Transport

There are four main roads serving the city;
A90 The main arterial route into the city from the South, linking Aberdeen to Edinburgh, Dundee and Perth.
A96 Links to Elgin and Inverness and the North West.
A93 The main route to the West, heading towards Royal Deeside and the Cairngorms.
A92 The original southerly road to Aberdeen prior to the building of the A90, now used as a tourist route, connecting the towns of Montrose, Arbroath and Brechin on the east coast.

The city’s original ring road, Anderson Drive, which was built in the 1930s has long since been engulfed by the expansion of the city, and is inadequate for dealing with today’s traffic. To this end, a new main bypass road, the Western Peripheral Route, is planned to divert through traffic away from the city centre. The road is due to open in 2010.
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Population and Sport

Population

In 1396 the population was about 3,000. By 1801 it had become 26,992; in 1841 it was 63,262; (1891) 121,623; (1901) 153,503; in 2001 it was 197,328.

Sport

Aberdeen Football Club was founded in 1903. Its major success was winning the European Cup Winners Cup in 1983 and three League Championships between 1980 and 1986, under the current Manchester United F.C. manager Alex Ferguson. The club’s stadium is Pittodrie which holds the distinction of being Britain’s first all-seater stadium.

Aberdeen F.C. holds the distinction of being the last team to have won the Scottish Premier League Championship outside the Old Firm and is the only Scottish team to have won two European trophies adding to their European Cup Winners Cup success by winning the European Super Cup also in 1983.
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Industry in Aberdeen

Owing to the variety and importance of its chief industries Aberdeen is one of the most prosperous cities in Scotland. Very durable grey granite was quarried at Rubislaw quarry for more than 300 years, and blocked and dressed paving “setts”, kerb and building stones, and monumental and other ornamental work of granite have long been exported from the district to all parts of the world. Quarrying finally ceased in 1971.

This, though once the predominant industry, was surpassed by the deep-sea fisheries, which derived a great impetus from improved technologies throughout the twentieth century. Lately, however, catches have fallen due to overfishing in previous years, and the use of the harbour by oil support vessels. Aberdeen remains an important fishing port, but the catch landed there is now eclipsed by the more northerly ports of Peterhead and Fraserburgh. The Fisheries Research Service is based in Aberdeen, including its headquarters and a marine research lab.

Most of the leading pre-1970s industries date from the 18th century, amongst them woollens (1703), linen (1749), and cotton (1779). These gave employment to several thousands of operatives. The paper-making industry is one of the most famous and oldest in the city, paper having been first made in Aberdeen in 1694. Flax-spinning and jute and combmaking factories also flourished, along with successful foundries and engineering works.
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Harbour

Aberdeen Harbour is the principal commercial port in northern Scotland and an international port for general cargo, roll-on/roll-off and container traffic.

Originally, the defective harbour, with a shallow sand and gravel bar at its entrance, retarded the trade of Aberdeen, but under various acts since 1773 it was greatly deepened. The north pier, built partly by John Smeaton 1775-1781, and partly by Thomas Telford 1810-1815, extends nearly 3,000 ft (1000 m) into the North Sea and raised the bar. A wet dock of 29 acres (117,000 m²) and with 6000 ft (1800 m) of quay, was completed in 1848 and called Victoria Dock in honour of the queen’s visit to the city in that year.

Adjoining it is the Upper Dock. By the Harbour Act of 1868, the Dee near the harbour was diverted from the south at a cost of £80,000, and 90 acres (364,000 m²) of new ground, in addition to 25 acres (101,000 m²) formerly made up, were provided on the north side of the river for the Albert Basin (with a graving dock), quays and warehouses. A 1050 ft (320 m) long concrete breakwater was constructed on the south side of the stream as a protection against south-easterly gales. On Girdleness, the southern point of the bay, a lighthouse was built in 1833. Thirty-two people were drowned in the harbour on 5 April 1876, in the River Dee Ferry Boat Disaster. Aberdeen Harbour was the first publicly limited company in the United Kingdom. A harbour in Hong Kong has been named Aberdeen Harbour, supposedly by ex-patriots from the Scottish city.

Bridges

The Dee is crossed by a number of bridges, from west to east:
Bridge of Dee
King George VI Bridge
Railway bridge
Wellington Suspension Bridge
Queen Elizabeth II Bridge
Victoria Bridge

Until 1832, the only access to the city from the south was the Bridge of Dee. It consists of seven semicircular ribbed arches, is about 30 ft (10 m) high, and was built early in the 16th century by Bishops Elphinstone and Dunbar. It was nearly all rebuilt 1718-1723, and in 1842 was widened from 14 to 26 ft (4 to 8 m). This was the site of a battle in 1639 between the Royalists under Viscount Aboyne and the Covenanters who were led by the Marquis of Montrose.

The Bridge of Don has five granite arches, each 75 ft (23 m) in span, and was built 1827-1832. A little to the west is the Auld Brig o’ Balgownie, a picturesque single arch spanning the deep black stream, said to have been built by King Robert I, and celebrated by George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron in the tenth canto of “Don Juan”.

Statues

Adjacent to Union Terrace Gardens stands a colossal bronze statue of William Wallace, by W. G. Stevenson. Also nearby these same gardens are a bronze statue of Robert Burns and Charles Marochetti’s seated figure of Prince Albert.

In front of Robert Gordon’s College is the bronze statue, by T. S. Burnett, of General Gordon. At the head of Queen’s Road stands the bronze statue of Queen Victoria, erected in 1893 by the royal tradesmen of the city. Near the Cross stands the granite statue of George Gordon, 5th Duke of Gordon.

There is a 70 ft (21 m) high obelisk of Peterhead granite, originally erected in the square of Marischal College, to the memory of Sir James McGrigor (1778-1851), the military surgeon and director-general of the Army Medical Department, who was thrice elected lord rector of the College. In the 1890s when the College was extended, the obelisk was moved to the Duthie Park.There is also a statue commemorating Lord Byron in Aberdeen Grammar School in the front grounds.

Parks and Open Spaces

Duthie Park 50 acres (202,000 m²)), situated on Riverside Drive, was named after and gifted to the city by Miss Elizabeth Crombie Duthie of Ruthrieston in 1881 and opened by Princess Beatrice on 27 September 1883. It occupies an excellent site on the north bank of the Dee and includes extensive gardens, a rose hill, boating pond, bandstand, and play area as well as the David Welch Winter Gardens. First opened in 1899, the Winter Gardens were rebuilt in 1970 following storm damage and extended. They are Europe’s largest indoor gardens and one of the most visited in Scotland.

Victoria Park 13 acres (53,000 m²) opened in 1871, is a beautiful park situated in the north-western area. There is a conservatory used as a seating area and a fountain made of 14 different granites, presented to the people by the granite polishers and master builders of Aberdeen.

Westburn Park 13 acres (53,000 m²) opposite Victoria Park, caters for football and tennis, has a children’s cycle track and a play area. An open section of the Westburn runs through the park.

Stewart Park (15 acres (61,000 m²) opened in 1894. The park was named after a former Lord Provost of the city, Sir David Stewart; a section is reserved for cricket and football.
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Aberdeen’s museums and attractions include:

Aberdeen International Youth Festival
Aberdeen Art Gallery
Aberdeen Maritime Museum
Provost Ross’ House
The Gordon Highlanders Museum
Marischal Museum
James Dun’s House
King’s College Visitor and Conference Centre
Museum of Education Victorian Classroom
Provost Skene’s House
Tolbooth Museum
Doonies Farm
Marischal College
Aberdeen Arts Centre
The Lemon Tree
Pittodrie football stadium
The Aberdeen Central Public Library contains more than 60,000 volumes.
His Majesty’s Theatre (1906) is a fine granite theatre which provides a home for popular entertainments.

It has a 1,500 capacity and is one of the most beautiful major touring theatres in Britain.
Doonies Farm has one of the largest collections in Scotland of endangered breeds of farm animals. Open to the public, the farm is nationally recognized as a breeding centre for rare breeds and is situated on the old coast road between the Bay of Nigg and Cove.

Culture in Aberdeen

The city is blessed with amenities which cover a wide range of cultural activities and boasts a selection of museums. The Aberdeen Art Gallery houses a collection of Impressionist, Victorian, Scottish and 20th Century British paintings as well as collections of silver and glass. It also includes The Alexander Macdonald Bequest, a collection of late 19th century works donated by the museum’s first benefactor and a constantly changing collection of contemporary work and regular visiting exhibitions.

The Aberdeen Maritime Museum, located in Shiprow, tells the story of Aberdeen’s links with the sea from the days of sail and clipper ships to the latest oil and gas exploration technology. The museum includes a range of interactive exhibits and models, including an 8.5m (28 feet) high model of the Murchison oil production platform and a 19th Century assembly taken from Rattray Head lighthouse.
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Education in Aberdeen

The first of Aberdeen’s two universities, King’s College, was founded in 1495 by William Elphinstone (1431-1514), Bishop of Aberdeen and Chancellor of Scotland. Marischal College was founded in New Aberdeen by George Keith, 5th Earl Marischal of Scotland in 1593. These foundations were amalgamated to form the present University of Aberdeen in 1860. King’s and Marischal were Scotland’s third and fifth oldest universities respectively, and the fifth and seventh oldest in Britain as a whole.

Robert Gordon’s College (originally Robert Gordon’s Hospital) was founded in 1729 by the merchant Robert Gordon, grandson of the map maker Robert Gordon of Straloch, and was further endowed in 1816 by Alexander Simpson of Collyhill. Originally devoted to the instruction and maintenance of the sons of poor burgesses of guild and trade in the city, it was reorganized in 1881 as a day and night school for secondary and technical education, and in the 1990s became co-educational and a day-only school. It also produced the Robert Gordon Institute of Technology, which in 1992 became The Robert Gordon University.

Gray’s School of Art, founded in 1886, is one of the oldest established colleges of art in the UK. It is situated in beautiful grounds at Garthdee on the edge of the city. It is now incorporated into Robert Gordon University.
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Churches of Aberdeen

Like most Scottish burghs, Aberdeen has many churches, however, in the Middle Ages there was only one burgh kirk, St Nicholas, one of Scotland’s largest parish churches. Like a number of other Scottish kirks, it was subdivided after the Reformation, in this case into the East and West churches.

The large kirkyard of St Nicholas’ Kirk is separated from Union Street by a 147 ft (45 m) long Ionic facade, built in 1830. The divided church within, with a central tower and spire, forms one continuous building, 220 ft (67 m) in length. It contains the Drum Aisle (the ancient burial-place of the Irvines of Drum Castle) and the Collison Aisle, which divide the two congregations and which formed the transepts of the 12th-century church of St Nicholas (architectural detail survives from this period).

The West Church was built in 1775, in the Italian style, on the site of the medieval nave, the East originally in 1834 in Gothic-revival style on the site of the choir. In 1874 a fire destroyed the East Church and the old central tower with its fine peal of nine bells, one of which, Laurence or “Lowrie”, was 4 ft (1.2 m) in diameter at the mouth, 3.5 ft (1.1 m) high and very thick. The church was rebuilt and a massive granite tower erected over the intervening aisles, a new peal of 36 bells, cast in the Netherlands, being installed to commemorate the Victorian jubilee of 1887. These were replaced in 1950 with a carillion of 48 bells, the largest in the United Kingdom.
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Art and Architecture

Union Street is one of the most imposing and famous thoroughfares in Britain. From Castle Street it runs for nearly a mile (1.5 km), is 70 ft (21 m) wide, and originally contained the principal shops and most of the public buildings, all of granite. Part of the street crosses the Denburn ravine (utilized for the line of the Great North of Scotland railway) by Union Bridge, a fine granite arch of 132 ft (40 m) span, with portions of the older town still fringing the gorge, 50 feet (15 m) below the level of Union Street. Union Street was built from 1801 to 1805, and named after the 1800 Act of Union with Ireland.

Amongst the notable buildings in the street are the Town and County Bank, the Music Hall 1822, the Trinity Hall of the incorporated trades (originating between 1398 and 1527), now a shopping mall; the Palace Hotel; the former office of the Northern Assurance Company, and the National Bank of Scotland.

In Castle Street, a continuation eastwards of Union Street, is the Town House, the headquarters of the city council. One of the most splendid granite edifices in Scotland, in the Franco-Scottish Gothic style, it contains the great hall, with an open timber ceiling and oak-panelled walls; the Sheriff Court House; the Town and County Hall, with portraits of Prince Albert, the 4th Earl of Aberdeen, various Lord Provosts and other distinguished citizens.

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Background of Aberdeen

Though Old Aberdeen, extending from the area surrounding Aberdeen University to the southern banks of the Don, had a separate charter, privileges, and history, the distinction between it and New Aberdeen can no longer be said to exist. Aberdeen’s popular name of the “Granite City”, is justified by the fact that the bulk of the city is built of granite, but to appreciate its more poetical designation of the “Silver City by the Golden Sands”, it should be seen after a heavy rainfall when its public buildings and countless houses gleam pure and white under brilliant sunshine. It is also known as the ‘Flower of Scotland’, as Aberdeen has long been famous for its outstanding parks, gardens and floral displays that include 2 million roses, 11 million daffodils and 3 million crocuses. Aberdeen has won the Royal Horticultural Society’s Britain in Bloom contest on numerous occasions, and at one time was banned from entering to enable other cities to win. On 5 March 2003 Aberdeen was granted Fairtrade City status.

The area of the city extends to 71.22 square miles (184.46 km²), and includes the former burghs of Old Aberdeen, New Aberdeen, Woodside and the district of Torry to the south of the Dee. The city was first incorporated in 1891. The city is represented in Westminster by two MPs who are both from the Labour party, and in the Scottish Parliament by three MSPs (one Labour, one SNP and one Liberal Democrat). The city council comprises forty-three councillors who represent the city’s wards and is headed by the Lord Provost. The current Lord Provost is John Reynolds.
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History of Aberdeen

Aberdeen grew up as two separate burghs - Old Aberdeen at the mouth of the Don and New Aberdeen, a fishing and trading settlement where the Denburn entered the Dee estuary. The earliest charter was granted by King William the Lion about 1179, confirming the corporate rights granted by David I. The city received other royal charters later. In 1319, the Great Charter of Robert the Bruce transformed Aberdeen into a property owning and financially independent community. Bruce had a high regard for the citizens of Aberdeen who had sheltered him in his days of outlawry, helped him win the Battle of Barra and slayed the English garrison at the Castle. He granted Aberdeen with the nearby Forest of Stocket. The income from this land has formed the basis for the city’s Common Good Fund, which is used to this day for the benefit of all Aberdonians.

The city was burned by Edward III of England in 1336, but was soon rebuilt and extended, and called New Aberdeen. For many centuries the city was subject to attacks by the neighbouring lords, and was strongly fortified, but the gates were all removed by 1770. In 1497 a blockhouse was built at the harbour mouth as a protection against the English. During the Scottish Civil War of 1644-47 between the Royalists and Covenanters the city was impartially plundered by both sides. In 1644, it was taken and sacked by Royalist troops comprising of Irishmen and Highlanders after the battle of Aberdeen. In 1715 the Earl Marischal proclaimed the Old Pretender at Aberdeen, and in 1745 the Duke of Cumberland resided for a short time in the city before attacking the Young Pretender.
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Facts About Aberdeen

Status: nitary, City (1996)
Region: cotland
Ceremonial County: berdeenshire
Area: Ranked 25th
- Total 186 km²
Admin. HQ: Aberdeen
Grid Ref.: NJ925065
ONS code: 00QA

Demographics

Population: Ranked 7th
- Total (2003 est.) 212,125
- Density 1,140 / km²