ABERDEEN, a royal burgh, city and county of a city, the capital of Aberdeenshire and chief seaport in the north of Scot land. Population (1931) 154,836. It is the fourth Scottish town in population, industry and wealth, and stands on a bay of the North Sea between the mouths of Don and Dee, 13o3rn. N.E. of Edinburgh by the L.N.E.R. Though the residential suburb of Old Aberdeen, extending,from the city suburbs to the southern banks of the Don, has a separate charter, history and privileges, there is no distinction between it and New Aberdeen for parlia mentary, municipal or other purposes. Aberdeen derives its popu lar name of the "Granite City" from its building stone, which under sunshine after rain gleams white and justifies the town's more poetical designation of the "Silver City by' the Sea." The area of the city is 6,319 acres, the burghs of Old Aberdeen and Woodside, and the district of Torry (part of the north parliamentary division of the town) to the south of the Dee, hav ing been incorporated in 1895. The city comprises I I wards and 21 ecclesiastical parishes, and is under the jurisdiction of a council with lord provost, bailies, treasurer and dean of guild. The cor poration owns the water supply (derived from the Dee at a spot 21m. W.S.W. of the city), as well as lighting and tramways. Streets and Buildings.—Roughly, the extended city runs north and south. From the new bridge of Don to the "auld brig" of Dee there is tramway communication via King street, Union street and Holburn road—a distance of over five miles. The name of the ancient castle of Aberdeen, long since demolished, is pre served in Castle street, Castlegate and Castlehill. From Castle street the imposing Union street 7o ft. wide runs west-south-west for nearly a mile, and contains the principal shops and most of the modern public buildings, all of granite. Part of the street crosses the Denburn ravine by a fine granite arch of 132ft. span; portions of the older town fringe the gorge, so ft. below the level of Union street. The Trinity Hall of the incorporated trades, originating between 1398 and 1527, and having charitable funds, contains some fine portraits attributed to George Jamesone, who was a na tive of Aberdeen and one of the earlier British portrait painters. Castle street continues Union street eastwards, and has the fine structures of the municipal and county buildings in Franco-Scot tish Gothic (1867-78), the sheriff court house and the town hall, with excellent portraits; from the south-west corner a tower com mands a fine view. At the upper end of Castle street stands the Salvation Army Citadel, one of the most imposing "barracks" possessed by this organization. In front of it is the beautiful Market Cross, one of the most notable of its kind in Scotland, an open-arched, hexagonal structure, 2I ft. in diameter and i8ft. high, dating originally from 1682, when it replaced an earlier cross, and rebuilt on its present site in 1842. On an eminence east of Castle street are the military barracks, Aberdeen being the depot of supplies for the Gordon Highlanders. The fish market on the Albert Basin is an important centre of activity. The art gallery and museum is at Schoolhill, the MacDonald Hall contain ing portraits of contemporary artists by themselves being unique of its kind in Great Britain. In Sept. 1925 the city's war memo rial was opened; it consists of a domed court, or hall of remem brance, attached to the art gallery and museum. Other extensions, enlarging the facilities of the art gallery and museum, opened at the same time include Cowdray Hall, used for lectures, with the Cowdray Museum of Applied Arts beneath it.
The see of Aberdeen is represented by the Old Cathedral of St. Machar, the only granite cathedral in the British Isles; the begin nings of the present structure date from the 14th century and were completed by Bishops Elphinstone (1484-1511) and Gavin Dunbar (152o). On the flat panelled ceiling are the heraldic shields of princes, noblemen and bishops who shared in its erec tion. The name of St. Machar (or Mochonna) is referred by tra dition to a disciple of St. Columba who founded a chapel here for the conversion of the Picts. The bishopric, traditionally founded at Mortlach (Banffshire) by King Malcolm II. in ioio, in honour of a victory over the Danes, was transferred to Aber deen by King David I. about the year '137, a bull of Pope Adrian IV. dated 1157 "confirming all grants made by the kings of the Scots." "The church of Aberdeen" which is mentioned in the same bull, together with the church of St. Machar, is held to refer to the old church of St. Nicholas, of which there remains the Drum and Collison aisles which now link the east and west churches and an eastern crypt. The John Knox parish church was rebuilt in 191i ; the Roman Catholic cathedral (Gothic, 1859) is in Huntly street. The episcopal cathedral of St. Andrews is the mother church of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States.
The Dee is crossed by four bridges, including the railway bridge. Till 1832 the old bridge of Dee built by Bishops Elphinstone and Dunbar (and rebuilt in 1718-23 and 1842) formed the only entry to the city from the south. The bridge of Don, consisting of five granite arches, was built in 1827-32. The Auld Brig o' Balgownie, said to have been built by Robert the Bruce in the 13th century, and celebrated by Byron in the tenth canto of Don Juan, is one of the oldest historical bridges still in use. The parks and open spaces include Duthie Park (45 acres), the gift of Miss Elizabeth Crombie Duthie of Ruthrieston ; Victoria Park (13 acres) and its extension Westburn Park (13 acres) ; Stewart Park (I I acres), after Sir D. Stewart, lord provost in 1893 ; and Hazelhead Park. Capacious golf links and a bathing beach border the sea.
King's forms a quadrangle with interior court; the Crown Tower and the Chapel, the oldest parts, date from 1500. The choir of the chapel contains the original oak canopied stalls, mis erere seats and lofty open screens in French flamboyant style. The principal at the time of the Reformation armed his folk to save the building from the barons of the Mearns (the modern Kincardineshire) after they had robbed St. Machar's of its bells and lead. The present building of Marischal college was erected in 1836-41 and has been greatly extended since. Dr. Charles Mitchell gave the great graduation hall and the Mitchell tower, opened in 1895, on the 400th anniversary of the university's foundation. A lintel stone from the old buildings of Marischal college is preserved at the foot of the Mitchell tower, bearing the famous inscription : THAY HAIF SAID • QUHAT SAY THAY • LAT THAME SAY, the circumstances giving rise to which are believed to embody the founder's retort to criticisms passed against him for his appropriation (by gift from the Crown) of lands and rev enues belonging to the suppressed Cistercian abbey of Deer. A botanic garden was presented to the university in 1899.
Aberdeen, St. Andrews, Edinburgh and Glasgow universities combine to return three members to Parliament. The United Free Church college is in Tudor Gothic (185o). The Grammar school, reputedly first heard of in 1256, was removed in 1861-63 from Schoolhill to new buildings off Skene street. Robert Gordon founded (1729) and Alexander Simpson further endowed (1816) Gordon's Hospital for instruction and maintenance of sons of poor burgesses of gild and trade ; since 1881 it is Robert Gordon's college for secondary and technical education.
Once strongly fortified, the gates of the city were all removed by 177o. The importance of Aberdeen as a royal burgh and trad ing port placed it from the earliest times in the first rank of Scottish towns, a position which its great cathedral and, later, the fame of its university both served to maintain. Among the eminent men in a long line connected with Aberdeen, John of Fordun and John Barbour (qq.v.) were both attached to the cathedral, while Hector Boece (q.v.) was the first principal of King's college ; in modern times the Scottish historians, J. H. Burton and W. F. Skene were Aberdonians.