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Click On Map for area Attractions
Camping & Touring Parks in
area
The image top is looking down Union Street
towards the Tolbooth and Castlegate Square.
Union Terrace
Gardens opened in 1879 are next to Union
Street with statues of Robert Burns and
William
Wallace.
The Kirk of St
Nicholas is also next to Union Street, with
the earliest parts of the Church from 1157.
Castlegate is a
Square at the east end of Union Street with the
Market Cross from 1686. The Square was laid out
after the old Castle Gates were destroyed in
1308. A Gordon Highlanders Statue was
unveiled in the Square in 2011 by Prince
Charles. This was the site of their original
barracks in the 1700s.
Early Buildings
in this area are of a brown sand stone. Most of
the Granite buildings on and around Union
Street now were built from the 1830s. Some of
the earliest Granite buildings are Marischal
College 1830s, Townhouse 1870s, His Majesty's
Theatre 1903, and Queen Street
Church 1903.
The Townhouse was built around the old
Tolbooth. You have to look carefully to see the
Tolbooth. It is the brown sandstone building
with the round spire on top. Large Image.
The Tolbooth was built in the 1600s to served
as a prison and opened as the Tolbooth
Museum in 1991.
Marischal
College is just round the corner from the
Townhouse on Broad Street. The College was
founded in 1593. That building was replaced by
this huge Granite building built between 1835
and 1906. This is claimed to be the second
largest Granite building in the world. The
largest is the El Escorial
Monastery in Spain. Much of the building is now
used as offices for Aberdeen Council. There is
a Museum at the
College but has been closed while restoration
work is carried out.
Provost Skene
House is by Marischal College. This is a
house built in 1545 that now serves as a period
museum.
The Maritime Museum is by the
Harbour, a short walk downhill from Union
Street. The Museum covers Early Shipbuilding at
Aberdeen, Sea Fishing, and the North Sea Oil
Industry.
Aberdeen Harbour is now mainly used by North
Sea Oil Ships and Northlink Ferries to
the Orkney and Shetland Isles. Security fences
now prevent you from strolling around the
harbour to view the fishing vessels. Boat Tours can
be taken around the harbour, or up the coast to
view Dolphin, Seals and more.
A walk along the north side of the harbour
takes you through the Old Fishing Village of
Footdee or
Fittie. There was a fishing village hear from
the 1300s, probably even earlier. The
interesting little village seen today was laid
out in 1809.
Aberdeen Beach
is just past Fittie, about a two mile walk from
Union Street via Fittie, about 1 mile walking
direct. The Beach is popular for Bathing in
warm spells and Surfing at
others. The Beach area has a Cinema and
Restaurants at Queens Links, and many
rides, activities and diners at Codona's Amusement Park.
About 2 miles north of Union Street is
Old Aberdeen
with St Machar
Cathedral. This Cathedral was completed in
the 1450s on the site of two earlier churches.
Old Aberdeen was a separate town from Aberdeen
until they merged in 1891.
Kings College,
part of Aberdeen University, is also in Old
Aberdeen, half of a mile south of St Machars
Cathedral, down the old cobbled High Street.
The College was founded in 1495 with the Chapel
being the most interesting section. The
University has 2 Museums and Botanic Gardens
from 1898 that can be visited.
Aberdeen History
Aberdeen began as two towns, Old Aberdeen to
the moth at the mouth of the River Don, and
Aberdeen 2 miles south at the mouth of the
River Dee. Both no doubt growing around farming
and fishing.
1136 - the earliest record of Aberdeen was
when King David I of Scotland granted the
Bishops of Aberdeen the right to charge ships
using the harbour.
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