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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. Culter
876 This image was taken around 1909 from a hill at the west end of Culter - 7 miles west from Aberdeen looking down on the North Deeside Road towards Banchory. The image shows the cottages known as Clayhills with the houses of Malcolm Road beyond. Hidden in the trees at the right hand side is the statue of Rob Roy overlooking the Leuchar Burn which runs through the wooded valley. Grandholm Mills
1715 The dinner hour, workers crossing the bridge over the River Don.
The history of the mills in Woodside has gone through prosperous and bad times with several being closed in the mid-1800s and subsequently reopened towards the end of the century. The success especially of the paper and cloth mills of the area has provided work for many generations of Woodsiders.
A linen and cloth factory moved to the Grandholme mills site in mid-18th century from Gordon Mills and was taken over by James and John Crombie in 1859. J&J Crombie went on to produce the famous worldwide Crombie cloth at the Grandholme Mill, leading to the long association between Woodside and the fabric. The mill at one point employed up to 3000 people.
J&J Crombie were included on a list of government suppliers and one tenth of all coats worn by British officers of the First World War were made with the Crombie cloth. By World War II 467 miles of the cloth was being produced at the Grandholme mill per year.
By 1960 Grandholm was the largest supplier of tweed in the UK and also produced silk, wool, cashmere and yarns. Sadly the business has now been moved away from the Woodside area to the Borders.
Fishwife
2260 A fishwife, most likely from Torry, with a creel on her back, a basket and shopping bag in her hands.
The history of Torry is inseparable from fishing. Like Torry itself the fishing industry and its related activities saw great change over time.
Going to sea to fish was challenging and dangerous, but those left on shore did not have an easy life either. The Torry fishwife in this picture likely had to walk many miles into the centre of Aberdeen and back again every day carrying very heavy loads. Other time would be spent mending nets or curing fish.
The 20th century saw increased industrialisation of fishing. Acknowledgments
2364 How Aberdeen Women's Alliance City Centre Heritage Walk developed:
Following the group's involvement with Women of Scotland's Mapping Memorials to Women website (http://www.womenofscotland.org.uk/), with our partners at Glasgow Women's Library (http://www.womenslibrary.org.uk/),
at the Central Library in February 2013, we felt there was a number of women in Aberdeen who have made an important and significant contribution to the life of our city that we rarely ever hear about.
This inspired a group of volunteers to develop the Aberdeen City Centre Women's Heritage Walk.
By creating this virtual version of the walk we aim to share the many stories of these wonderful women and their achievements with as many people as possible. We also aimed to enrich the account of these women by recording, and making available, the fascinating memories of members from community members.
How to get involved:
Aberdeen women's history is still largely unwritten and not visible to the public. There are many ways women can get involved with us to address this. You are welcome help us with research or join our tour guide teams. If you have information that can be added to this walk, suggestions of how it can be improved, or memories you would like to share - we want to hear from you!
How to contact us:
Email: awainfo@btinternet.com
Postal address:
Aberdeen Women's Alliance
c/o Equalities team
Aberdeen City Council
Marischal College
Broad Street
Aberdeen
AB10 1AB
Many thanks to our virtual tour partners:
Aberdeen City Council and Aberdeen City Libraries
And special thanks to:
Aberdeen Local Studies Laurelwood Avenue
2412 This street, photographed around 1910, shows the tranquil nature of this area of the North of Aberdeen in the Ashgrove area. It is one of a group of street named after trees - Cedar Place, Elm Place, Chestnut Row, and was built in the early 1880s. The young lad obviously does not expect to be disturbed on his walk down the middle of the street carrying a milkcan, watched by a little girl on the pavement. One of the gardens on the left has a pair of stone lions looking through the railings, which were removed during the Second World War as part of the salvage of metal for re-processing. Duthie Park
2476 A photograph from an Adelphi Series postcard showing a southern portion of Duthie Park.
The image looks east across the park's old Lower Lake towards Arthurseat House.
This lake was expanded, and made more rectangular, in the 1920s. This was undertaken to provide improved facilities for the sailing of model yachts and for skating and curling in winter. From the time of the park's creation, this earlier lake contained two spray fountains at either end. The more easterly of these is shown here.
Arthurseat House dates from before the creation of the park, when the land was owned by Arthur Dingwall Fordyce. The house remained, primarily as a museum, until it was demolished in 1934.
For a detailed account of the park, its history and creation, see the article 'Miss Duthie's Gift: History and Description of the Park' in the Aberdeen Journal of 26th September 1883 (published the day before the park's official opening) and the park's entry in Historic Environment Scotland's Inventory of Gardens and Designed Landscapes - reference number GDL00166.
Also shown in this picture is the park's main rockery, described in the Aberdeen Journal article as follows:
"A most picturesque rockery has been built upon the brow of the rising ground to the west of Arthurseat House, and immediately above the pond we have just been describing. It is very extensive, being upwards of 100 feet in length and 66 feet broad at the widest part, and is composed of different kinds of peculiar stones, broken into all manner of fantastic fragments, which are set-up on end in groups and cone-like eminences. A footway winds through it from end to end; and as the spaces between the stones are occupied by Alpine plants and flowers of various kinds, the whole as viewed from the low ground in front presents a most charming appearance."
Original Guild Street Station
2616 The original Guild Street Station had two platforms to accommodate four services to the south and three to Deeside. The goods station is to the right.
In 1854 The Great North of Scotland Railway after years of struggle to raise capital opened between Kittybrewster and Huntly; from 1858 this became part of a through route to Inverness. In April 1856 it extended passenger services from Kittybrewster to Waterloo Quay using a line built on the bed of the old Aberdeenshire Canal.
Connecting the two Aberdeen termini, which were about a half mile apart, were railway tracks laid along the quayside and suitable for horse-haulage only. Triple Kirks Site
2663 Construction work at the Triple Kirks site in January 2018.
The site has had a long history of redevelopment. The churches largely fell into disuse and disrepair in the 1970s and 80s. Since that time there has been a number of proposed development plans.
One of the original three churches, the East Kirk, continues to house a popular pub, nightclub, and a dance studio.
Through the years there have been a number of companies involved in work on the site: Barrett Commercials, William Cowie Partnership, Esson Properties Ltd, Stewart Milne and, most recently, Dandara.
In around 2014 the remaining walls of the North Kirk were demolished and significant excavation, visible in this image, was begun.
This photograph shows work underway to reinforce the church spire. Street entertainer
3346 We believe this photograph shows a man historically known as Fool Friday entertaining a group of children and adults outside a house in Aberdeen. Fool Friday was a street vendor who sold ice cream in summer and hot chestnuts in winter. He may have also played a barrel piano as shown here.
Fool Friday was an often seen, distinctive character on the streets of Aberdeen. References to him in recorded oral history and newspapers suggest he sold his goods around the town centre, including at the Castlegate. He appears to have been around in the earlier years of the 20th century, between the two world wars. Little seems to be known, or recorded, about the life of this intriguing figure.
He is mentioned in an article of reminiscences by Arthur Bruce from the Leopard magazine of December 1986/January 1987. Bruce writes "I am reminded of another worthy who lived round the corner in Harriet Street, an Ice Cream Mannie, with a home and family. Of Italian origins he was known as 'Fool Friday' - nothing to do with being stupid, I may add, simply the local dialect for foul or dirty. Legend had it that the nickname was well deserved, but as a child I was never aware of his less than hygienic approach to the business of selling ice cream from a 'cairtie'. I have never solved the mystery of the 'Friday' part, although I should be delighted to hear from anyone who knows the answer."
It is possible that this photograph shows not Fool Friday, but someone else entirely. A letter in the Evening Express of 30th October 1979, looking back to this earlier time, describes a man known as Can-Tam who played a barrel organ in the streets. The letter writer suggests that Can-Tam's organ was smashed by a tram and subsequently replaced by the council.
A suggestion received through social media and subsequent further research indicates that this image may show Guiseppe, or Joseph, Bordone (1872-1957). He was an eating house keeper and an ice-cream and chestnuts vendor. A brief mention in the Evening Express newspaper of 15th March 1994, page 8, suggests that Bordone may have been known as Fool Friday, but this is uncertain.
This photograph was printed as a postcard and these were perhaps sold to the families visited by the entertainer. This postcard was lent to Aberdeen City Libraries by Bill Cheyne so that we could create and preserve a digital copy for public use. Aberdeen Cinemas: West End / Playhouse
3415 An Aberdeen Journals Archive photograph of the Playhouse at 475 Union Street in January 1959. The venue originally opened on 12th November 1915 as a cinema called the West End. This was the first venture into full-time picture-hall proprietorship by James F. Donald, a key figure in the history of independent cinema exhibition in Aberdeen.
Donald was born in Newhills and came to Aberdeen for an apprenticeship with a coachbuilding firm. He had a varied career before coming to prominence as a highly successful dancing teacher. He was the leader of the Gondolier School of Dancing and Deportment.
He moved into the cinema business after acquiring the necessary projecting equipment and occupying a former billiard hall above the Aberdeen Dairy at 475 Union Street. Michael Thomson in Silver Screen in the Silver City (1988) describes the cinema as a "strictly utilitarian affair", but a successful one at that. It was only heated by stoves, and coupled with being above a diary, it became known as "The Tuppenny Freezer".
Donald's lease on the cinema expired in September 1920 and he was immediately followed as proprietor by Bert Gate's Aberdeen Picture Palaces. It was a time of expansion for the incoming company. They had recently purchased The Picturedrome on Skene Terrace and shortly looked to transform the West End. The latter closed on 2nd April and reopened on 14th September 1921 as the 1,000-seater Picture Playhouse.
The opening ceremony was attended by Gates, the cinema's architects George Sutherland and Clement George, and various local VIPs. The opening films were A Yankee in the Court of King Arthur, a comedy called Jerry on the Spot, Pathé news, and another short. Thomson states that Aberdeen Picture Palaces were "now the proud possessor of a large, well-situated 'flagship' house, and Union Street now sported a fine up-to-date cinema."
The design of the Playhouse was "classical" and up-market, in accordance with its prominent west-end location. As seen here, the Union Street entrance was surrounded by white Sicilian marble facings on a black marble base. The paybox was oval in shape with one end in the vestibule and the other in the front foyer.
The main foyer was through the Union Street part of the building and up a 12-feet wide carpeted, marble stairway. This way was a tea room called the Ingleneuk, the manager's office, and the ornately decorated auditorium. The plush new cinema represented competition for the nearby Picture House.
Bert Gates, the manager of the Playhouse, was somewhat sceptical of the talkies but fully embraced the new development in February 1930 with the installation of a full Western Electric sound system.
The opening of Aberdeen Picture Palace's Capitol down the road in 1933 saw a reduction in ticket prices at the Playhouse. The two partner cinemas were advertised at the time as "Aberdeen's Premier Pair".
On 23 May 1941 it was announced that James F. Donald (Aberdeen Cinemas) Ltd. had bought a controlling interest in Aberdeen Picture Palaces. This meant that the Playhouse, along with the other APP venues, were now in the Donald circuit of cinemas.
This photograph dates from 1959 shortly before the cinema was relaunched as the Playhouse Continental, showing popular, often more risqué, films from Europe. This only lasted for a couple of years and the cinema reverted to being the Playhouse in 1961. This photograph shows the cinema advertising The Wind Cannot Read with Dirk Bogarde and All for Mary.
By 1973 the profitability of the Playhouse was eroded by spiralling costs. The owners of the building, builders James Scott & Son, had moved premises and were looking to dispose of the Union Street property. The cinema's lease was terminated at the end of 1973 and the cinema closed on 9th May 1974. Ownership of the block passed to Devanha Properties Ltd. and after lying empty for a few months the Playhouse was demolished to make way for a new block of shops and offices.
[Information primarily sourced from Silver Screen in the Silver City (1988) by Michael Thomson]
Image © Aberdeen Journals Ltd. George Walker
4371 A photographic portrait by George Washington Wilson of Baillie George Walker (1821-1910). It comes from an album of photographs by Wilson of the Aberdeen Town Council of 1883. This is held in the collection of Aberdeen Local Studies at Aberdeen Central Library.
Walker, a good friend of Wilson, was a well-known bookseller, councillor and local cultural figure. He hailed from Huntly before moving to the Granite City.
At a meeting at the Music Hall on on 25th March 1884 Walker seconded the motion of Professor Alexander Bain (1818-1903), a philosopher, early psychologist and independent thinker, for the adoption of the Public Libraries Act by the Town Council. The motion passed with 891 voters in favour and 264 against.
Walker was one of a number of speakers at the opening of Aberdeen's first free public lending library in March 1886, then located in the Mechanics' Institute on Market Street. Praising the preparatory work done by the town's first librarian, Andrew W. Robertson, Walker stated that Robertson had "turned night into day in his efforts and that it was absolutely necessary that he takes a well-deserved holiday during the summer."
Walker remained a champion of the library service for the rest of his life. He donated his extensive 21 volume journal to the library and these remain in the Local Studies collection. These idiosyncratic volumes are a unique cornucopia of local history and culture. Gilcomston South Church
4403 A photograph, taken on 3rd February 2024, of Gilcomston South Church on Union Street, Aberdeen. The street on the left of the image, going north from Union Street, is Summer Street.
This church was designed by architect William Smith (1817-1891). It was opened 1868 and served as the second, more elaborate premises of the United Free Church in Aberdeen. The first had been a more simple granite box-auditorium on Huntly Street. An illustration of this earlier building features in Gammie's Churches of Aberdeen (1909) on page 127.
Historic Environment Scotland, in the entry for the building on their listed building portal, describe Gilcomston South as an interesting example of asymmetrical planning. This style had been advocated 30 years prior to its construction by the Camden Society and Ecclesiologists in England and continued to be advocated by the Aberdeen Ecclesiological Society into the late 19th century.
The church was officially opened on 6th September 1868 with services from the Rev. Mr Nixon (1803-1900) of Montrose, moderator of the Free Assembly, and Rev. Dr Walter Macgilvray (c1810-1880), pastor of the congregation (see Aberdeen Journal, 9th September 1868, page 8).
A book titled Gilcomston: A Congregation was written by Francis Lyall and published in 2020. It traces the history of the congregation from 1777 to 2013, when it left the Church of Scotland. Treasure 12: How to Stamp Out Typhoid booklet
182 This booklet is a reminder of a troubled period in city's past. In 1964 Aberdeen suffered one of the largest outbreaks of Typhoid in recent British history. Over 500 people were admitted to city hospitals for treatment of the infectious disease. The majority of patients were quarantined for at least four weeks before being discharged. The outbreak was traced back to a contaminated tin of corned beef which was imported from Argentina, then chopped up and sold in the William Low grocer on Union Street.
Thankfully the outbreak was successfully contained and there were no fatalities. The all clear was given on 17th June 1964, 28 days after the first notification. Public health announcements played a significant part in the city's approach to tackling the outbreak. Dr Ian A. G. MacQueen, Aberdeen's Medical Officer of Health, became a well-known figure with regular appearances in print and on television and radio on the importance of good hygiene.
The How to Stamp out Typhoid booklet was the initiative of Aberdeen businessman R. A. Williamson. He was director of a wholesale firm that supplied small grocers in the north east and received many enquiries from his clients on how best to combat the outbreak. Williamson asked Macqueen who was unable to provide guidelines so, in collaboration with the health and welfare department, they created this 11 page health information booklet. It had a print run of 45,000 copies, was supported by Aberdeen Chamber of Commerce and illustrated by the Evening Express. The illustrations feature the paper's character Wee Alickie, a die-hard supporter of Aberdeen Football Club.
In the introduction MacQueen wrote:
"The Stopping of the typhoid outbreak is principally a matter of good personal hygiene by everyone, and particularly of good personal hygiene by all food handlers.
"In an effort to assist every section of the community in our area a short question and answer brochure has been hurriedly compiled, together with a Hygiene Check List, which should prove most useful to all establishments.
"Members of the Aberdeen Chamber of Commerce, food wholesalers, bacteriologists, health education officers and journalists have collaborated to rush this through. This brochure is therefore backed by their combined knowledge and experience. Please read it, study it and try to follow the advice that it gives."
The outbreak adversely affected Aberdeen's reputation in the UK and around the world. This in turn had an economic impact for the city, particularly on tourism. After the all clear was given the Queen came to the city to demonstrate that Aberdeen was a safe place to visit and that life had returned to normal.
Treasure 19: Chapbooks
190 Chapbooks were a form of popular literature produced in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries.
Text was printed on both sides of a large sheet of paper which was then folded repeatedly to create a booklet of 8, 12, 24, or 32 pages, approximately 5 inches by 3 inches in size. The title page had a woodcut illustration which was not necessarily linked to the content of the chapbook but could be selected from illustrations already available in the printer's premises.
Their content was varied but included ballads, songs, folktales, jokes and riddles. They were produced in large numbers and favourite texts would be reprinted over and over again and even by different printers.
In rural areas and at markets and fairs, these little booklets were sold for a halfpenny or a penny by itinerant pedlars or chapmen who carried packs containing bootlaces, needles, thread, ribbons and other trinkets to appeal to their customers. The word "chap" probably derives from the Old English "ceapian" meaning to bargain or trade.
"Tullochgorum" is one of a series of 21 ballad chapbooks, each of 8 pages, printed by John Cumming, a merchant in Hatton of Fintray, about 10 miles north of Aberdeen. He had learnt the merchant business in Aberdeen but, when he returned to Fintray, he also set up a printing press. He sometimes included the music, as here, but for other ballads he only named a tune with which his readers would already have been familiar.
His other printing work included Alexander Watt "The Early History of Kintore" published in 1865 and James Dalgardno "Notes on the Parish of Slains and Forvie in the Olden Days" in 1876.
He died in January 1900 and is buried in the local churchyard.
The popularity of chapbooks declined as other forms of literature, including newspapers and magazines, became more accessible. The physical nature of these unbound flimsy pamphlets has meant that chapbooks have not survived in large numbers but Local Studies has a complete set of those printed by John Cumming bound together as one volume.
Collections of other Scottish chapbooks survive in various libraries and are becoming more available through online cataloguing and indexing while academic researchers are studying the role played by these small publications in their social and literary world.
Treasure 52: Press and Journal and Evening Express Strike Editions
227 The General Strike of 3 to 13 May 1926 was a significant event in Britain's social history and affected the whole country. Strike editions of newspapers from the period provide an insight into the way of life in a time of national unrest. In our collections, we hold the strike editions of local newspapers The Aberdeen Press and Journal and The Evening Express which report on the General Strike and how it affected people in the north east of Scotland. The Press and Journal Strike editions were published between 5 and 10 May and The Evening Express Strike editions were published between the 4 and 7 May.
Beginning with the coal industry, the General Strike quickly spread to other industries including transport (railways, sea transport, harbours, canals, docks, roads) and production industries (iron and steel, chemicals) and the building trade. The printing trade, including the press, was also affected by the strike. On 4 May, The Press and Journal and The Evening Express published a short article stating that they "may be unable to produce the usual issues of [the] newspapers" during the strike. Many newspapers failed indeed to appear as only 'skeleton staff' were available.
During the strikes period, most of the local papers were published in a much smaller format but were still hugely popular as the main source of news. Aberdeen newspapers Ltd., the company publisher for both The Press and Journal and The Evening Express, distributed a substantial number of issues. The few employees not on strike took charge of the publication, typing out the news and dispatching issues across the city. The news was passed out through a single sheet of paper and was sold for between a halfpenny and 1p. The papers were very popular and shared updates on the strike and the number of people volunteering in Aberdeen. In addition to strike news, the editions also reported on other local news and current topics including fish markets and cricket scores.
Some of the copies in our collection feature the names and addresses of relatives living outside the city, suggesting that people with access to the newspapers distributed them to relatives and friends in a wider geographical area.
Do you know that you can access millions of digitised articles from British newspapers for free in any of our libraries? The British Newspaper Archive is a gateway to the past, offering access to thousands of historical newspaper articles about issues such as The General Strike. Access the resource from any PC in the library via the Aberdeen City Libraries website. Treasure 53: An Account of Pedestrianism
228 National Walking Month takes place in May and is promoted by the UK charity Living Streets. Their aim is to encourage people to see walking as a natural choice and they hope to see a reduction in health problems, congestion and pollution, and social isolation while boosting local communities by bringing high streets to life. Specific events such as Walk to School Week and Walk to Work Week are also held during this month.
One of the books in our Local Studies collection describes the exploits of walkers in the 18th and 19th centuries. In 1813, Walter Thom published 'Pedestrianism; or, An account of the performances of celebrated pedestrians during the last and present century; with a full narrative of Captain Barclay's public and private matches; and an essay on training.'
Pedestrianism was the term used for competitive walking races which were extremely popular as a spectator sport in the 18th and 19th centuries, both in indoor and outdoor venues, not only in Britain but also in America, Canada and Australia. Large sums of money could be won and betting on the results was prolific.
Walter Thom came from Bervie in Kincardineshire but moved to Aberdeen in the early 1800s where he published The History of Aberdeen in 1811. He then moved to Edinburgh for a short time before travelling to Ireland where he became editor firstly of the Dublin Correspondent and later of The Dublin Journal. He died in Dublin in 1824.
In his preface to Pedestrianism, Thom explains that his choice of subjects treated in the volume will deserve attention of all classes "as exercise conduces so much to the strength and soundness of both body and mind".
He discusses the Olympic Games and gymnastic exercises as practised by the ancient Greeks before moving to "modern pedestrianism" which he claims "affords the best species of exercise, and may be said to include much that is valuable to mankind". He describes feats of pedestrianism from the 1700s and 1800s, which included races over a period of days or those which only lasted one or two hours.
Treasure 92: Diary of Samuel Pepys
311 A New Year's resolution for many this year will be to keep a diary and with this in mind we have decided to highlight what is perhaps one of the most famous journals in the world - the diary of Samuel Pepys.
Samuel Pepys was born at the family home at Salisbury Court, Fleet Street, London on 23 February 1633. He was a talented and hardworking individual who worked as a naval administrator eventually rising to become Secretary of the Admiralty but it is the diary that he kept during the years 1660-1669 that has earned him his rightful place in history. His diary provides detailed and personal accounts of major happenings from this period such as the restoration of the monarchy (1660), the second Anglo-Dutch war (1665-67), the great plague of London (1665) and the great fire of London (1666). We also learn about everyday life in the seventeenth century through his stories about his family, the servants that were part of his household and his general observations as he went about his daily business.
The edition of Samuel Pepys' diary that is in our collection is:
The Diary and Correspondence of Samuel Pepys, Esq., F. R. S. Secretary to the Admiralty in the reigns of Charles II and James II, 1659 to 1703 (1871).
Get a first hand account of explosive moments in history such as the Fire of London in the Treasures from our Collections interactive exhibition on the touchscreen. Treasure 105: Sir John Anderson Library Medal
326 The story of Sir John Anderson and his Woodside Library is told in "The Admirable Mechanic by Moira Anderson", published by Aberdeen City Libraries in 1983.
On the back cover is a photograph of the Anderson Library Medal given to every pupil at Woodside School to mark the inauguration of the Woodside Library and the Scholar's Library in 1881, both of which were housed temporarily in the Headmaster's Room at the school until a purpose-built library could be constructed.
The medal was presented to the Library in August 1983 and now forms part of the Anderson Library Archive held in Local Studies. We can take a look at the history of Woodside Library through some of the other items held in the collection.
Woodside Library opened on 15 October 1883 and was described By Patrick Morgan in The Annals of Woodside as "the most beautiful and valuable institution in the Burgh of Woodside, containing a wealth of literature, which is difficult to estimate". The library was a gift to the people of Woodside by the noted engineer, Sir John Anderson.
Over the years there was a noticeable decline in the use of the library with lack of funds to purchase new stock, no room for expansion and no separate Reading Room. Eventually, ownership of Woodside Library was transferred to the City Council and The Sir John Anderson Branch Library Woodside comprising a Lending Library, Reading Room with games tables, Juvenile Library and Reading Room was opened by Lord Provost Rust on 19 January 1932 and regarded as the largest and most complete Branch in the System.
To learn more about the interesting history of this unique library, have a browse in the Treasures from our Collections interactive exhibition. Treasure 111: Aberdeen Artists' Society
332 The celebration of art in Aberdeen can be traced through the collection of exhibition catalogues held in our Local Studies department, including those of the Aberdeen Artists' Society from its early years to the present, through to those produced by modern galleries, local art groups and societies, Gray's School of Art and more recently the directory produced for the North East Open Studios.
The origins of Aberdeen Artists' Society date back to 1827 when a group of artists resident in Aberdeen "resolved to associate themselves for the purpose of mutual improvement in Painting and the furtherance of the Art generally, in Aberdeen" and hold "An Annual Exhibition of Paintings, Sculptures and Designs". The artists in question included James Giles who was President, Alexander Fraser, Vice-President and James Troup, Secretary. Other members included Archibald Simpson.
The Aberdeen Artists' Society are working with Aberdeen Art Gallery on a new program of exhibitions after the Gallery re-opens in 2017 and the annual exhibition will return in 2018/19.
Check out our Treasures from our Collections interactive display to find out more about the history of Aberdeen Artists' Society. Plan by James Henderson dated 1850
359 This plan shows proposals for a through station taking access from Union Street.
In 1854 The Great North of Scotland Railway after years of struggle to raise capital opened between Kittybrewster and Huntly; from 1858 this became part of a through route to Inverness. In April 1856 it extended passenger services from Kittybrewster to Waterloo Quay using a line built on the bed of the old Aberdeenshire Canal. Connecting the two Aberdeen termini, which were about a half mile apart, were railway tracks laid along the quayside and suitable for horse-haulage only. Act of the Town Council, for regulating and determining the Run and Property of the Gavels and Garden Walls through the different Streets and Lanes of the Town (1 of 3)
517 This is the front page of a four-page broadside style pamphlet. The other pages can be seen here and here.
The pamphlet, dating from May 1764, details at some length the council's adjudication on the run and ownership of various gavels and walls within the town. This document explains that their judgement is informed by a walk around town in which they inspected the boundaries.
The pamphlet details gavels and garden walls in Footdee Quarter, Green Quarter, Crooked Quarter and Even Quarter. Act of the Town Council, for regulating and determining the Run and Property of the Gavels and Garden Walls through the different Streets and Lanes of the Town (2 of 3)
518 These are the inner two pages of a four-page broadside style pamphlet. The other pages can be seen here and here.
The pamphlet, dating from May 1764, details at some length the council's adjudication on the run and ownership of various gavels and walls within the town. This document explains that their judgement is informed by a walk around town in which they inspected the boundaries.
The pamphlet details gavels and garden walls in Footdee Quarter, Green Quarter, Crooked Quarter and Even Quarter. Act of the Town Council, for regulating and determining the Run and Property of the Gavels and Garden Walls through the different Streets and Lanes of the Town (3 of 3)
519 This is the back page of a four-page broadside style pamphlet. The other pages can be seen here and here.
The pamphlet, dating from May 1764, details at some length the council's adjudication on the run and ownership of various gavels and walls within the town. This document explains that their judgement is informed by a walk around town in which they inspected the boundaries.
The pamphlet details gavels and garden walls in Footdee Quarter, Green Quarter, Crooked Quarter and Even Quarter. |