Aberdeen Books

Aberdeen Curiosities This fascinating journey into Aberdeen's past is crammed with extraordinary stories about the people, events and place s that have played an important part in its history over the centuries and which have left their mark in the city's collective memory. We read of the two great illusionists, Dr Walford Bodie and John Anderson; the collector, George 'Taffy' Davidson; the three generations of Cocky Hunters, bric-a-brac dealers extraordinaire, as well as a host of others. Bob Smith also explains the significance of some of Aberdeen's well-known and lesser-known buildings and monuments: we discover, for example, the true significance of Scarty's monument, a sewer ventilator, the various uses to which the market cross has been put, from execution ground to post office, and the story of the murder commemorated by Downie's Cairn. The result is a rich and varied celebration of Aberdeen that is essential reading for Aberdonians and visitors alike.

Aberdeen and Royal Deeside (Ordnance... Survey Pathfinder Guide. This Pathfinder guide covers the part of north east Scotland that lies between the Cairngorms and the sea - a region of varying landscapes, which includes Aberdeen, the 'Granite City', Scotland's third largest metropolis and the beautiful countryside around Balmoral. The area is rich in heritage and history, with regional highlights such as Elgin, Haddo House, Huntly and Crathes Castle featured among the 28 carefully-devised walks. Coastal, town, riverside, country park and hill routes are all incorporated, ensuring that local walkers and visitors alike will be able to make the most of this delightful and unspoilt region. Each walk features an easy-to-follow route description, fascinating background and historical detail and recommendations for points of interest and highlights. The colour maps, specially supplied by the Ordnance Survey, are clearly detailed with the route and markers corresponding to the description in the text. With three grades of walk - easy, moderate and challenging - information on parking and refreshments, practical advice on walking, and information on local organisations, this guide is ideal for locals and holidaymakers, or keen walkers eager to explore the area. Aberdeen Books.

Aberdeen, 1800 to 2000 Aberdeen is a city shaped by its geography, climate and architecture. Like the land from which it grew, its projects qualities of hard work and fortitude, firm solidity, self-confidence and aspiration. It is a city with a character and personality that reflects its people. Conservative and "canny" in some senses, it has often been radical and inovative in its This book provides an understanding of the changes that have taken place in Aberdeen's economic and social structure since 1800, from the age of textiles to the age of oil. It analyzes changes in work patterns, housing, education, economy, social welfare, religion, local government, leisure and culture, and discusses the effects of national and international market forces, periods of instability and high growth, and political struggles. It features many of the people who played an important part in this period of Aberdeen's history. This history by 13 historians, economists, political scientists and geographers, shows that Aberdeen has survived economic upheavals and the disruption of two world wars, emerging as an independent city with a sense of its own worth and values.politics and in tackling social issues. Aberdeen Books.

The Road to Maggieknockater: Exploring... Aberdeen and the North-east Through Its Place-names . It shows how onomastic, the study of names and their origin, has developed over the years and it examines various aspects of the place-name game, among them field names, one retired naval commander called his fields after the battleships he served on, and place-name rhymes, which were used by country folk to mock their rivals on other farms and villages. It takes you to Old Groddie, where illicit stills were busy in the old days, and to old tracks where 50,000 Hielanmen went marching to the Battle of Harlaw. It tells you how a tiny Bible led the author to the wild Aberdour coast to visit 'a substantial old Scots house of great charm'. It follows the trail of St Dostan when he came to Scotland to Christianise Buchan and to Old Deer where the famous Book of Deer was written. It chases 'ghost Roads', listens to the poem of a humble packmen near Aberdeen, solves the mystery of the Golden Pumphel, and heeds a warning to 'Haud yer feet!' In this informative and fully illustrated book, well-known Aberdeen writer Bob Smith lets us see the North-east corner in a new and fascinating light.

Maritime Aberdeen Aberdeen has been at the centre of maritime industry and events in the United Kingdom for centuries. This most northerly of cities has been in its day the home of the first and finest of British clipper ships, the biggest Scottish fishing port and capital of the European offshore oil and gas industry. Although disadvantaged by its relative remoteness from the rest of the UK, the city has always looked to the sea from its livelihood, trade and sustenance. From fishing boats to ferries, from clipper ships to liners and from oil rig support vessels to the city's history of shipbuilding, all aspects of Aberdeen's rich maritime heritage are shown here in this unique collection of images from Aberdeen Maritime Museum. They show principally the work and ingenuity of the people of Aberdeen who, through their maritime enterprise, developed and sailed some of the finest ships in the world. Aberdeen Books.

Lost Aberdeen The initial chapters are an odyssey through the early town, from the Green to the Gallowgate, charting the disappearance of the irreplaceable medieval townscape. Moving on to more modern times she traces the evolution and gradual erosion of the Granite City, whose stylish yet restrained architecture once brought visitors from all over the world to see an Aberdeen which they recognised and valued as a unique city. She writes of George Street, originally planned as 'an elegant entrance to the city' and of Union Street, a marvel of early nineteenth century engineering with stunning symmetry, elegant terracing and memorable shops. There is also a requiem for Archibald Simpson's splendid New Market and the sadly missed Northern Co-operative Society Arcade. The final part of Lost Aberdeen recalls vanished mansions, and lost clachans, victims of the city's march westwards. Long gone industrial archaeology is also revisited, the railway stations, mills, shipyards, seafront, tollhouses and boathouse, which slipped away as if they never had existed. In Lost Aberdeen Diane Morgan writes with the same fresh approach to local history that blends careful scholarship with high readability. Aberdeen Books.

Aberdeen Before 1800 This volume, the earlier of the two-volume official History of Aberdeen, provides a comprehensive picture of the development of the two historic burghs of Old Aberdeen and New Aberdeen over their first seven centuries, from 1100 to 1800. As early as the 14th century, Aberdeen was recognized as one of the "four great towns of Scotland". Early settlement, the growing townscape and social change over the centuries are all traced. Aberdeen's contacts with the sea and other towns overseas and its economy and politics, both local and national, are assessed. Aberdeen Books.

Aberdeen Sailing Ships The days when Aberdeen's 'fast sailing and copper-bottomed' ships carried emigrant Scots to Canada are brought to life in this fascinating account of the northern Scotland exodus during the sailing ship era. Taking readers through new and little-used documentary sources, Lucille H. Campey finds convincing evidence of good ships, sailed by experienced captains and managed by reputable people, thus challenging head on the perceived imagery of abominable sea passages in leaking old tubs. And by considering the significance of ship design and size, she opens a new window on our understanding of emigrant travel. Instead of concentrating on the extreme cases of suffering and mishaps, to be found in anecdotal material, Campey's approach is to identify all of the emigrant sea crossings to Canada made on Aberdeen sailing ships. Observing the ships which collected passengers from the port of Aberdeen as well as those which collected emigrants at Highland ports, especially Cromarty and Thurso, Campey reveals the processes at work and the people who worked behind the scenes to provide the services. Her following of the emigrant Scots on to their New World destinations in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Upper Canada provides us with an opportunity to see how events in Canada were influencing both the decision to emigrate and choice of location. These emigrant Scots succeeded, often after difficult beginnings, and would endow Canada with their rich traditions and culture which live on to this day. Aberdeen Books.

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