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Lower Justice Mill, Union Glen
810 Justice Mills of one kind or another are first mentioned in the 1300s, and were the site of a famous battle. In their final form, an Upper Justice Mill occupied a site later partially covered by the Odeon Cinema building, while the Lower Mill stood in Union Glen, at the bottom of the steep slope with its mill dam above and behind it (see water wheel centre left). The left hand part of the building and the wheel were removed when the cinema was built, the dam was drained and a thoroughfare created into Union Glen, but the central and right hand parts survived, albeit derelict, into the 1960s.
The wagon in front of the buildings is painted with the business name James Alexander & Son, Grain Merchants. The 1866-67 Ordnance Survey large scale town plan of Aberdeen indicates that Lower Justice Mill was a corn mill.
A black cat can also be seen in the centre right of the image and a woman carrying some type of load is in front of the waterwheel.
Correspondent Geoffrey Mann has been in touch to inform us that in 1793 there was a miller at the Justice Mills called George Reid. This information was found from an Old Machar baptismal record for his and Margaret Smith's (his wife) daughter Elizabeth.
Coincidentally, there was another George Reid (1826-1881) who was a partner in the prominent seedsmen and agricultural implement makers, Messrs Benjamin Reid & Co., who had their Bon-Accord Works just to the east of the Justice Mills. The obituary of this later George Reid from The Aberdeen Journal 16/07/1881 states that at the time his death he lived with his two sisters in Justice Mill Lane. Lower Justice Mill
1258 Lower Justice Mill, Union Glen. Justice Mills of one kind or another are first mentioned in the 1300s, and were the site of a famous battle. In their final form, an Upper Justice Mill occupied a site subsequently partially covered by the Odeon Cinema, while the Lower Mill stood in Union Glen, at the bottom of the steep slope with its mill dam above and behind it (see water wheel centre left). The left hand part of the building and the wheel were removed when the cinema was built, the dam was drained and a thoroughfare created into Union Glen, but the central and right hand parts survived, albeit derelict, into the 1960s. Aberdeen Theatres: Man vs. Stallion at the Music Hall
3373 A glass plate image of the Music Hall on Union Street from the late 19th century.
A young crowd is gathered on the street listening to a brass band. A policeman and bicycles of the time can also be seen.
The advertisements on the steps of the building read "Man vs. Stallion". Using historic newspapers we can work out that this was likely an event called Battle Between Man and Stallion, that took place at the Music Hall on 20th August 1895.
Newspaper adverts from the time read: "To-night at 8, complimentary benefit, and positively the last Five Nights in Aberdeen of Professor Norton B. Smith, THE WORLD'S GREATEST HORSE TAMER, who will handle, on this occasion, the MAN-EATING STALLION, belonging to Mr Youngson Kynoch, Royal Stables, Aberdeen." (Aberdeen Journal, 20/08/1895, page 1) Aberdeen Cinemas: City
3431 An Aberdeen Journals Archive photograph of the City Cinema on George Street in 1963. The cinema is showing a war film called Battle of the Beach starring Audie Murphy.
The City Cinema at 197-199 George Street was opened by Aberdeen Picture Palaces on 4th November 1935. The building, the main part of which was tucked away behind George Street, was designed by Thomas Scott Sutherland.
Michael Thomson in Silver Screen in the Silver City explains that until after the second world war, the City's stock and trade was showing second-runs and lesser features from the programmes of up-town cinemas. The City was also popular with Aberdeen's crowds of holidaymakers in the 1930s. See Thomson's book for more on the design and history of this cinema.
The final film shown at the City was Sign of the Pagan on 20th July 1963. The venue was then converted at a cost of £300,000 into a two-floor bowling alley. Originally called ABC Bowl (later known as the Aberdeen Bowl, Super Bowl and Mega Bowl), it opened on 1st May 1964 with celebrity guests Oliver Reed, Jess Conrad and Julia Foster.
The bowling alley, and with it what remained of the City cinema, was demolished in 2007 to make way for an apartment block and the Hilton Garden Inn hotel.
[Information primarily sourced from Silver Screen in the Silver City (1988) by Michael Thomson]
Image © Aberdeen Journals Ltd. Orphan Girls' Asylum
72 The Aberdeen Orphan Girls' Asylum was also know as Mrs Elmslie's Institute. It later became Aberdeen High School for Girls and is now Harlaw Academy.
The HS/RCAHMS World War One Audit Project tells us that during WWI the school was part of the 1st Scottish General Hospital. This was one of four Territorial Force military hospitals established during wartime in Scotland. Buildings belonging to three other schools (Central, Rosemount and Westfield) were also used by the hospital, as was the city's Oldmill Poorhouse.
Correspondent Ed Fowler provided the following comments:
"This sketch by architect Archibald Simpson features the beautiful building in the Italian style of Architecture.
The central statue depicted above the entrance was not realised. It was instituted in November 1840 "For Maintaining, Clothing and Educating Orphan Girls", born of Parents who have resided in the Parishes of St Nicholas, Old Machar, or Nigg, for some 3 Years prior to their decease. The girls were admitted from the age of 4 to 8 years.
The building of what was then the Girl's High School (now Harlaw Academy) was incorporated into the 1st Scottish General Hospital, one of 4 Territorial Force military hospitals established in WW1 in Scotland. The buildings of 3 other schools were used by the Hospital (the Central School (later Aberdeen Academy); Rosemount; and Westfield), as well as the City's Poorhouse, along with huts and tents. The hospitals provided beds for 34 officers and 1,385 other ranks." Treasure 69: Mrs Elmslie's Institution Plans by Archibald Simpson, 1837
269 Mrs Elmslie was one of a number of Victorian philanthropic benefactors sympathetic to the plight of those who were poor, neglected or homeless and on 19 November 1840, she opened the Aberdeen Female Orphan Asylum - known also as Mrs Elmslie's Institution - on 19 Albyn Place.
This lithograph shows the building as originally envisaged by architect Archibald Simpson with little gate-houses at either side of the street entrance. Aberdeen City Libraries hold a series of 14 plans of the granite building which have been bound together into a single volume. The collection includes elevations, sections and floor plans dated September 1837.
The Orphan Asylum closed its doors on 27 July 1891 and the remaining girls were transferred to the Girls' Home and School of Domestic Economy on King Street. The building was sold to the Aberdeen School Board for £4,500 and, after extensive additions and refurbishment, it became the new home of Aberdeen High School for Girls, renamed as Harlaw Academy in 1970.
Find out more about Mrs Elmslie and her Institution, including its rules and regulations, daily meals and class timetables, in the Treasures from our Collections exhibition on touchscreens in Central, Airyhall, Tillydrone and Mastrick libraries. Treasure 85: Diary of the Battle of the Somme, July-Sept. 1916, by Corporal H. Robertson
297 To mark Remembrance Day on 11 November, we are exhibiting one of the most poignant and remarkable treasures in our collection - the diary of Corporal Harry Robertson featuring a first-hand account of life in the trenches during World War One.
The diary was gifted to former City Librarian William Critchley by Harry Robertson when they met in Motherwell, Scotland. As Robertson had fought in the 1st Battalion of Gordon Highlanders, he suggested that Aberdeen Public Library may be the best place to preserve it.
Robertson was born in Greenock in 1893 and went on to become an analytical chemist with Glasgow City Analysts and Glasgow's Royal Technical College prior to the First World War. In August 1914, he enlisted in the 2nd Dragoons (Royal Scots Greys) and trained with them at Dunbar and York, transferring to the Gordon Highlanders in June 1915. He rose through the ranks to become Sergeant at General Headquarters 3rd Echelon in Rouen in November 1916, where he remained until the end of the war. He was demobilized in March 1919.
In the diary, Corporal Robertson shares his experiences during the 'Big Push' and the Battle of Bazentin Ridge (14-17 July 1916). It was a British victory, but at a huge cost with over 9000 British casualties and losses. The 1st Battalion Gordon Highlanders were part of the 76th Brigade, 3rd Division, XIII Corps of the British Army, commanded by Lieutenant-General Walter Congreve.
View our Treasures exhibition on the interactive screen to read more detailed extracts from the diary and gain an insight into the moving and often traumatic experiences of soldiers on the front line. |