Next Tours

FRIDAY 9th SEPTEMBER 2022
BLOOD & GRANITE: THE MURDER HISTORY TOUR - THEATRE EDITION

BOOK TICKETS HERE (click)

MEET: PARK ROAD GATE, TRINITY CEMETERY (nr South Stand Entry to Pittodrie) MAP
START: 7.30pm (PLEASE ARRIVE PROMPTLY)
DURATION: approx 2hr
ENDS: JUSTICE PORT FLATS, PARK ROAD

It's back... or rather, our bloody butcher James Harrow is back! After a long hiatus, the dramatisation of the Saltoun Arms murder (1901) returns as part of the Murder History Tour.  Harrow joins Johnny Milne, Aberdeen's worst hangman in this catalogue of horrors around Aberdeen's "murder central". Including:

BOMBS & BULLETS IN THE CEMETERY
THE SACK MURDER
GHOST OF CAPTAIN BEATON
KATHERINE HUMPHREY - A POISONOUS MARRIAGE
DEATH IN THE SALTOUN BAR

Stories inspired by Norman Adams' gruesome study of slayings in the city "Blood & Granite" (Published 1999 - Black & White, Edinburgh).  Not Suitable for Children Under 12

PRIVATE BOOKINGS ONLY AT PRESENT - PLEASE CONTACT US IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN A TOUR 

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Catch our podcast running on Anchor.fm; Click HERE to access the episodes so far. 

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Please Read On !

News

STOP PRESS! HIDDEN ABERDEEN TOURS IS AN AWARD WINNER!

 Some incredibly kind person nominated the company for the Prestige Tourism awards, and WE WON! Hidden Aberdeen Tours is WALKING TOUR OPERATOR OF THE YEAR 2022. Absolutely speechless.  Still not sure it's real! 

MAY 2022

WE'RE ON TIKTOK!!! Yes, despite my reluctance to jump this newest of social media platforms, I found "historytiktok", a great community of mainly UK and Ireland content makers all on my wavelength, so if you're on the ClockApp as the "kids" call it, please join me.  Posting videos every few days, 3min of local history mysteries, forgotten bits, lost bits, battles, ballads, streetnames, basically all the tiny details of tours which you may miss in my usual fact deluge.  My TT handle is @HiddenAbdnTours - the very first video I did, concerning the Alpha March Stone has now reached over 600 views! I'm amazed and delighted, and we're sitting on around 180 followers, not bad for two weeks' worth of local history.  (FJB)

APRIL 2022

AND WE ARE NOW 11 YEARS OLD!!! The very first tour under the Hidden Aberdeen name took place on 9 April 2011, and it was the Murder History Tour! Delighted to still be going despite a global pandemic! Hoping to do some indoor talks in the autumn this year with regular venues coming back into service.  We are now accepting bookings for private tours also. 

We're doing 4 Easter holiday tours around the middle of the month, then back again in June.  We have a VERY SPECIAL commissioned tour which is planned for the end of June - watch this space for more, let's just say that it celebrates an ancient tradition of storytelling.  It's been pretty rubbish weather in April, good reason to wait or better weather! Do join us though for our Blitz tour on the 79th anniversary of Aberdeen's worst air raid - 21 April. As mentioned in our last news bulletin, we're stuck from doing many of the city centre tours due to the building works at UTG, hopefully this is sorted by the summer! 

Meanwhile, our podcasts will start again soon, with a feature on the city's rivers and water courses, based on our old Evening Express column. Look for the History Quine podcast on Anchor.FM - also available on Spotify and other streaming platforms.  Also, our Director, Dr Fiona-Jane Brown was interviewed by US Podcast host, Eric Jennings for his World XP series, which you can listen to (and watch) on YouTube and Spotify. 

Keep an eye on our events page AND on Facebook if you are on there - our Facebook page is www.facebook.com/HiddenAbdnTours.  We are also on Twitter, Instagram and YouTube - we are currently creating new content for our YT page to reflect the new way of operating with less public tours and more online and bespoke material. 

Rubislaw Den House - Research Project

In 2018, our director, Dr Fiona-Jane Brown had been commissioned to research Rubislaw Den House for its owners, Opitimus Ltd.

This lead to many fascinating discoveries including that the original Georgian mansion was most likely built by William Dauney, master mason, and maternal uncle of Aberdeen's most famous architect, Archibald Simpson.  William built it for his own brother, Alexander, who was Under-Sheriff of Abereenshire and a local advocate. 

The current house, designed for granite merchant, William Keith, was home to Alexander Anderson, Provost of Aberdeen, but best known for being the founder of CALA (City of Aberdeen Land Association) now CALA Homes.  Anderson shaped most of Victorian Rubislaw and Torry due to his shrewd development of those areas.   

Rubislaw Den House was also the last residence of Lady Aberdeen before her death.  She spent her last years writing her memoirs; renaming the property Gordon House, which it remained thereafter as a university hostel, then returned to its original name when it was converted to a nursing home.

Hidden Aberdeen Tours (founded 2011) is wholly owned by Dr Fiona-Jane Brown as a sole-trading operation which occasionally works with contractors.

Contact details

Phone: 07572 582198
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.