The Doric Columns
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The Doric Columns |
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Shiprow - Trinity Port
Shiprow,
ran from 23 Union street to 1 Trinity
Corner Formerly the Shiprow sloped upward more gradually than it does now, and it crossed Union Street in a depression between St Catherine's Hill on the west and Castle Street, once high uneven ground, on the east. That the Shiprow has been made up several feet can be seen by a house at the end of Exchequer Row, and it crossed Union Street and entered Broad Street at a lower level than the present. Another old house, fast tottering to its ruin, could be found with its enclosed court about the middle of the narrow "Ship row." It is a very curious specimen of Scottish domestic architecture. Alas Knocket Doon The Shiprow was one of the most important streets in the city, since it led from the harbour into the Castlegate area - the heart of Aberdeen. It is first mentioned in documents in 1281. Over the years it became more and more rundown and, although it had many historic connections, nearly all of it was demolished in the 1950's and 60's. The Ports or Gates The Upper and Netherkirkgate were the roads ‘above’ and ‘below’ the Mither Kirk of St. Nicholas. The narrow street to the west of the Kirk nowadays known as Back Wynd used to be called Westerkirkgate.
Picture - No.64 Shiprow: Look at the intriguing projection features from about 6 to 13 feet up the exterior wall of the tenement. These are in the correct location for the Shiprow Port, and the height would accord with the City Ports having been very substantial structures with the old style City Arms clearly visible on the adjacent Wall. Trinity Congregational Church, now part of the Maritime Museum, now stands on the site. The Upperkirkgate Port was the last of the 6 medieval town gateways to be demolished, sometime after 1794. It stood near the foot of the Upperkirkgate, just beyond No. 42, the gable-ended 17th century house which is still to be seen there now. The original six ports – solid walls pierced by gateways – had become an obstruction to the flow of traffic, having been in existence from the first half of the 15th century. The other 5 ports were the Netherkirkgate Port, controlling movement around the north side of St. Katherine’s Hill; the Shiprow or Trinity Port, (hence Trinity House and Quay) checking entry from the south side of St. Katherine’s Hill and the harbour; the Justice or Thieves’ Port to the north-east of the Castlegate, demolished 1787; the Futty Port on Futty Wynd, to the south-east of the Castlegate, and the Gallowgate Port on Port Hill, controlling movement from Old Aberdeen and the north. So perhaps its main market square should have been called the 'Castlegates'
A view is preserved of the Shiprow in the early 1900's with the imposing tower of the Town House in the background. Prior to the building of Union Street in 1880, the Shiprow was one of the most important streets in the city, since it led from the harbour into the Guestrow and Castlegate area - the heart of Aberdeen. It is first mentioned in documents in 1281. Over the years it became more and more rundown and, although it had many historic connections, nearly all of it was demolished in the 1950's and 60's.
Parliamentary Debating Society had been inaugurated at a meeting in the Coffee Hall of the Shiprow Café: with this, the second such parliament in the city got under way.
St Katherine’s Hall,
- became
Gaiety Theatre
and
Palladium It was during the periods of greatest activism that that the Aberdeen Parliaments were established: 1865. Self-improvement must have been a motivating factor for many attending the Aberdeen Parliament with its opportunities to learn committee protocol, formal meeting procedures, public speaking and the like. Members had to keep on top of wide-ranging topics to avoid being shown up before their peers. 10, Shiprow Gaiety Theatre / Palladium Aberdeen's 1st purpose Cinema opened 5th September 1908 by Dove Paterson in the old St Katherine's Hall of 1878. Refurbished, renamed Palladium, 5th May 1919. Closed. summer 1930. Derelict. Sold to ABC, August 1937. Demolished for the Regal Cinema. The Original Cinema Site was that of the Regal which was begun then lay dormant due to the war and failure to secure a frontage entrance with simply a structural shell and steelwork for the Balcony. This site was accessible by crawling through the ruin of Ross's House by the wee waifs who could then have an adventurous time walking tight ropes of the girders and trying to imagine a Cinema Screen. The Regal was demolished despite being a recent structure and the Vue cinema complex erected to mar the historical nature of the Shiprow only having been previously defiled by a cheap supermarket and a brute concrete car park.
Provost Ross' House. One of the oldest houses in Aberdeen, this dates from 1593. It was in a sorry state by the 1950s and was threatened with demolition. Fortunately it was restored by the National Trust For Scotland in 1954. Sadly the view looking in the other direction, towards the Town House, has been ruined by the unwelcome addition of a grotesque eyesore of a cinema. This shabby building, constructed in 2000, now obscures much of the view of the splendid baronial Town House. This must have given a fine view over the the harbour which was by then the major wealth producer of Aberdeen. and in contrast -------------- on the same street
Being measured by the tall calibrated stick for Demolition? Doorstep view for entertainment with the growing barefoot rising organ pipe family witnessing the measuring activity. The flowers on the window for a little greenery. The barred door and open window suggests the adjacent Shop premise has been boarded up. Sunlight Soap, Lifebouy Soap, Fry's Chocolate signs adorn the barred door.
The buildings on the right hand side on descent were replaced by the ABC Cinema which itself has recently been demolished for further redevelopment (1999) The only building which remains would have been just round the corner. It is known as Provost Ross's House and Aberdeen Maritime Museum. It appears that the granite cobbles were laid down in 1890.
Walker's Court, Shiprow
West side of Shiprow. Vendor is George Moir, vintner 1665 - 1801. "The Ship Tavern". Proposals and policies for insurance Sun Fire Office and Edinburgh Friendly Insurance Office, 1796. Prior titles of west side of Shiprow. Vendor is William Cushnie, mariner, 1631 - 1802. Including petition to Town Clerk and report on condition of property, 1750 and letter from R. T. Murray, Jamaica, on board the Antilope (slaver), to Alexander Strachan, 17 n B. C. Register 1727 with extract thereof. Also includes Burgess Diploma for Robert Murray, barber, 1685 and Charter for land in Futty 1556
Land around the Don in the north and the Dee in the south has seen human activity since at least 6000BC. The Don and the Dee offered access inland, sources of food and water and stable ground in an area of lower lying coast where shelter could be built. Mesolithic flints and flint knapping tools have been found in the Green during archaeological excavation.
Shell middens and a range of other early
archaeological features have been discovered in and around the area. Neolithic
Long Cairn evidences more settled existence in the area while a number of later
Bronze Age cairns testify to ongoing, not necessarily continuous,
Radio carbon dating from a pit in Shiprow and a hearth in
Old Aberdeen indicate
activity in the 1st to 2nd century AD.
Exchequer Row - Check-Raw Old House Shiprow Exchequer Row known locally as Cheq'ra Wynd (first mentioned in 1350) was a short congested lane connecting the Shiprow to the Castlegate, and on its right side, were a number of courts leading into an area crammed with insanitary dwellings which were later demolished. It was popularly supposed that the name Exchequer Row derived from the Aberdeen Mint which stood in the area. However, it comes from the name of the Royal Customs House - the Skakkarium, dating back to the 14th century.
It was replaced by a new Post Office later to become the Unemployment Bureau - The Bru and is now a Commercial Office. Market Street Note the ubiquitous Bun and long dress for warmth with basic pinafores. Creels, Baskets, Coopered Barrels and troughs await the issue from nimble fingers as fish were dressed by these 'cleckin' women. A man stepped into this feminist throng at great personal risk.
A somewhat similar case was that of the late Mr. Ninian Kynoch, in his early days the fellow apprentice, and subsequently, for many years, the Clerk of the late Mr. Johnston of Viewfield ; after whose death, Mr. Kvnoch continued, as Clerk, in the employment of Mr. Johnston's youngest son, Robert. Mr. Kynoch, who died at Aberdeen, in March, 1846, aged 74, was wont to tell that he had never slept a night out of Aberdeen, and had never been at a greater distance from that town than Dunnottar Castle, 16 or 17 miles south of Aberdeen ; after viewing which, he returned home before night. In these days of rapid and easy locomotion, such a spirit of adherence to their birth-place, as that indicated in the above two instances, may appear to be somewhat remarkable
The slum area of Aberdeen is but small, so small that one is inclined to ask why it does not disappear altogether.
Changes are already hanging over much of it, and must be looked for joyfully, even though they must sweep away many things antique and interesting. When these have been once allowed to sink to a certain point of dilapidation and squalor, there remains nothing to be done but "to bury the dead out of our sight."
In this connection I always recall a saying of Dr. Guthrie's, as we stood on the steps of his church in Edinburgh, and he told me of the imminent doom of a picturesque old pile on which we gazed. I was loud in the sentimental regrets of a dreaming girl. "Well, young lady," answered the doctor, "if you want that house to be kept, then you should be made to live in it." |
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The Shiprow followed the curve of the base of the
original St Katherine's Hill now decapitated to form Union St and the Adelphi.
Broken
windows and cracked rough masonry.
poultry shop, G, Milne's house, 57, Shiprow
Old Fish
Market 88 Shiprow.
Mr. Spark was subsequently appointed, and filled for many years the
office of, Treasurer and Clerk of the Aberdeen Royal Infirmary. Of this
respectable individual it has been related, that he never, for a single night,
during his long-extended existence, slept out of the house, in the Shiprow
of Aberdeen, in which he was born, and in which he died, aged 92, in March,
1848 ; and that he had never been farther from the place of his birth than
the parish of Nether Banchory. 
But
the few remaining 