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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. Allenvale Cemetery from Kincorth
60 An early photograph of Allenvale Cemetery, taking shape in the middle distance, as seen from Kincorth, with Abbotswell Farm in the foreground.
A limited company called the Aberdeen Cemetery Company was established for the purpose of creating this new graveyard. A prospectus inviting public investment was published in the Aberdeen Journal of 29th January 1873. It reads as follows:
"It is well known that in Aberdeen cemetery accommodation is limited and insufficient, and it is generally admitted that its extension is necessary, and cannot much longer be delayed. It is therefore desirable to acquire additional space for that purpose, and to treat it in accordance with modern ideas and practice.
"This company has been formed for the purpose of providing an extensive Cemetery, in the neighbourhood of Aberdeen, suitable in all respects for the purposes of internment, and of easy access - but sufficiently removed from town to preserve its suburban character."
The new cemetery opened in late 1874 and, as we know, was a big hit. It was officially known as the Aberdeen Cemetery but quickly became known as Allenvale Cemetery, after the property on which it was built.
Allenvale saw major extensions in 1912 and 1932. A London syndicate purchased control of the graveyard from the Aberdeen Cemetery Company in 1958. Aberdeen Town Council subsequently took control of the cemetery in 1965 following the then owners going into liquidation and worries about Allenvale's future. Allenvale remains a fine example of a planned Victorian cemetery to this day.
Notable residents of Allenvale include John James Rickard MacLeod (1876-1935), co-discoverer of insulin, James Scott Skinner (1843-1927), fiddler and composer, and Mary Esslemont (1891-1984), the influential doctor. Though, of course, many interned at Allenvale would have their own interesting stories to tell.
In this photograph, Duthie Park, later created on the right, has yet to be landscaped. St. Machar Poorhouse, Fonthill House and Devanha House can all be seen in the distance. Fountainhall House
115 Fountainhall House, now 130 Blenheim Place, an 18th century two-storey house with period gateway and ironwork, commemorates, through its original name of Fountain Haugh, the days when reservoirs and cisterns dotted the area. The old 1706 cistern from Fountainhall is now in Duthie Park. Mitchell Tower, Marischal College
128 The Mitchell Tower, Marischal College, Broad Street, showing the McGrigor Obelisk which was removed to the Duthie Park in 1905. Park Street
140 View of Park Street with an Aberdeen Corporation Bus and the Eastern Star pub visible. The pub occupied the corner of Park Street and East North Street.
The Aberdeen Pub Companion (1975) states that it was built in 1890 and that James Hill was the first licensee. It was familiarly known as Jimmy Hill's and was a popular local pub. It was demolished around 1960 to make way for the large roundabout at the foot of the Beach Boulevard.
(Many thanks to local historian A. G. Duthie for getting in touch and identifying the pub.) The old Winter Gardens, Duthie Park
242 The original Winter Gardens was known as the Palm House. It was designed by the then city architect, John Rust (1844-1919), and erected from 1899. It was constructed from St. Petersburg redwood and cost £1,550 in total. It officially opened on 1st August 1900.
The roof of the Palm House suffered extensive damage during a storm in May 1969 and after 70 years of public use the building had to be demolished and rebuilt. The new Winter Gardens was opened by Lord Provost Robert S. Lennox on 8th April 1970. Royal visit by Princess Beatrice
315 A photograph showing Princess Beatrice at Aberdeen Music Hall to open a bazaar in aid of the Sick Children's Hospital.
The bazaar took place in the Music Hall on Saturday 29th and Sunday 30th October 1898. Princess Beatrice, then known as Princess Henry of Battenberg, opened the bazaar the day before on Friday 28th October.
The opening ceremony was covered in the Aberdeen Journal of 29th October 1898, page 5. The article states that Beatrice arrived by train at the Joint Station before travelling to the Music Hall from Guild Street by the horse drawn carriage that we can see here.
The route travelled and much of the surrounding area were specially decorated for the occasion. The various businesses and buildings along the route decorated their own premises and many of these decorations are described in the newspaper report.
The city gardeners Peter Harper of Duthie Park and Robert Walker of Victoria Park were tasked with creating floral displays. Harper decorated the interior of the Joint Station and the Music Hall, while Walker decorated the route between the two.
The special royal train arrived at the joint station a couple of minutes before its scheduled time of 12:15pm. Beatrice was greeted at the station by a large civic and military reception and crowds of onlookers.
The newspaper report indicates that travelling in the horse drawn carriage with Beatrice was Miss Minnie Cochrane and Lord William Cecil, both were royal courtiers. The man sat in the carriage is therefore most likely the latter.
Following the opening ceremony, Beatrice was entertained at a luncheon at the Palace Hotel by the directors of the Royal Aberdeen Hospital for Sick Children.
Beatrice and her party returned to Balmoral on a train leaving the station at 2:45pm.
The newspaper also tells us that Messrs. Walker & Company, cinematographers, Bridge Street, filmed the procession as it passed along the railway bridge on Guild Street. Assistant photographers with still cameras captured the rest of proceedings. This photograph was likely taken by one of these assistants.
A sign for Walker & Company can be seen hanging above the Music Hall entrance. This dates the image as belonging to this later royal visit by Princess Beatrice. She previously visited the city on 27th September 1883 to open an earlier bazaar for the Children's Hospital and to open the newly created Duthie Park 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. 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. Fidler's Well, Guild Street
422 A horse drinking from Fidler's Well on Guild Street. The well, dedicated to Dr William Guild, was erected in 1857 by Alexander Fidler, coal broker. Originally intended for horses, it later had 2 iron cups attached to it. Fidler died in 1885 but his well remained in Guild Street until 1957 when it was moved to Duthie Park. It was relocated again in 2002 to the corner of Holburn Street and Great Western Road. The Quadrangle of Marischal College
513 The quadrangle of Marischal College, showing the obelisk in Peterhead Granite designed by Alexander Ellis and James Giles. The obelisk, sometimes known as the 'Sir James McGrigor Obelisk', was later removed in 1905 to a new site in the Duthie Park. Fountainhall Well
635 This small cistern house was erected in connection with Aberdeen's first city water supply. Water had previously been obtained from the Loch but by 1706 it had become polluted and lead pipes were laid to bring water from Carden's Haugh Well. Six cisterns or fountain-houses were built along the old Fountainhall Road and water was conveyed from these sources to the Water House in Broad Street until 1866. A new scheme was eventually introduced and in 1903 the Fountainhall Well was taken from its original site and rebuilt in Duthie Park. Watson Street Lodge
733 A photograph of the Watson Street Lodge in Victoria Park.
The figures standing in the doorway are most likely to be Robert Walker (1848-1930), the Keeper of Victoria Park, and his family; his second wife Christina Walker and daughters Elizabeth and Ann. Judging by the 1891 census and Robert's eventual obituary, the family also had at least five sons.
Walker was previously married to Isabella Robertson. She died on 24th November 1877. This photograph likely dates from the later 19th century.
Robert Walker was originally from Perth and was himself a son of a gardener. He came to Aberdeen as a nurseryman and in around 1871 was chosen out of 450 candidates to be the city's first keeper of parks.
He oversaw the creation of Victoria Park, Aberdeen's first public park, before going on to lay out Westburn Park, Stewart Park, Union Terrace Gardens and the Promenade. Walker was also an early advocate and pioneer of the planting of street trees.
For a number of years Aberdeen had two superintendents of parks, Walker and a Mr Peter Harper at Duthie Park. When Harper retired in 1914 Walker was appointed general superintendent.
Post Office directories indicate that Walker and his family lived at the Watson Street Lodge, also known as the Victoria Park Lodge, from its construction in around 1872 to his retirement in 1919. His residence at the lodge was part of the job. On retirement Walker moved to the relatively nearby 111 Westburn Drive.
He was succeeded as general superintendent of parks by William B. Clark, who resided at the West Lodge of Duthie Park. A man called Robert Duncan replaced Walker as the keeper of Victoria and Westburn Park.
Over the years Aberdeen has had substantial success and renown as an attractive, green city. A considerable portion of the credit for this success must reside with the pioneering and dedicated work of Robert Walker. Old Greyfriars Parish Church
758 Old Greyfriars Parish Church. The old 'College Kirk' was demolished in 1903 to make way for extensions to Marischal College. The new Greyfriars was opened in September 1903. The McGrigor Obelisk is seen at the left hand edge of the picture and it too was removed and is now in the Duthie Park. Great Southern Road
859 In 1880, Miss Elizabeth Crombie Duthie of Ruthrieston bought land at Allenvale and Polmuir and the vacant estate of Arthurs Seat and donated it to Aberdeen Town Council as a public park. Today, the park covers 44 acres of wide open spaces. A restaurant was also opened in 1972 at a cost of £50,000 and the famous winter gardens built in 1899 at a cost of 1550 pounds and subsequently rebuilt in 1969 at a cost of £58,000. In the centre of the picture can be seen the old West Lodge or Duthie Lodge. When the Great Southerrn Road and King George VI Bridge were built in 1938, the lodge was bought for 60 pounds by an Aberdeen contractor, dismantled and moved piece by piece to Rubislaw Den South. The Great Southern Road was a new road from Holburn Street to Whinhill Road, linking the city with the new satellite town at Kincorth and onwards to meet the Aberdeen - Stonehaven Road. Postcard of the Palm House at the Duthie Park
886 The Palm House, the original Winter Gardens, was designed by the city architect, Mr Rust, and erected in 1899. It was constructed from St. Petersburg redwood and cost £1,550 in total. The roof of the Palm House suffered extensive damage during a storm in May 1969 and after 70 years of public use the building had to be demolished and rebuilt. The new Winter Gardens was opened by Lord Provost R. S. Lennox on 9th April 1970. Allan Park Skating Pond, Cults
1032 This wintry scene of iceskaters was taken about 1902/3 in Allan Park, Cults. Allan Park was named after David Allan, a resident of Cults and head of the firm of James Allan and Son, Furnishers. He gifted about 7 acres of land between the Deeside Railway and the River Dee, and the Park was officially opened in June 1897. It was proposed that there should be a curling and skating pond in the centre surrounded with trees and laid out with walks. Duthie Park, c.1900
1126 Duthie Park, c.1900. This photograph shows a fairly dense tree and shrub enshrouded section of the Duthie Park, probably c.1900. Intricate pathways are laid out throughout the park, with much fancy trellis work evident. The Park was given to the city by Miss Elizabeth Crombie Duthie of Ruthrieston in 1881. Today, the Duthie Park is still one of the most popular and attractive open spaces in the city. Duthie Park West Lodge
1127 The West Gate Lodge stood at the Whinhill Road entrance to Duthie Park. It had to be removed in 1938 due to the widening of the Great Southern Road. The lodge was rebuilt at Rubislaw Den South. The present West Lodge was erected on a new site 100 yards south of the old building. Whinhill Road entrance to Duthie Park
1128 The Whinhill Road entrance to Duthie Park in the snow. The West Gate Lodge stood at this entrance from 1883, when the park first opened, until 1938 when it had to be removed due to the widening of the Great Southern Road. The lodge was rebuilt at Rubislaw Den South. Duthie Park
1129 Duthie Park was given to the city of Aberdeen in 1881 by Miss Elizabeth Crombie Duthie as she wanted to create a public space in memory of her brother and uncle. Its 44 acres comprised wide open spaces, ponds, fountains, bowling greens and tennis courts, various monuments and sculptures, the Winter Gardens and masses of magnificent flower displays. The bandstand in Duthie Park in winter
1374 The bandstand was designed by William McKelvie, the architect responsible for designing the layout of Duthie Park, and was completed in 1893 at a cost of around £400. It has served as a stage for many concerts and recitals over the years. The railings of the bandstand were removed for the war effort, however, they were restored in the mid-1990s during a refurbishment. Rosehill Farm
1485 A photograph, likely by James G. Kellas and from the early 1950s, showing Rosehill Hill Farm.
The large scale Ordnance Survey map surveyed in 1867, those revised in 1899 and in 1924 show the farm located on the north side of Cairncry Road. Rosehill Quarries were located to the north of the farm buildings.
The OS map surveyed in 1955 shows the farm surrounded by a modern housing estate. The buildings are then nos. 8, 10 and 12 Blackthorn Crescent.
The farm buildings later appear to have made way for new housing developments on Blackthorn Crescent and no remains of the farm can be seen today.
In the early 19th century the lands of Rosehill, along with Burnside and Ruthrieston, were acquired by Alexander Duthie, a successful advocate in Aberdeen, and later passed to his grandson Walter, a writer to the signet in Edinburgh. Walter was the uncle of Elizabeth Crombie Duthie, who donated Duthie Park to the people. See the latter's obituary in the Evening Express of 30th March 1885, page 3, for further detail. |