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Diversion of the River Dee
157 The Dee originally flowed northward from Wellington Bridge close by the railway arches eastwards to the sea. After years of discussion about the development of the harbour, the Aberdeen Harbour Act of 1868 allowed the Harbour Commissioners to divert the river to the south. The first turf was cut by Lord Provost Leslie on 22nd December 1869.
This photograph shows the dam built to allow the excavation of the new channel. Most of the work was carried out by hand with men using picks and shovels. There was no official inauguration of the new channel but the river was following its new course by the beginning of 1873. Victoria Park
241 In 1871 Aberdeen Town Council decided to convert nearly 14 acres of Glennie's Parks, which had been used for cattle grazing, into a public recreation ground - Aberdeen's first public park.
Aberdeen's lack of a public park up to this point had become a contentious issue. For example, newspaper reports indicate that those opposed to the Municipality Extension Act of 1871 (which extended the boundary of the city, brought the functions of the Police Commissioners under the Council and incorporated the gasworks) repeatedly suggested that the expense involved in the new bill would be better used in the creation of a much wanted public park.
It is not unreasonable to suppose that this debate, and criticism of the Council, hastened the creation of Victoria Park. While work likely begun in 1871, it was not until March 1873 that the Improvements Committee of the Council recommended that the new park should be called "Victoria Park". At the same time, they also outlined a series of 13 rules and regulations for agreement by the full Council. There does not appear to have been an official opening for the new amenity.
Glennie's Park was not the only site considered for Aberdeen's first public park. Interest in such an undertaking was increasing at the same time as work was underway to divert the River Dee and improve the harbour. The new ground created in this latter project, encompassing the old, more northerly course of the river and the Inches, was a much proposed location for a park. Following the creation of Victoria Park this newly leveled ground was instead given over for buildings related to the expanding fishing industry.
A nurseryman called Robert Walker (1848-1930), originally from Perth, was chosen out of 450 candidates to be the city's first public park keeper and appointed to Victoria Park. He was likely largely responsible for the park's initial layout and appearance. His Press & Journal obituary (21/04/1930, p.6) suggests that prior to his appointment the site was "little better than a waste space".
Walker subsequently laid out Westburn Park, Stewart Park, Union Terrace Gardens and the Promenade. He also advocated and pioneered the planting of street trees. He served the Corporation for 46 years, retiring in 1919, and must be considered one of the unsung heroes of Aberdeen history.
This photograph, taken around 1900, shows one of the main paths leading to a large granite fountain, which was designed by J.B. Pirie. It is built of 14 different types of granite and was presented by the granite polishers and master builders of the city.
Since the park is almost in the city centre, it is an oasis of peace with its mature trees and, in spring, there are masses of flowering bulbs scattered through the grass. Text of Harbour Act 1682
294 Text of Harbour Act 1682. "Act for a voluntar contribution towards the building and reparing of the Harbour of Aberdeen" Old channel of the River Dee
505 The old channel of the River Dee. After years of discussion about the development of the harbour, the Aberdeen Harbour Act of 1868 allowed the Harbour Commissioners to divert the river to the south. The first turf was cut by Lord Provost Leslie on 22nd December 1869. Diversion of the River Dee
2250 The Dee originally flowed northward from the Wellington Suspension Bridge close by the railway arches then eastward to the North Sea.
After years of discussion about the development of the harbour, the Aberdeen Harbour Act of 1868 allowed the Harbour Commissioners to divert the river to the south.
The first turf was cut by Lord Provost Leslie on 22nd December 1869 and when he had filled a wheelbarrow full of earth it was wheeled along and dumped on the site of the new development.
This 1870 image from the south, Torry side of the river, shows the dam built to allow the excavation of the new channel. Most of the work was done by hand with men digging with picks and shovels and filling horse drawn wagons with the excavated soil.
This laborious work continued for a few years. There does not seem to have been a formal inauguration of the new channel but the river was running in its new channel at the beginning of 1873.
After the slopes of the new channel had been built up with granite, the uneven ground left by the old course of the river was leveled and the area filled with fish curing works and other industrial premises. Treasure 46: The Aberdeen Herald
217 When the first weekly issue of The Aberdeen's Journal was published by James Chalmers in January 1748 who would have guessed it would still be in production today (admittedly with several changes of title and ownership) as The Press and Journal.
The monopoly of The Aberdeen Journal, as it soon became, remained almost unchallenged throughout the eighteenth century but the nineteenth century saw the publication of several competing newspapers. Most of these were short-lived but included The Aberdeen Herald, and General Advertiser for The Counties of Aberdeenshire, Banffshire, and Kincardineshire, which was published between 1832 and 1876.
We hold the first copy of this weekly newspaper in our collections. It was printed and published by George Cornwall, and was issued on Saturday 1 September 1832. It succeeded an earlier paper called The Aberdeen Chronicle which had been in production since 1806. The Aberdeen Journal was seen then as politically neutral but the Herald is described as Whig-Radical and its opening advertisement states "In fact, the chief object of The Aberdeen Herald will be to obtain a cheap, efficient, and patriotic system of Government".
Since the Herald was published on a Saturday while the Journal appeared on Wednesday, it was able to include articles which would have been old news by the following Wednesday and could also provide updates to news from earlier in the week.
The newspaper cost 7d which was far beyond what an ordinary person could pay and restricted readership to the wealthy. This high cost was a result of taxes imposed by the Stamp Act of 1712 which was not abolished until 1855. Papers could then be bought for 1d and there was freedom to produce mass-circulation newspapers with improved text layout.
The front pages of newspapers, even as recently as the early 1900s, did not contain news stories but were filled with adverts - business, theatrical events, shipping, property and public notices. The issue of The Aberdeen Herald for 21 April 1866 contained an advert explaining the change of name for the town of Inverurie. Local historian, Dr Douglas Lockhart, provides the following account of the town's name change.
The market town of Inverurie was one of the fastest growing places in Aberdeenshire during the mid-nineteenth century when its population increased from 735 in 1821 to 2524 in 1871. Many factors contributed to rapid growth at this time including good communications, initially by turnpike roads and the Aberdeenshire Canal to nearby Port Elphinstone, and from the mid-century it lay astride the railway line between Aberdeen, Elgin and Inverness.
Further advantages were the extensive agricultural surroundings, markets and successful local businesses. Surprisingly Alexander Smith in A New History of Aberdeenshire, which was published in 1875, has little to say about the transformation of the town. However, he wrote a lengthy paragraph to describe how 'INVERURIE was, in former times, written Inneraury, Ennerawrie, and Hennerawie, and latterly Inverury' and he notes that the name meant "the confluence of the river of the margin".
On 5 February 1866 the Council met to discuss what appears to have become a growing problem - mail was being sent to Inveraray in Argyllshire because Inverury was not listed by the Post Office as a Post Town. The solution was simple: "return to the ancient spelling of the Burgh as Inverurie and to memorialise the Postmaster General to have it set down on the Lists as a Post Town". The Postmaster agreed to the name change and the scene was set on 19 April for the Council to discuss advertising the new arrangements. The wording of an advertisement was approved and it was decided to place it in the Edinburgh Gazette, Aberdeen Journal, Aberdeen Free Press, Aberdeen Herald and Banffshire Journal and "to endeavour to get the Railway Company to alter the spelling of the Station in their Tables".
Inverury officially became Inverurie the following day and on 21 April The Aberdeen Herald announced the change of name in the advertising columns of its front page. The Banffshire Journal in addition to printing the advertisement also published a glowing report on building activity in the burgh and noted that "within the memory of living inhabitants [the town] has been thoroughly regenerated".
Aberdeen Local Studies holds files of many local newspapers on microfilm, including the Aberdeen Herald and the Free Press. A digitised partial file is also available on the British Newspaper Archive which can be freely consulted online in the Central Library using your library card. Act of Town-Council of Aberdeen, anent the killing and curing of pork
466 A broadside from 1743 outlining various regulations for the slaughter of pigs and the sale of pork in the Town of Aberdeen. The text was extracted from the Council Book of the Burgh of Aberdeen by Robert Thomson, Clerk. Act for regulating and augmenting the Dues payable to the Pubilic Metters, at the Shore
481 This Act of Aberdeen's town council regards the regulation of dues payable to 'metters' - seemingly council employed officials that work with goods coming through the port. The Act dates to 3rd July 1797.
A council commissioned committee surveyed the operation of Aberdeen's Lime and Coal Metters. Having conducted a year long survey on dues from 'Grain, Meal, Coals, Cinders, Bark and Salt' coming by way of the shore, the committee recommended that the metters should receive a pay rise. This was unanimously agreed by the council.
The text is appended by Alex R. Carnegie, likely a council clerk. Act, for a voluntar Contribution tovvards the building and reparing of the Harbour of Aberdeen
485 This act was issued in Edinburgh on 7th July 1682. It regards rebuilding and repairing Aberdeen's harbour.
The act tells us that Aberdeen's magistrates and town-council had petitioned the King's Privy Council over rebuilding the harbour. They argue that Aberdeen's considerable maritime trade needs a functioning harbour. The weather was preventing them from managing their harbour. They speak of the banks of the River Dee being washed away by currents. They announce that they need a bulwark along the north shore to match that of the south shore. This would cost at least £1,000, roughly the equivalent price of 230 cows, or £230,000 in today's money. They justify their request by saying that they rarely burden their neighbours.
The act continues by saying that the King's Privy Council accept the petition for a 'voluntar Contribution' to be collected for the harbour. They also say that they will recommend to ministers, archbishops and bishops to contribute to the fund. The broadside is signed by Wil Paterson and was printed in Edinburgh by the heir of Andrew Anderson, printer to the King.
Aberdeen's harbour was established in 1136 by King David I of Scotland. In the mid-eighteenth century, it was ransacked by both English and Scottish forces. It was not until 1773, the best part of a century later, that improvements on the harbour begun in earnest. Before this act, through the seventeenth century, the harbour was continuously worked on. The wharf, for instance, was expanded eastward from 1623 through to 1659. The harbour remained dangerous and difficult to access due to a sand bar across its entrance. At high and low tide, the depth ranged from two to fifteen feet of water. Floods were common, and ships were sometimes swept out to sea. (Victoria Elizabeth Clark, The Port of Aberdeen (1921), pp. 47-49.) Horatio Ross, Esq. Of Rossie,to the Constituency of the Montrose District, on his retiring from their representation
505 Horatio Ross had been a Member of Parliament for Montrose from December 1832 to December 1834. This broadside released in Edinburgh on the 2nd December 1834 is an address to the constituency and electors of the Montrose district on the occasion of his retirement.
This text should be critically scrutinised to evaluate whether Mr Ross has been truthful or simply aimed at presenting himself under a good light. He extensively listed the Parliamentary acts he supported, including the Parliamentary Reform Act of 1832, the abolition of slavery in the colonies, and the promotion of the district's Shipping and Manufacturing Interests. He therefore showed that he has been benevolent both at a local and a national level. Moreover, he also clearly stated his support and approval to the Protestant Established Church and to the Crown.
This broadside was printed in Aberdeen by D. Chalmers and Co. |