Mercat Cross , Aberdeen

I decided to go to early communion in St Andrew's Episcopal Cathedral in Aberdeen this morning, not least because I had never been to a service in what is , essentially, the founding place of the largest Episcopal Church in the world, that of the USA.

The famous picture of the consecration of Samuel Seabury, the first American Bishop which took place here on 14th November 1784 , hangs in lots of Episcopal Churches in Scotland, including the one on Dunoon. That link remains very visible in the Lady Chapel of the Cathedral where the roof, as I discovered this morning, is decorated with the coats of arms of the American Episcopal Diocese whist the stars and strips hangs nearby.

I got a bit of a shock when leaving , though, because I suddenly saw a large stark white plaque with a cross on the back wall dedicated (in big black letters) to the memory of a Michael Russell Suther. I must find out who he was.

Before I went in I walked around the Castlegate and was struck by the view of the famous Mercat Cross, with behind it the equally famous Union St.