Aberdeen

ABERDEEN, a royal burgh, city and county of a city,

capital of Aberdeenshire, and chief seaport in the north of

Scotland. It is the fourth Scottish town in population,

industry and wealth, and stands on a bay of the North

Sea, between the mouths of the Don and Dee, 130 1/2 m. N.

E. of Edinburgh by the North British railway. Though Old

Aberdeen, extending from the city suburbs to the southern

banks of the Dob, has a separate charter, privileges and

history, the distinction between it and New Aberdeen can no

longer be said to exist; and for parliamentary, municipal

and other purposes, the two towns now form practically one

community. Aberdeen's popular name of the ``Granite City,'

is justified by the fact that the bulk of the town fs built

of granite, but to appreciate its more poetical designation

of the ``Silver City by the Sea,'' it should be seen after

a heavy rainfall when its stately structures and countless

houses gleam pure and white under the brilliant sunshine.

The area of the city extends to 6602 acres, the burghs of

Old Aberdeen and Woodside, and the district of Torry (for

parliamentary purposes in the constituency of Kincardineshire)

to the south of the Dee, having been incorporated in 1891.

The city comprises eleven wards and eighteen ecclesiastical

parishes, and is under the jurisdiction of a council with

lord provost, bailies, treasurer and dean of guild. The

corporation owns the water (derived from the Dee at a spot 21

m. W.S.W. of the city) and gas supplles, electric lighting and

tramways. Since 1885 the city has returned two members to

Parliament. Aberdeen is served by the Caledonian, Great North

of Scotland and North British railways (occupying a commodious

joint railway station), and there is regular communication by

sea with London and the chief ports on the eastern coast of

Great Britain and the northern shores of the Continent. The mean

temperature of the city for the year is 45.8 deg. F., for summer

56 deg. F., and for winter 37.3 deg. F. The average yearly rainfall

is 30.57 inches. The city is one of the healthiest in Scotland.

Streets and Buildings.--Roughly, the extended city runs

north and south. From the new bridge of Don to the ``auld

brig'' of Dee there is tramway communication via King

Street, Union Street and Holburn Road--a distance of over five

miles. Union Street is one of the most imposing thoroughfares

in the British Isles. From Castle Street it runs W. S. W.

for nearly a mile, is 70 ft. wide, and contains the principal

shops and most of the modern public buildings, all of granite.

Part of the street crosses the Denburn ravine (utilized for

the line of the Great North of Scotland railway) by a fine

granite arch of 132 ft. span, portions of the older town

still fringing the gorge, fifty feet below the level of Union

Street. Amongst the more conspicuous secular buildings in the

street may be mentioned the Town and County Bank, the Music

Hall, with sitting accommodation for 2000 persons, the Trinity

Hall of the incorporated trades (originating in various years

between 1398 and 1527, and having charitable funds for poor

members, widows and orphans), containing some portraits

by George Jamesone, a noteworthy set of carved oak chairs,

dating from 1574, and the shields of the crafts with quaint

inscriptions; the office of the Aberdeen Free Press, one of

the most influential papers in the north of Scotland; the Palace

Hotel; the office of the Nnrthern Assurance Company, and the

Nutional Bank of Scotland. In Castle Street, a continuation

eastwards of Union Street, are situated the Municipnl and

County Buildings, one of the most splendid granite edifices

in Scotland, in the Franco-Scottish Gothic style, built in

1867-1878. They are of four stories and contain the great

hall with an open timber ceiling and oak-panelled walls; the

Sheriff Court House; the Town Hall, with excellent portraits

of Prince Albert (Prince Consort), the 4th earl of Aberdeen,

the various lord provosts and other distinguished citizens.

In the vestibule of the entrance corridor stands a suit of

black armour believed to have been worn by Provost Sir Robert

Davidson, who feh in the battle of Harlaw, near Inverurie, in

1411. From the south-western corner a grand tower rises to

a height of 210 ft., commanding a fine view of the city and

surrounding country. Adjoining the municipal buildings is

the North of Scotland Bank, of Greek design, with a portico

of Corinthian columns, the capitals of which are exquisitely

carved. On the opposite side of the street is the fine

building of the Union Bank. At the upper end of Castle Street

stands the Salvation Army Citadel, an effective castellated

mansion, the most imposing ``barracks'' possessed anywhere

by this organization. In front of it is the Market Cross,

a beautiful, open-arched, hexagonal structure, 21 ft. in

diameter and 18 ft. high. The original was designed in 1682

by Jnhn Montgomery, a native architect, but in 1842 it was

removed hither from its old site and rebuilt in a better

style. On the entablature surmounting the Ionic columns are

panels containing medallions of Scots sovereigns from James

I. to James VII. From the centre rises a shaft, 12 1/2 ft.

high, with a Corinthian capital on which is the royal,unicorn

rampant. On an eminence east of Castle Street are the military

barracks. In Market Street are the Mechanics' Institution,

founded in 1824, with a good library; the Post and Telegraph

offices; and the Market, where provisions of all kinds and

general wares are sold. The Fish Market, on the Albert Basin,

is a busy scene in the early morning. The Art Gallery and

Museum at Schoolhill, built in the Italian Renaissance style

of red and brown granite, contains an excellent Collection of

pictures, the Macdonald Hall of portraits of contemporary

artists by themselves being of altogether exceptional

interest and unique of its kind in Great Britain. The public

llbrary, magnificently housed, contains more than 60,000

volumes. The theatre in Guild Street is the chief seat of

dramatic, as the Palace Theatre in Bridge Place is of variety

entertainment. The new buildings of Marischal College fronting

Broad Street, opened by King Edward VII. in 1906, form one

of the most splendid examples of modern architecture in Great

Britain; the architect, Alexander Marshall Mackenzie, a native

of Aberdeen, having adapted his material, white granite, to

the design of a noble building with the originality of genius.

Churches.---Like most Scottish towns, Aberdeen is well

equipped with churches, most of them of good design, but

few of special interest. The East and West churches of St

Nicholas, their kirkyard separated from Union Street by an Ionic

facade, 147 1/2 ft. long, built in 1830, form one continuous

building, 220ft. in length, including the Drum Aisle (the

ancient burial-place of the Irvines of Drum) and the Colllson

Aisle, which divide them and which formed the transept of the

12th-century church of St Nicholas. The West Church was built in

1775, in the Italian style, the East originally in 1834 in the

Gothic. In 1874 a fire destroyed the East Church and the

old central tower with its fine peal of nine bells, one of

which, Laurence or ``Lowrie,'' was 4 ft. in diameter at the

mouth, 3 1/2 ft. high and very thick. The church was rebuilt

and a massive granite tower erected over the intervening

aisles at the cost of the municipality, a new peal of 36

bells, cast in Holland, being installed to commemorate the

Victorian jubilee of 1887. The Roman Catholic Cathedral in

Huntly Street, a Gothic building, was erected in 1859. The

see of Aberdeen was first founded at Mortlach in Banffshire

by Malcolm II. in 1004 to celebrate his victory there over

the Danes, but in 1137 David I. transferred the bishopric

to Old Aberdeen, and twenty years later the cathedral of

St Machar, situated a few hundred yards from the Don, was

begun. Save during the episcopate of William Elphinstone

(1484-1511), the building progressed slowly. Gavin Dunbar,

who followed him in 1518, was enabled to complete the

structure by adding the two western spires and the southern

transept. The church suffered severely at the Reformation,

but is still used as the parish church. It now consists of the

nave and side aisles. It is chiefly built of outlayer granite,

and, though the plainest cathedral in Scotland, its stately

simplicity and severe symmetry lend it unique distinction.

On the flat panelled ceiling of the nave are the heraldic

shields of the princes, noblemen and bishops who shared in its

erection, and the great west window contains modern painted

glass of excellent colour and design. The cemeteries are St

Peter's in Old Aberdeen, Trinity near the links, Nellfield

at the junction of Great Western and Holburn Roads, and

Allenvale, very tastefully laid out, adjoining Duthie Park.

Education.---Aberdeen University consists of King's College

in Old Aberdeen, founded by Bishop Elphinstone in 1494,

and Marischal College, in Broad Street, founded in 1593 by

George Keith, 5th earl Marischal, which were incorporated in

1860. Arts and divinity are taught at King's, law, medicine

and science at Marischal. The number of students exceeds 800

yearly. The buildings of both colleges are the glories of

Aberdeen. King's forms a quadrangle with interior court, two

sides of which have been rebuilt, and a library wing has been

added. The Crown Tower and the Chapel, the oldest parts, date from

1500. The former is surmounted by a structure about 40 ft.

high, consisting of a six-sided lantern and royal crown, both

sculptured, and resting on the intersections of two arched

ornamental slips rising from the four corners of the top of the

tower. The choir of the chapel still contains the original

oak canopied stalls, miserere seats and lofty open screens in

the French flamboyant style, and of unique beauty of design and

execution. Their preservation was due to the enlightened

energy of the principal at the time of the Reformation, who

armed his folk to save the building from the barons of the

Mearns after they had robbed St Machar's of its bells and

lead. Marischal College is a stately modern building, having

been rebuilt in 1836-1841, and greatly extended several years

later at a cost of L. 100,000. The additions to the buildings

opened by King Edward VII. in 1906 have been already mentioned.

The beautiful Mitchell Tower is so named from the benefactor (Dr

Charles Mitchell) who provided the splendid graduation hall.

The opening of this tower in 1895 signalized the commemoration

of the four hundredth anniversary of the foundation of the

university. The University Library comprises nearly 100,000

books. A Botanic Garden was presented to the university in

1899. Aberdeen and Glasgow Universities combine to return

one member to Parliament. The United Free Church Divinity

Hall in Alford Place, in the Tudor Gothic style, dates from

1850. The Grammar School, founded in 1263, was removed in

1861-1863 from its old quarters in Schoolhill to a large new

building, in the Scots Baronial style, off Skene Street.

Robert Gordon's College in Schoolhill was founded in 1729

by Robert Gordon of Straloch and further endowed in 1816 by

Alexander Simpson of Collyhill. Originally devoted (as Gordon's

Hospital) to the instruction and maintenance of the sons of poor

burgesses of guild and trade in the city, it was reorganized

in 1881 as a day and night school for secondary and technical

education, and has since been unusually successful. Besides

a High School for Girls and numerous board schools, there are

many private higher-class schools. Under the Endowments Act

1882 an educational trust was constituted which possesses a

capital of L. 155,000. At Blairs, in Kincardineshire, five

miles S.W. of Aberdeen, is St Mary's Roman Catholic College

for the training of young men intended for the priesthood.

Charities.---The Royal Infimary, in Woolmanhill, established

in 1740, rebuilt in the Grecian style in 1833-1840, and

largely extended after 1887 as a memorial of Queen Victoria's

jubilee; the Royal Asylum, opened in 1800; the Female Orphan

Asylum, in Albyn Place, founded in 1840; the Blind Asylum,

in Huntly Street, established in 1843; the Royal Hospital

for Sick Children; the Maternity Hospital, founded in 1823;

the City Hospital for Infectious Diseases; the Deaf and Dumb

Institution; Mitchell's Hospital in Old Aberdeen; the East

and West Poorhouses, with lunatic wards; and hospitals devoted

to specialized diseases, are amongst the most notable of

the charitable institutions. There are, besides, industrial

schools for boys and girls and for Roman Catholic children, a

Female School of Industry, the Seabank Rescue Home, Nazareth

House and Orphanage, St Martha's Home for Girls, St Margaret's

Convalescent Home and Sisterhood, House of Bethany, the

Convent of the Sacred Heart and the Educational Trust School.

Parks and Open Spaces.---Duthie Park, of 50 acres, the gift

of Miss Elizabeth Crombie Duthie of Ruthrieston, occupies an

excellent site on the north bank of the Dee. Victoria Park

(13 acres) and its extension Westburn Park (13 acres) are

situated in the north-western area; farther north lies Stewart

Park (11 acres), called after Sir D. Stewart, lord provost in

1893. The capacious links bordering the sea between the

mouths of the two rivers are largely resorted to for open-air

recreation; there is here a rifle range where a ``wapinschaw,''

or shooting tournament, is held annually. Part is laid out

as an 18-hole golf course; a section is reserved for cricket

and football; a portion has been railed off for a race-course,

and a bathing-station has been erected. Union Terrace

Gardens are a popular rendezvous in the heart of the city.

Statues.---In Union Terrace Gardens stands a colossal statue

in bronze of Sir William Wallace, by W. G. Stevenson, R.S.A.

(1888). In the same gardens are a bronze statue of Burns

and Baron Marochetti's seated figure of Prince Albert. In

front of Gordon's College is the bronze statue, by T. S.

Burnett, A.R.S.A., of General Gordon (1888). At the east

end of Union Street is the bronze statue of Queen Victoria,

erected in 1893 by the royal tradesmen of the city. Near the

Cross stands the granite statue of the 5th duke of Gordon (d.

1836). Here may also be mentioned the obelisk of Peterhead

granite, 70 ft. high, erected in the square of Marischal

College to the memory of Sir James M`Grigor (1778-1851), the

military surgeon and director-general of the Army Medical

Department, who was thrice elected lord rector of the College.

Bridges.--The Dee is crossed by four bridges,--the old

bridge, the Wellington suspension bridge, the railway bridge,

and Victoria Bridge, opposite Market Street. The first, till

1832 the only access to the city from the south, consists of

seven semicircular ribbed arches, is about 30 ft. high, and

was built early in the 16th century by Bishops Elphinstone and

Dunbar. It was nearly all rebuilt in 1718--1723, and in

1842 was widened from 14 1/2 to 26 ft. The bridge of Don has

five granite arches, each 75 ft. in span, and was built in

1827--1832. A little to the west is the Auld Brig o'

Balgownie, a picturesque single arch spanning the deep

black stream, said to have been built by King Robert I.,

and celebrated by Byron in the tenth canto of Don Juan.

Harbour.--A defective harbour, with a shallow sand and gravel

bar at its entrance. long retarded the trade of Aberdeen, but

under various acts since 1773 it was greatly deepened. The

north pier, built partly by Smeaton in 1775-1781, and partly

by Telford in 1810-1815, extends nearly 3000 ft. into the North

Sea. It increases the depth of water on the bar from a few

feet to 22 or 24 ft. at spring tides and to 17 or 18 ft. at

neap. A wet dock, of 29 acres, and with 6000 ft. of quay,

was completed in 1848 and called Victoria Dock in honour

of the queen's visit to the city in that year. Adjoining

it is the Upper Dock. By the Harbour Act of 1868, the Dee

near the harbour was diverted from the south at a cost of

L. 80,000, and 90 acres of new ground (in addition to 25 acres

formerly made up) were provided on the north side of the

river for the Albert Basin (with a graving dock), quays and

warehouses. A breakwater of concrete, 1050 ft. long, was

constructed on the south side of the stream as a protection

against south-easterly gales. On Girdleness, the southern

point of the bay, a lighthouse was built in 1833. Near the

harbour mouth are three batteries mounting nineteen guns.

Industry.---Owing to the variety and importance of its chief

industries Aberdeen is one of the most prosperous cities in

Scotland. Very durable grey granite has been quarried near

Aberdeen for more than 300 years, and blocked and dressed

paving ``setts,'' kerb and building stones, and monumental

and other ornamental work of granite have long been exported

from the district to all parts of the world. This, though

once the predominant industry, has been surpassed by the

deep-sea fisheries, which derived a great impetus from

beam-trawling, introduced in 1882, and steam line fishing

in 1889, and threaten to rival if not to eclipse those of

Grimsby. Fish trains are despatched to London daily. Most

of the leading industries date from the 18th century, amongst

them woollens (1703), linen (1749) and cotton (1779). These

give employment to several thousands of operatives. The

paper-making industry is one of the most famous and oldest in

the city, paper having been first made in Aberdeen in 1694.

Flax-spinning and jute and combmaking factories are also very

flourishing, and there are successful foundries and engineering

works. There are large distilleries and breweries, and

chemical works employing many hands. In the days of wooden

ships ship-building was a flourishing industry, the town being

noted for its fast clippers, many of which established records

in the ``tea races.'' The introduction of trawllng revived

this to some extent, and despite the distance of the city

from the iron fields there is a fair yearly output of iron

vessels. Of later origin are the jam, pickle and potted

meat factories, hundreds of acres having been laid down in

strawberries and other fruits within a few miles of the city.

History.--Aberdeen was an important place as far back as the

12th century. William the Lion had a residence in the city, to

which he gave a charter in 1179 confirming the corporate rights

granted by David I. The city received other royal charters

later. It was burned by the English king, Edward III., in

1336, but it was soon rebuilt and extended, and called New

Aberdeen. The burgh records are the oldest in Scotland.

They begin in 1398 and with one brief break are complete to

the present day. For many centuries the city was subject to

attacks by the neighbouring barons, and was strongly fortified,

but the gates were all removed by 1770. In 1497 a blockhouse

was built at the harbour mouth as a protection against the

English. During the struggles between the Royalists and

Covenanters the city was impartially plundered by both

sides. In 1715 the Earl Marischal proclaimed the Old

Pretender at Aberdeen, and in 1745 the duke of Cumberland

resided for a short time in the city before attacking

the Young Pretender. The motto on the city arms is ``Bon

Accord,'' which formed the watchword of the Aberdonians

while aiding Robert Bruce in his battles with the English.

Population.---In 1396 the population was about 3000. By 1801 it had

become 26,992; in 1841 it was 63,262; (1891) 121,623; (1901) 153,503.

AUTHORITIES.--The charters of the burgh; extracts from

the council register down to 1625, and selections from the

letters. guildry and treasurer's accounts, forming 3 vols.

of the Spalding Club; Cosmo Innes, Registrum Episcopatus

Aberdonensis, Spalding Club; Walter Thore, The History

of Aberdeen (1811); Robert Wilson, Historical Account and

Delineation of Aberdeen (1822); William Kennedy, The Annals

of Aberdeen (1818); Orem, Descripjion of the Chanonry,

Cathedral and King's College of Old Aberdeen, 1724-1725

(1830); Sir Andrew Leith Hay of Rannes, The Castellated

Architecture of Aberdeen; Giles, Specimens of old

Castellated Houses of Aberdeen (1838); James Bryce, Lives

of Eminent Men of Aberdeen (1841); J. Gordon, Description

of Both Towns of Aberdeen (Spalding Club, 1842); Joseph

Robertson, The Book of Bon-Accord (Aberdeen, 1839); W.

Robbie, Aberdeen: its Traditions and History (Aberdeen,

1893); C. G. Burr and A. M. Munro, Old Landmarks of Aberdeen

(Aberdeen, 1886); A. M. Munro, Memorials of the Aldermen,

Provosts and Lord Provosts of Aberdeen (Aberdeen, 1897);

P. J. Anderson, Charters, &c., illustrating the History

of Records of Marischal College (New Spalding 1890);

Selections from the Records of Marischal College (New

Spalding Club, 1889, 1898..1899); J. Cooper, Chartulary of

the Church of St Nicholas (New Spalding Club, 1888, 1892);

G. Cadenhead, Sketch of the Territorial History of the

Burgh of Aberdeen (Aberdeen, 1876); W. Cadenhead, Guide to

the City of Aberdeen (Aberdeen, 1897); A. Smith, History

and Antiquities of New and Old Aberdeen (Aberdeen, 1882).

Source: An unnamed encyclopedia from a project that puts out-of-copyright texts into the public domain. This is from a *very* old source, and reflects the thinking of the turn of the last century. -- BryceHarrington