Aberdeen, cathedrals

St Machar's cathedral, built on the site of a church founded by one of St Columba's disciples (c.580), was rebuilt in granite after destruction by Edward III in 1336. Alternately under presbyterian and episcopal rule 1560-1690, then wholly presbyterian, the glory of its surviving interior is the nave's oak ceiling (1520). The central tower fell after a storm (1688). The episcopal cathedral, erected 1816-17 as St Andrew's chapel, is regarded by American episcopalians as their mother church.