Simon Taylor of the Aberdour Cultural Association went into the Primary School to tell stories of old Aberdour. The children made tapestry panels that will be displayed as part of a new Aberdour banner. The first is Mortimer’s Deep.
Has anyone here ever heard of Mortimer’s Deep? It’s the stretch of water between Aberdour and Inchcolm, and it is very deep. This is the story about how it got its name.
Many centuries ago a nobleman called Sir William de Mortimer lived in Aberdour Castle, just across the way from where we are right now. At that time there was a big monastery on Inchcolm – there are still lots of ruins on the island.
A monastery is a big community of Christian men called monks. Monks are dedicated to working and praying to God. There are still some monasteries in Scotland, but not nearly as many as there used to be.
Anyway, Sir William de Mortimer got into a serious argument with the monks of Inchcolm. The argument was about who should appoint the Aberdour parish priest – Sir William said it was him, Inchcolm said it was them. This might seem a strange thing to get into an argument about, but at that time, whoever appointed the priest got lots of extra money.
The argument became so bitter that Sir William and his men beat up some of the monks outside St Fillan’s Kirk. Sir William later said he was very sorry – and made amends by granting all the land of Wester Aberdour to the monastery.
However, some of the monks could never forgive him for beating them up and being so bad towards them. So, after his death, as his coffin was being taken over to Inchcolm to be buried in the church, they threw the coffin overboard, into the Deep. So he never managed to get a Christian burial.
That is the story about how Mortimer’s Deep got its name.