Aberdeen Scotland during the late 1860s

 Wednesday witterings!

I'm knee deep in some fascinating research for Book 3 of my Silver Sampler Series. (untitled as yet!) 

Two of the topics I really want to be accurate with are what the city of Aberdeen, Scotland was like in 1868, and also what the much smaller town of Kirriemuir (Angus) was like in the late 1860s.

Since current Aberdeen is a city I'm familiar with, it's very easy to imagine that buildings I admire in Aberdeen today were already built in 1868, and that my character, Margaret Law would be looking at newer versions of them. A little bit of research proves that to be inaccurate because a lot of the currently familiar buildings on Union Street were either not yet built, or were in the early stages of being constructed.

Creative Commons- Wikimedia
Marischal College sometime
after 1860 and before 1906

Not far off Union Street is the famous grey granite Marischal College building which is currently in use by Aberdeen City Council, and ofttimes by Aberdeen University (which still, I think, owns it and leases to the council). During the late 1860s, the tall building on the left of the above image was already in situ, and the building at the back of the image dates from the 1830s. The dark shadow near bottom right, in front of the obelisk, was the original Greyfriars Kirk. The old kirk was taken down and a new Greyfriars Built to better accommodate the increased university roll. The new kirk matched the style of the building seen at the left of the above image. 

CC 1840s Artist -James William Giles

The huge obelisk was created to commemorate the life of Sir James McGrigor, a pioneering military surgeon. He was high-ranking in the military medical core and, for a long while, rector of Aberdeen University. The obelisk stood in the quadrangle from 1860 to approximately 1906 when it was taken down and set up in Aberdeen's Duthie Park. The pink granite monument is 22 metres tall. After it's removal in 1906, the front of Marischal College was changed to what we can see today. The new 'Greyfriars Kirk protrudes from the frontage, as does the main entrance into the quadrangle.

My final Open University exams were held in the Mitchell Hall that sits above the curved entrance to Marischal College. The stained glass windows sparkled in the bright sunshine, a joy to look at when I was composing a next bit of an answer!

Marischal College Aberdeen Scotland. 

Marischal College is said to the be the second largest granite building in the world! I can definitely say that it is highly impressive when lit up at night!

Look out for a post on Kirriemuir coming very soon.

Slainthe!