WELCOME TO 2019's SEASON! TOUR/EVENT DETAILS APPEAR BELOW
MONDAY 18 MARCH 2019:
ABERDEEN'S BORDERLANDS: GALLOWGATE TOUR
Kicking off 2019's main walking tour season with our newest route from last year; the Gallowgate was the ancient road from the city's gallows, on the site since the early 1200s, replaced in 1500 by Gallows Hill, now Errol Street. So little remains of this northern border area of Aberdeen, yet there are still stories to be told of the Quakers' burial ground, Soapy Ogston's Candle and Soap Factory, St Margaret's convent, school and church, founded by rector, John Comper, father of Ninian, the great architect, and missing sites like Mar's Castle, the Middle School and the medieval tanneries, all of which are now under modern developments, and rounding off at Marischal Square with the real reason Broadgait gets its name and how it was originally part of the Gallowgate. Full tour descriptor HERE.
MEET: OUTSIDE NESCol/ ABERDEEN COLLEGE, AB25 1BN (MAP)
STARTS: 7.30pm (arrive at least 10min before)
DURATION: approx 2hrs
TICKETS: Adults £10/ Concessions £8; Click HERE to book online or book in person at the Visit Scotland hub on Shiprow
SATURDAY 23 MARCH: MINI TOURS DAY
ROSEMOUNT MINI RAMBLE - 11AM
Developed from the full length Rosemount Ramble, focusing on the hidden gem of Mackie Place, the 18th century cul-de-sac owned by hide-skinner, Robert Mackie, who commissioned the distinctive ogee-shaped "White House" and the remaining tenement of no's 4-5, and Jack's Brae. Three hundred years of history in 60min! Full tour descriptor HERE.
MEET: Outside Cult of Coffee, 28 Esslemont Avenue (arrive at least 10min before, get a takeaway! MAP)
STARTS: 11am
DURATION: 1hr
TICKETS: All tickets £5; Click HERE to book online or book in person at the Visit Scotland hub on Shiprow
FITTIE: ABERDEEN'S PLANNED VILLAGE - 2PM
Beginning on Pocra Quay near the site of the original Block House, a stone fort first erected in the 15th century to protect the city from "English invaders", we follow the fall and rise of the fisher residents of the Kirktoun of Futty, who forced the council into providing them a new home when harbour development threatened to obliterate the old village of Pockraw in the late 18th century. Full tour details HERE.
MEET: Footdee War Memorial on seafront, Pocra Quay (MAP)
STARTS: 2pm
DURATION: 1hr
TICKETS: All tickets £5; Click HERE to book online or book in person at the Visit Scotland hub on Shiprow
WEDNESDAY 27 MARCH:
OLD ABERDEEN'S ARCHITECTURAL SECRETS
An old favourite - indeed this route is 8 years old this year! Learn about the 'Aultoun' and its buildings, from the medieval Snow Kirk and Kings College to the artisan housing of the 18th and 19th century, and the hidden secrets of the university campus, including the secret Snow Kirk, the Macrobert Memorial Garden, and the delightful 18th century buildings of the Chanonry. Full details here.
MEET: Kings College Entry Path, High Street, Old Aberdeen (MAP)
STARTS: 7.30pm (arrive at least 10min before)
DURATION: approx 2hrs
TICKETS: Adults £10/ Concessions £8; Click HERE to book online or book in person at the Visit Scotland hub on Shiprow
FRIDAY 29 MARCH:
MYTHBUSTERS ABERDEEN - URBAN LEGENDS REVEALED
A very special new myth-tory talk looking at the many urban legends about the city over many centuries. Tales tackled include: "Was William Wallace's arm buried at St Machar's or St Fittick's?" "Did Hitler want Marischal College as his palace?" "Did a gang of 18th century students inadvertently cause the death of their sacrist?" and answers to more mundane questions like, "are there really tunnels under Union Street?" "does Hazelhead Park still have a maze?" Come and join us for an enlightening foray into what folklorists call "Contemporary Myth". Tea/Coffee and edibles supplied as part of the ticket price.
VENUE: Academy of Expressive Arts, 8A Gaelic Lane, Aberdeen
(Big Red Door down from O'Neills/ Up from Coffee House) (MAP)
DOORS OPEN: 7pm
STARTS: 7.30pm
DURATION: 2hr approx plus interval
TICKETS: Adults £12/ Concessions £10, Click HERE to book online, or go in person to Visit Scotland (Tourist Office) on Shiprow.
SATURDAY 30 MARCH: MINI TOURS DAY
OLD TORRY - THE LOST VILLAGES - 11AM
A mini-tour set in the historic royal burgh of Torry covering almost eight centuries of history in one hour! Starting at old St Fittick’s Kirk which was built in the 13th century, and following a direct line over the Balnagask Motte, down Baxter Street and into the site of the Victorian fisher village. Includes tales of the Davidsons, last lairds of Torry; the Dee Ferry Disaster and the medieval fisher village of Lower Torry which disappeared in 1876 due to harbour developments. Full tour descriptor here.
MEET: Old St Fittick's Kirk (ruin), St Fittick's Road, Torry AB11 8TP (MAP)
STARTS: 11am
DURATION: 1hr
TICKETS: All tickets £5; Click HERE to book online or book in person at the Visit Scotland hub on Shiprow
DUTHIE PARK - SECRETS & STORIES - 2PM
Set in Ferryhill's pleasure park, which was given to the city by Miss Elizabeth Crombie Duthie in 1881. Duthie Park is full of artefacts, stories, and scenes. Join us for a one-hour wander around, looking at things like: "The Bridge That Flitted", "The Fountainhall Cistern", "Arthurseat", "Hygeia's Statue". Full tour details here.
MEET: Polmuir Road Gates, Duthie Park, Ferryhill AB11 7TH (MAP)
STARTS: 2pm
DURATION: 1hr
TICKETS: All tickets £5; Click HERE to book online or book in person at the Visit Scotland hub on Shiprow
MONDAY 1 APRIL 2019:
ABERDEEN'S INDUSTRIAL HERITAGE
Beginning in Rosemount, we drop down to the lost artisan street of Hardweird at the foot of Jack's Brae where several different mill workings were based. Then, we pass the iconic art deco Rosemount Square, once the site of a jam factory which has links with a London-based football team! Down into Gilcomston, there are many sites to investigate including Broadfords and the various mills, distillery and brewery which made use of the streams which originally fed the old loch of Aberdeen. We then focus on Hutcheon Street and the Gallowgate, which include the Combworks, the Porthill Factory, 'Soapy' Ogstons and the McKinnon Ironworks of Spring Garden. We round off with one of the most weel-kent sites, "Soapy" Ogston's or Ogston & Tennant Soap & Candle manufacturers.
A must for industrial history fans! A fairly strenuous walk, wear sensible shoes!
MEET: Outside Bon-Accord Free Church, Rosemount Viaduct (MAP)
STARTS: 7.30pm
DURATION: 2hr approx
TICKETS: Adults £10/ Concessions £8; Click HERE to book online or book in person at the Visit Scotland hub on Shiprow
WEDNESDAY 3 APRIL 2019:
ABERDEEN'S BLITZ: REMEMBERING 21 APRIL 1943
Aberdeen was nicknamed "Siren City" during WW2 after a terrible raid in the Spring of 1943 in which 130 bombs were dropped by the Luftwaffe in one hour. This tour follows the route of the bombers and looks at the devastation caused through archive photos of the sites and reminiscences of the time. Starting outside the old Kittybrewster Railway Station - now the council depot opposite Belmont Rd - we walk a path through the residential streets of Bedford and Elmbank, by St Stephen's Church which was badly damaged, and through the centre of town taking in the industrial districts of Berryden and the Broadford Works, ending at Charlotte Street, where the only concrete air raid shelter to be hit was situated. A sometimes moving historical account of war-time Aberdeen.
Suitable for all ages. Wear sensible footwear. Parking - either on Leslie Terrace/ Stafford Street or in the Depot car park after hours
MEET: Kittybrewster Council Depot, 38 Powis Terrace, Aberdeen (top of the road, not the depot building) (MAP)
STARTS: 7.30pm
DURATION: approx 2.25 hrs
TICKETS: Adults £10/ Concessions £8; Click HERE to book online or book in person at the Visit Scotland hub on Shiprow
MONDAY 8 APRIL 2019:
LOST CINEMAS OF ABERDEEN
Div ye mind gaun tae the picters? Paying with jam jars? Saturday morning specials? Then this tour is bound to appeal! Meeting outside the old Odeon, Justice Mill Lane, which started life as one of Aberdeen's many silver screens from the age of cinema, this tour takes you on a journey into cinematic history, recalling the early days to the high point of the 40s and 50s to the sad decline of our picture palaces to leave us with only four functioning cinemas out of a previous total of around 35. We can't promise to cover them all, but the selection on the walk represents the Union St cluster of the city's picture houses, 'flechy' or otherwise!
Cinemas include: ODEON/ REGENT, WEST END/ PLAYHOUSE, CAPITOL/ ELECTRIC, LA SCALA/ MAJESTIC, SAVOY, MUSIC HALL, PICTUREDROME/ CINEMA HOUSE, NEWS CINEMA/ CURZON/ COSMO2, GAUMONT/ PICTURE HOUSE, BELMONT/ NEW KINEMA/ COLLISEUM
Suitable for all ages
MEET: Old Odeon, Justice Mill Lane (Now Nuffield Health Club) (MAP)
STARTS: 7.30pm
END: Belmont Filmhouse, Belmont St
DURATION: 2 hrs approx
TICKETS: Adults £10/ Concessions £8; Click HERE to book online or Visit Scotland, Shiprow
THURSDAY 11 APRIL 2019:
MEDIEVAL & PREHISTORIC ORIGINS TOUR
Starting at Shiprow, once thought to be the city's oldest street when it was called "The Way of the Ash Tree" in 1212AD, learn of Provost Davidson, the only civic leader to die in battle, killed at Harlaw in 1411. From there skirt the remains of St Katherine's Hill, now the Adelphi through to the Green where the Trinitarian and Carmelite Friars had their monasteries.
Follow the Denburn to the old loch site in Woolmanhill and via Spa Street, ending at Hill Street and Gilcomston, we delve deep into the city's prehistoric past when a great loch covered most of what is George Street, and finally in Hill Street, stand where our ancestors did 10,000 years ago when a hunter gatherer community established a seasonal camp above the Gilcomston Burn and the Loch of Aberdeen.
MEET: Aberdeen Maritime Museum, Shiprow (MAP)
STARTS: 7.30pm
DURATION: 2 hrs approx
TICKETS: Adults £10/ Concessions £8; Click HERE to book online or in person at Visit Scotland, Shiprow.
SATURDAY 13 APRIL 2019: MINI TOURS DAY
FITTIE: ABERDEEN'S PLANNED FISHER VILLAGE 11AM
Beginning on Pocra Quay near the site of the original Block House, a stone fort first erected in the 15th century to protect the city from "English invaders", we follow the fall and rise of the fisher residents of the Kirktoun of Futty, who forced the council into providing them a new home when harbour development threatened to obliterate the old village of Pockraw in the late 18th century. Full tour details HERE.
MEET: Footdee War Memorial on seafront, Pocra Quay (MAP)
STARTS: 2pm
DURATION: 1hr
TICKETS: All tickets £5; Click HERE to book online or book in person at the Visit Scotland hub on Shiprow
ROSEMOUNT MINI RAMBLE 2PM
Developed from the full length Rosemount Ramble, focusing on the hidden gem of Mackie Place, the 18th century cul-de-sac owned by hide-skinner, Robert Mackie, who commissioned the distinctive ogee-shaped "White House" and the remaining tenement of no's 4-5, and Jack's Brae. Three hundred years of history in 60min! Full tour descriptor HERE.
MEET: Outside Cult of Coffee, 28 Esslemont Avenue (arrive at least 10min before, get a takeaway! (MAP)
STARTS: 11am
DURATION: 1hr
TICKETS: All tickets £5; Click HERE to book online or book in person at the Visit Scotland hub on Shiprow
MONDAY 15 APRIL 2019:
FORGOTTEN FERRYHILL - THE GEORGIAN SUBURB
Perennial favourite walk, set in Aberdeen’s first Georgian suburb of Ferryhill, so named because of the ferry between Craiglug and Wellington Road which operated before the suspension bridge was built in 1830. Including the dodgy dealings which whisked Arthurseat estate away from its missing owner, the story behind the flamboyant Devanha House, the "lost" Dee Village, some of Ferryhill's fabulous architectural origins, and the tale of the arctic explorer who retired to South Crown Street. And, the creepy legend which concerns a mysterious hole which opened up in what was the garden of the old Cowdray Club. We round off at Hygeia’s statue, Duthie Park, the memorial for Miss Elizabeth Crombie Duthie, founder of the park.
Enjoy your supper beforehand with our friends at Inn at the Park Hotel, Polmuir Road
MEET: "Dee Village" / Old Hydro Electric Building flats - at bus stop across from New China takeaway (MAP)
STARTS: 7.30pm
END: Duthie Park
DURATION: 2hrs approx
TICKETS: Adults £10/ Concessions £8; Click HERE to book online or in person at Visit Scotland, Shiprow.
THURSDAY 18 APRIL 2019:
ROSEMOUNT RAMBLE
Beginning at the cosy indie coffee shop, "The Cult of Coffee" on the corner of Leadside Road and Esslemont Avenue, this walk takes in a mix of old Gilcomston, ancient Denburnside, and the 19th century suburb of Rosemount which was created out of both. Georgian mansions, Victorian innovation, schools, churches, tradespeople and that undulating landscape that we can't see for the buildings! All will be revealed in this very special ramble around Rosemount.
Not suitable for disabled or those with restricted mobility. Wear sturdy shoes. Dogs welcome if well-behaved.
MEET: Outside the Cult of Coffee, 28 Esslemont Ave (MAP)
STARTS: 7.30pm
DURATION: 2hr approx
TICKETS: Adults £10/ Concessions £8; click HERE to book online, or in person at Visit Scotland, Shiprow.
Tour ends at Rosemount House, opposite Farmers' Hall
SATURDAY 20 APRIL 2019: MINI TOURS DAY
OLD ABERDEEN'S HISTORICAL SECRETS 11AM
A zip through Old Aberdeen's history comparing the 20th century and medieval quadrangles, hearing the stories of Elphinstone Hall, New Kings and 16th century Kings College; visit the hidden remains of the 15th century Snow Kirk and the tales attached to the post-Reformation Powis estate represented today by the impressive gates which replicated the former towers in the old quad.
One of our series of mini tours suitable for all
MEET: Outside Elphinstone Hall, Kings Lawn, Old Aberdeen (MAP)
DURATION: Approx. 1 hour
TICKETS: All tickets £5 only; Click HERE to book online or in person at Visit Scotland, Shiprow
OLD TORRY - THE LOST VILLAGES - 2PM
A mini-tour set in the historic royal burgh of Torry covering almost eight centuries of history in one hour! Starting at old St Fittick’s Kirk which was built in the 13th century, and following a direct line over the Balnagask Motte, down Baxter Street and into the site of the Victorian fisher village. Includes tales of the Davidsons, last lairds of Torry; the Dee Ferry Disaster and the medieval fisher village of Lower Torry which disappeared in 1876 due to harbour developments. Full tour descriptor here.
MEET: Old St Fittick's Kirk (ruin), St Fittick's Road, Torry AB11 8TP (MAP)
DURATION: 1hr
TICKETS: All tickets £5; Click HERE to book online or book in person at the Visit Scotland hub on Shiprow
MONDAY 22 APRIL 2019:
BLOOD & GRANITE: THE MURDER HISTORY TOUR
The original Murder History Tour! Including the tale of Johnny Milne, Aberdeen's Worst Hangman and of poisonous landlady, Catherine Humphrey who did away with her gypit husband James, back in 1830 when Wales Street was the city's slaughterhouse district. Join us for the old favourites - Bullets in the Cemetery; Harry Burnett's tragic love triangle in Jackson Terrace; the sad fate of Captain Beaton, Gordon Highlander officer in 1915; and Urquhart Road's disturbing Sack Murder case. Just the stories, no interruptions!
Not suitable for under 12s; terrain not suitable for those with mobility problems;
MEET: Park Road entrance of Trinity Cemetery - just up from Pittodrie's South Stand entry; (MAP)
PLEASE arrive at least 10min before the start time so we can leave promptly!
STARTS: 7.30pm
DURATION: 2hr approx (distance 2.3miles)
TICKETS: Adults £10/ Concessions £8; click HERE to book online or in person at Visit Scotland, Shiprow
WEDNESDAY 24 APRIL 2019:
SUFFRAGETTES & OTHER LOCAL QUINES
Beginning, ironically at the statue of a man who cheated on and mentally abused his wife, Jean Maxwell, aka Lady Gordon. She was made of sterner stuff and saw to her own pleasure and orchestrated profitable marriages for all her children, we continue with the stories of how Aberdeen’s suffragettes tried to disrupt Home Secretary Lloyd George at the Music Hall; the origins of opera diva, Mary Garden; how English artist, Joan Eardley adopted a cottage in Catterline as her home; how an English lady called Mary Webb wrote the iconic local song “The Northern Lights of Old Aberdeen” for a home-sick Aberdonian quine. These and many more!
We include the mosaics of ceramic artist, Carrie Reichardt, who was one of the visitors for Nuart 2018, creating works on the theme of "Suffragette Spirit". They have included many more Aberdeen unsung heroines than were mentioned on last year's tour, so we've taken the opportunity to re-route and revise the tour to showcase them.
MEET: Duke of Gordon's Statue, Golden Square AB10 1RD (MAP)
STARTS: 7.30pm
DURATION: 2hr approx
ENDS: Outside Fierce Bar, Exchequer Row (MAP)
TICKETS: Adults £10/ Concessions £8; click HERE to book online or in person at Visit Scotland, Shiprow.
Suitable content for all ages; Not wheelchair accessible or for those with mobility issues
New dates will be added very soon!
Please note, if dates are not shown it means there are no tours planned yet for those dates or they are free for private bookings.