction of the building. Four members of the
committee were key bearers, and it was compulsory for
them to be present to open and close the vault whenever
necessary. |
|
|