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Denburn Valley
48 The Denburn Valley Railway, shown here on the right, was constructed in 1865-67. It runs from the Joint Station at Guild Street north through the valley. To the left of the railway lines is Union Terrace Gardens which were opened to the public on 11th August 1879.
The closeness of the railway led to the gardens being nicknamed the "Trainie Park". The bandstand shown here in the centre of the park was removed in around 1931.
The iron footbridge visible in this image allowed access over the Denburn and railway between Rosemount and the city centre. It was replaced by the Denburn Viaduct which was built in 1886, at the same time as Rosemount Viaduct, by engineer William Boulton. Part of the footbridge was moved and reassembled in the newly created Duthie Park.
This image also predates the construction of significant buildings on Rosemount Viaduct such as the Public Library and the Free South Church (both dating from 1892). In the background, on the left of the image can be seen the houses at the foot of a then longer Skene Terrace. These are on the site later occupied by the library and church.
To the right of those houses are Black's Buildings. Local historian Diane Morgan explains that they were "a small curving crescent of tall tenements, four and five storeys high, [and] sat below the Royal Infirmary, Woolmanhill, just west of the apex of the Woolmanhill triangle. (...) The houses were built in stages between 1789 and 1830, by the wine merchant James Black." (Lost Aberdeen: Aberdeen's lost architectural heritage, 2004). The tenements were pulled down in 1957.
Woolmanhill Hospital, designed by Archibald Simpson and built 1832-1838, can be seen in the background. Chimneys of Broadford Works, the textile factory located between Ann Street, Maberly Street and Hutcheon Street, are also visible. Woodside electric tram
137 The inaugural procession on 23rd December 1899 for the electrification of the Woodside tram route, the first in Aberdeen to be modernised.
Lord Provost John Fleming is at the helm, with Tramways Convener Alexander Wilkie standing next to him, and Councillor Alexander Glass has his foot on the platform.
Next to Fleming and Wilkie, and above Glass, appears to be Alexander Lyon, provost between 1905-1908. Baillie James Taggart, also later to be provost, is the right-most figure in the back row on the roof of the car. Two to the left of Taggart may be James Walker, provost between 1903-1905.
James Alexander Bell, City Electrical Engineer for Aberdeen in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, is the bowler hatted figure on the stairs above Lord Provost Fleming.
This inauguration is detailed in an article titled 'Electric tramways in Aberdeen: Opening of Woodside section' in the Aberdeen Journal of 25th December 1899, page 7. It details the celebratory tram trip shown here and a luncheon in the Town and County Hall that followed. Granite yard
146 Local historian A. G. Duthie has been in touch to suggest that this photograph most likely shows a granite yard. Slabs of the rock can be seen by the wooden fence and the men are standing near small sheerleg cranes.
Brian Kennedy has also contact us to identify the location of the image. It is looking north west along the thoroughfare that is identified as Duthie's Brae on early Ordnance Survey maps. The tenements in the background are those on Nellfield Place. The smaller house on the left in the background was known as Home Cottage and was one of the first built on the street that was then called Holburn Place.
Maps indicate the buildings shown on the left were used as malt barns and later as storehouses. Duthie's Brae was just south of where Hardgate met Fonthill Terrace.
This photograph was likely taken by James Ritchie in 1917. There is another image on this website by Ritchie that looks south from a nearby position. Old Deeside Road
147 Local historian A.G. Duthie has been in touch to identify this image as the most easterly point of the Old Deeside Road.
The photograph is taken from the position of the modern day junction of Great Southern Road and Holburn Street. The house in the background is still visible today.
In his book The Old Deeside Road, G.M. Fraser writes, "The commencement of the old road at Hardgate is still, fortunately, to be seen, near Fonthill Road, at the group of ruinous houses connected with what was long known as Palmer's Brewery. The 'lie' of the old houses at the back of the brewery shows the run of the old road, two of the small, dilapidated buildings being clearly the eastmost houses of the old road just where it touched the Hardgate." (p. 19)
This scene was photographed for Aberdeen Public Library on 6th July 1917 by Mr. James Ritchie. Logie Coldstone church
206 This photograph was originally titled "Newkirk from the Bridge, Dinnet" and shows Thomas Dawson's General Merchant shop in the background.
The actual church is somewhat north of Dinnet however - being in Logie Coldstone. The stone arch bridge has long been replaced with a much wider and more level surface protected by metal railings. Rubislaw Terrace
236 James Skene of Rubislaw was responsible for this fine row of town houses situated in the west end of the city. The houses, now mostly all offices, alternate in pairs. The original plan of design in 1852 was by James Giles, artist, and Messrs. MacKenzie and Matthews, architects. The street still retains a dignified appearance with some attractive architectural features and elevations. The Old Trades Hall in the Shiprow, Aberdeen. c.1850
302 This area, at the southern end of the Shiprow, was the site of the monastery of the Trinity Friars until 1559 when it was burnt to the ground by Protestant Reformers.
In 1631, having purchased the lands, Dr William Guild, gifted their old chapel and other buildings to be a hospital and meeting house for the seven Aberdeen Incorporated Trades. These were Hammermen, Bakers, Wrights and Coopers, Tailors, Shoemakers, Weavers, Fleshers.
Guild was one of Aberdeen's ministers and afterwards became Principal of King's College.
The Chapel became an Episcopal Church until 1794 when it was removed and replaced by the building seen at the left of the photograph. It was vacated in 1843, when the congregation joined the Free Church, and was then sold and eventually became the Alhambra Music Hall until 1902.
On the right was the Trades or Trinity Hall - often known as the Trinity Hall. It had a projecting wing tower and corbelled angle turret, and was demolished around 1857 for railway development.
The Trades had already moved into their new premises in Union Street in 1846.
This photograph looks south-south-west and is taken from roughly where Trinity Lane is now. The image likely dates from the 1850s, the time of the demolition.
Ebenezer Bain in Merchant and Craft Guilds: A History of the Aberdeen Incorporated Trades (1887) writes the following:
"The extension of the railway system to Aberdeen sealed the fate of the old Trades Hall. When Aberdeen Railway was projected in 1844, the hall and site, which extended from the foot of Shiprow to the near present line of railway, were scheduled [for demolition], and although not required for railway purposes, the buildings had to come down when Guild Street and Exchange Street were constructed. The last of the buildings was taken down in 1857 [...]" (Page 174). Portrait of James Macbeth
304 Portrait of James Macbeth wearing medal and chain of office as Convener of Incorporated Trades in 1904. Marischal College quadrangle
347 Marischal College quadrangle showing the buildings designed by Archibald Simpson and the Peterhead granite obelisk designed by James Giles and Alexander Ellis in 1860 to celebrate the life of Sir James McGrigor, graduate of Marischal College who later became Director General of the Army Medical Department. The obelisk was relocated to Duthie Park in 1906. James Beattie's House
362 This house stood in Crown Court at 36 Upperkirkgate, Aberdeen. It had an internal stone stair and some of the rooms were oak panelled. James Beattie was born in 1735 in Laurencekirk and in 1760 he was appointed Professor of Moral Philosophy at Marischal College. He died at this house on 18th August 1803 and was buried in St. Nicholas Churchyard.
His house became the home of an advocate, but in the 1850s and 60s it was used by the Aberdeen General Dispensary, lying in an vaccine institution which supplied advice and medicines to the sick and poor. In more recent times, the area behind the Upperkirkgate was cleared and redeveloped as the Bon-Accord Shopping Centre.
Correspondent Ed Fowler suggests that the items that can be seen in front of the house are likely early Victorian laundry mangles. This would account for the trail of water draining from its position. The tarpaulin that is visible would have been to protect the wooden rollers and gears from the elements. The drying area was probably in the garden beyond the Dispensary building, to the north, as no improvised window drying jibs are visible. St. Nicholas Street, Aberdeen. 1898
363 This image taken in 1898, shows two prominent Aberdeen citizens crossing St. Nicholas Street under the watchful gaze of a statue of Queen Victoria. The building behind them was then the Town and County (now Clydesdale) Bank. These two individuals were lifelong friends and both came from a poor background, however their industry and intelligence, combined with self education led to their successful careers. William Cadenhead on the left began work in a thread factory but later became a traveller for a wine and spirit merchant, eventually succeeding to the business. He died on 11th December 1904 aged 85. William Carnie on the right was apprenticed as an engraver, but his ambition to write for newspapers was fulfilled when he began on the North of Scotland Gazette. However in 1861, he was appointed as Clerk and Treasurer of Aberdeen Royal Infirmary and the Royal Lunatic Asylum. After his retirement he wrote three volumes entitled Reporting Reminiscences covering the period 1850 - 1876, recollecting local events and people he knew. He died on 2nd January 1908 aged 83. Red Cross Ambulance
364 A photograph from the presentation of a new ambulance by Aberdeen District engineering and shipbuilding firms to the Scottish Branch of the Red Cross Society on Monday 29th January 1917.
The vehicle, funded by subscription, was for use in Aberdeen and was handed over to Colonel J. Scott Riddell, the Red Cross Commissar. He can be seen fourth from the left in the group on the right.
The leftmost figure of that grouping is Lord Provost James Taggart. He presided over the presentation event that took place in the Red Cross Transport Headquarters on Holburn Street, visible here in the background. Taggart was a granite sculptor by trade and had a works nearby at 92 Great Western Road.
The location of this photograph is at the junction of Justice Mill and Holburn Street. A branch of the Summerhill Farm Dairy is visible in the background.
An account of the presentation and a list of subscribers can be read on page 3 of The Aberdeen Daily Journal for 22nd January 1917. Gala and Heather Day in the Duthie Park
395 This Adelphi Series postcard shows the Gala Day taking place in Duthie Park on 21st August 1915.
The Gala in Duthie Park and the accompanying Heather Day were both organised to raise funds for the Aberdeen Royal Infirmary.
The Gala Day is one of largest events ever to take place at the park. It was estimated that between 25,000 and 26,000 people attended. Tickets cost 6 pence (6d) for general admission and 2s 6d for carriages or motor cars.
Within the park there was an elaborate programme of entertainment and refreshments organised. Details of the programme were published in a 32 page booklet prior to the event. Upwards of 1,300 people took part in the programme.
Gates to the park opened at 3pm and the event officially commence at 3pm with a grand military parade. Lieut-Colonel A. H. Leith of Glenkindie, Garrison Commander, and Lord Provost James Taggart "took the salute" opposite the Hygiea statue.
The Gala and Heather Day were organised by a distinct committee; Taggart was its president and Alexander Findlay, Superintendent of Cleansing, was its chairman. Councillor H. J. Gray was the secretary and treasurer and Mr John Lints was his assistant. There were also conveners and secretaries for various sub-committees concerned with aspects like entertainment and refreshments.
There was a wide range of entertainment organised for within the park including singing, dancing, gymnastic displays, musical drill, motor cycle gymkhana and bayonet fighting. Various platforms saw performances from acts such as a company lead by D. M. Kinghorn, pierrots directed by Minnie Mearns, Dan Williams, and W. A. Craig's operatic choir. Charles Soutar lead a 500 strong choir of children from the city's public schools.
Practically all naval and military units present in the city were represented at the event and individuals from many of them took part in the sporting competitions. The day also included a 5-a-side football and tug of war competition. Preliminary matches for these took place prior to the day at Pittodrie Park.
The Gala Day was filmed and this was later shown as part of a special programme at the Picture House on Union Street from the 25th of the month.
Over £500 was taken at the gates for the event. Entertainment and refreshments within further increased the figure raised.
Heather Day itself generated another £474. This involved over 1,500 vendors going around all parts of the city selling sprigs of the plant. The sale started on the afternoon of the Friday and continued all through Saturday. Entertainment venues throughout the city were also visited.
The vendors were primarily young women and members of organisations like the boys brigade. Stores present in all areas of the city were replenished from a central depot at 173a Union Street. This in turn was supplied by the cleansing department buildings in Poynernook Road, where the preceding week had seen 200,000 sprigs prepared for sale. Peterhead, Inverurie, Ellon and Banchory organised their own Heather Days for the same fund.
The sum taken from both the Gala and the Heather Day was estimated at considerably over £1,000.
See the report in the Aberdeen Journal, Monday 23rd August 1915 page 8, for further details about the occasion. The Green
424 The Green. The house occupied by John Buchan, baker, at the foot of the Back Wynd stairs leading up to Union Street was demolished in 1914. In the late seventeenth century the house was owned by George Aedie. Although Boots the Chemist have since relocated elsewhere, the stairs which replaced these are still often referred to as the Boots Stairs because there was an entrance to their premises on the left.
The golden teapot sign that belonged to John Adam's tea and coffee shop disappeared when the shop closed.
Correspondent Ed Fowler investigated the 1904 Post Office directory for Aberdeen to discover more information about the businesses visible in the image. John Adam's premises, with its golden teapot at 64 The Green, can be see on the far right. The tea merchant lived in Hammerfield House, 349 Great Western Road.
The next two entrances to the left, 66 and 68, are for the tenements above the shops. To the left of them at 70 The Green is a drapers called P. & C. Adams. The business also had premises at 47 George Street. George Pegler & Co.
444 Queueing for bananas after the end of World War Two, when fruit was still rationed. The shop in question belongs to George Pegler & Co. Part of New Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire
599 An illustrated view of New Aberdeen, showing the River Dee. The inscription below the image states "Engraved by J. Storer, for the Antiquarian and Topographical Cabinet, from a Drawing by J. D. Glennie".
The latter is likely John David Glennie (1796-1874), a painter, engraver and lithographer that the Benezit Dictionary of Artists describes as known for illustrating Letters on India and Scenes on the Continent by Maria Graham.
Antiquarian and Topographical Cabinet, containing a series of elegant views of the most interesting objects of curiosity in Great Britain. Accompanied with letter-press descriptions was compiled by James Storer and John Greig and published in 9 or 10 volumes from around 1807 to 1817.
In the advertisement at the beginning of the first volume, J. Storer and I. Greig state that the work "will be hastening to preserve the lineaments of the most venerable remains of Antiquity which Time is incessantly whittleing away by nearly imperceptible atoms."
This view of New Aberdeen features in volume 9 of the series, published in 1811, and is accompanied by a short description. It lists the principal objects shown as the Castle Hill, the Barracks, Toll-booth and the Custom House. The Castlegate
628 The Castlegate with the statue of the Duke of Gordon in the foreground and the Market Cross behind. The buildings in the background were to be demolished in the 1890s for the building of the Salvation Army Citadel. The shop to the right is James Esson's. Upper Denburn
729 Upper Denburn, looking east, prior to its demolition.
Brick gable tenements can be seen on the left already stripped of their roofs.
The viewpoint is looking from the Dyers Court area eastwards towards Marischal College Tower and the retaining wall of the Royal Infirmary (with its dome on the skyline). This lead to Spa Street and Woolmanhill beyond.
The houses and tenements on the right are more sparse and primarily traders yards.
Garden Nook Close led off the left past a timber yard to the Well of Spa. The Well O' Spa Pub was on the extreme left corner.
Note the partial visible trade sign on the ridge of the distant roof - most likely James Stephen & Son. They were carvers, gilders/ornamental plasterers, mirror & picture frame makers, artists' colourmen and fine art dealers and operated at 48-50 Woolmanhill from around 1890-1933. Gordon's Hospital Spire rises beyond these premises.
(Many thanks to Ed Fowler for the above description). 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. Wellington Lodge
811 A photograph showing Wellington Lodge on the corner of Justice Mill Lane and Holburn Street.
The top of Holburn Street, towards Holburn Junction, was previously known as South Street and later as Wellington Place. In the background of this image, on the far left, can be seen the John Smith designed Water House on Union Street.
Wellington Lodge stood across the road from Holburn Church, roughly where the Glentanar Bar stands today. It can be seen on the large scale Ordnance Survey town plan and map sheets from the 1860s.
The property appears to have belonged to the Whytes of Dalhebity, Cults. For some time Wellington Lodge was the residence of Helen Whyte and she was likely the house's final resident.
Helen Whyte died aged 85 on 31st January 1898 (death notice: Aberdeen Weekly Journal, 09/02/1898, p. 4). Newspaper references suggest she was involved in various charitable activities. She was the daughter of Baillie John Whyte, a merchant, and had a brother also called John Whyte (1845-1904), a prominent citizen and advocate.
Another death notice indicates that Mary Ann Hardie, of 48 Victoria Road, Torry, was employed for 38 years as the servant for Miss Helen Whyte. Hardie died in 1895 (death notice: Aberdeen Journal, 17/08/1895, p. 4).
Newspapers also suggest the villa was the home of Miss Mary Murray Gordon. She would likely have been a relation of James Murray Gordon who was a partner in the same law firm as John Whyte, Helen's aforementioned brother.
Wellington Lodge was probably demolished shortly after the death of Helen Whyte. It made way for the extension of the larger tenement buildings on Holburn Street that can be seen in the background of this photograph.
The Aberdeen Weekly Journal's 'Granite Chips' column of 17th May 1899 (p. 9) states "A very large and handsome block of buildings for Mr Peter Farquharson has been erected in Holburn Street, stretching from the office of the Union Bank of Scotland to Justice Mill Lane." This most likely refers to this development.
David Miller in Archibald Simpson, Architect, His Life and Times 1790-1847 (2006) states that this villa was designed by Simpson for Mrs Yeats of Auquharney (page 174). Cults Inn, coach house and stables
1020 The cottages on the west side of the Cults Hotel. These were once the coach house and stables for the Cults Inn. They were later occupied as shops, shoemaker, tailor and sweetshop.
The buildings were later taken over by Aberdeen Corporation Water Department and were occupied by their workers at the nearby Cults Pumping Station. In 1960, these buildings were demolished and a new public bar was built for the hotel.
When repairs were being carried out on the ground floor house in 1936, then occupied by a Mr James Donald, the hooks and harness pegs from its time as a stable could still be seen behind the linings. These were all removed at the time. George Street Electric Tram Service
1069 A photograph of the inaugural procession on 23rd December 1899 for the electrification of the Woodside tram route, the first in Aberdeen to be modernised.
This copy of the image has been labelled as the "Opening of George Street Electric Car Service - 1899." The trams would have travelled from Aberdeen city centre to Woodside along St. Nicholas Street and George Street.
Lord Provost John Fleming is at the helm, with Tramways Convener Alexander Wilkie standing next to him, and Councillor Alexander Glass has his foot on the platform.
Next to Fleming and Wilkie, and above Glass, appears to be Alexander Lyon, provost between 1905-1908. Baillie James Taggart, also later to be provost, is the right-most figure in the back row on the roof of the car. Two to the left of Taggart may be James Walker, provost between 1903-1905.
James Alexander Bell, City Electrical Engineer for Aberdeen in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, is the bowler hatted figure on the stairs above Lord Provost Fleming.
This inauguration is detailed in an article titled 'Electric tramways in Aberdeen: Opening of Woodside section' in the Aberdeen Journal of 25th December 1899, page 7. It details the celebratory tram trip shown here and a luncheon in the Town and County Hall that followed.
Another, clearer version of this image can be found on this website (image reference: A43_14). |