Old Aberdeen

Aberdeen
Map of this area

The "Granite City" lies between the Don and the Dee, backed by a rich agricultural hinterland and facing the North Sea which has given her a new role, that of Offshore Capital of Europe. Art gallery focuses on 18th to 20th-century painting and sculpture. Provost Skene's House, built 1545, has fine painted ceilings and local museum. Science and technology discovery centre.

Twin burghs

The present city developed from two separate fishing villages on the Dee and Don. By the 12C Old Aberdeen was the seat of an episcopal see with an ever increasing secular community outside its cathedral precincts. The cathedral city acquired burgh status in the 12C, and in the late 15C Bishop Elphinstone founded a university. The second distinct burgh grew up around the king's castle (13C) to become an active trading centre based on coastal and Baltic trade. While the Reformation brought ruin and stagnation to Old Aberdeen, the city centre continued to prosper, acquired its own university (f 1593) and by the late 17C had started to break out of its medieval bounds.

The Granite City

Following Edinburgh and Perth. Aberdeen implemented its own plan for expansion with the laying out of Union and King Streets (1801). The native architect Archibald Simpson (1790-1847) was responsible for giving the city much of its present character by his masterly use of Aberdeen granite as a building material. He gave his buildings a simplicity and dignity fully in keeping with the nature of the stone. The streets were lined with dignified public buildings (Medical Hall. 29 King Street 1818-20, Assembly Rooms now the Music Hall, Union Street 1822) and there were imaginative private ventures such as the Athenaeum and a successful design for the Clydesdale Bank at the Union and King Street corner site. Simpson's rival John Smith was also responsible for some fine buildings at the time. Until the middle years of the 20C Aberdeen continued to be built in granite, giving its townscape a rare homogeneity, though few of its later suburbs can match the harmony of Simpson's essay in town planning centred on Bon Accord Square. Terrace and Crescent to the southwest of the city centre.

Maritime Past

The tradition of shipbuilding has always been strong in Aberdeen as o the yards produced vessels for whaling and line fishing. Then came that age of international fame, the clipper ship era when the city's boatyards specialised in fast sailing ships. With the legendary and graceful tea clippers. Stornoway, Chrysolite and Thermopylae. Britain gained supremacy in the China tea trade. Wooden clippers gave way to composite and finally iron built vessels in the 1870s. Sail yielded to steam. Throughout, the local shipbuilding industry remained to the fore and continues today as an important aspect of the city's economy, although now geared to the oil industry. The earliest fisheries included whaling (1752-1860s) and line fishing. Aberdeen became a fishing port with the herring boom (1875-96) and by 1900 had converted to trawling: it remains Scotland's premier white fishing port. The decline in trawling has in some way been counteracted by the increase in oil activities.

Old Aberdeen

Old Aberdeen became a burgh of barony in 1489 under the patronage of the bishops and retained its separate burghal identity until 1891. Today, the quarter stretching from King's College Chapel to St Machar's Cathedral, is part of a conservation area where the old burgh's essential character has been well retained. The medieval streets - College Bounds (6). High Street. Don Street and the Chanonry - are now bordered by a variety of single and double storey cottages, and some more substantial detached mansions; a happy mix.

St Machar's Cathedral

The twin spires of St Machar's have long been one of Old Aberdeen's most famous landmarks. Its highly individual style - so very Scottish - reflects the nature of the granite building material. The present edifice, which dates from the 14C and 15C. overlooks the haughlands of the Don. According to legend, the original Celtic (c 580) settlement was established by St Machar slightly to the west so as to overlook the "crook" of the Don and comply with instructions from St Columba. When the bishopric was transferred from Mortlach. now Dufftown. to St Machar's in 1131. a programme of rebuilding was undertaken. The present building is the nave as finally completed in the 15C.

The cathedral's most distinctive feature, is immediately impressive for the austerity and strength of its unusual design, where the role of the doorway is reduced to a minimum. Buttressed and crenellated towers, topped by tapering sandstone spires, flankthe majestic seven-light window. The whole is devoid of decorative details. Move round past the south porch (entrance) to the east end. The church was truncated at the transept crossing when the choir was demolished at the Reformation and further shortened in 1688 when the central tower and spire collapsed, destroying the transepts. Here are to be found the tombs of two of the bishop builders: in the north transept that of Bishop Henry Leighton (1422-40) - his effigy is inside the cathedral - and in the south, now glazed over, that of Bishop Gavin Dunbar (1518-32).

Interior - Take binoculars to examine the heraldic ceiling. Enter by the south porch. A majestically simple but effective interior is the setting for this 16C heraldic ceiling attributed to the enterprising Bishop Gavin Dunbar. The flat, coffered oak ceiling is decorated with 48 brightly tinctured coats of arms arranged in three rows of 16 each running from east to west. Ingeniously designed, this unique ceiling presents a vision of the European scene around 1520 and a strong assertion of Scottish nationalism. The central axis representing the Holy Church, until then the traditional unifying force in Europe, is headed by the arms of Pope Leo X followed by other ecclesiastical arms. The absence of York and Trondheim is significant. On the right are the King of Scots (closed crown) and his nobles while on the left, headed by the Holy Roman Emperor, are the other Kings of Christendom. The King of England comes fourth after his fellow monarchs of France. Scotland's traditional ally, and Spain.

The stained glass is all 19C and 20C: the west window with cusped round arches and the Bishops Window (third from east end in the south aisle) 1913. an early example of Douglas Strachan's work showing the three great builder bishops, are noteworthy.

Brig o'Balgownie - Approach via Don Street. This early 14C bridge, one of Aberdeen's most important medieval buildings, is set astride the Don. The single span bridge with its pointed Gothic arch has cobbled approaches and a defensive kink at the south end. Further downstream is the Bridge of Don, by Aberdeen's first city architect. John Smith, with modifications by Thomas Telford (1827-30). The cost of building was financed by its illustrious neighbour's 17C maintenance fund.

Overview of Aberdeen.