Recumbant Homage

Until the other day, we'd walked, driven or ridden past this artifact on the corner of Robert Gordon College's former Seafield playing fields a hundred times without giving it more thought than:

"Mmm, that piece of contemporary sculpture references the prehistoric stone circles and cairns of the North East."

And, right enough, so it does. But a close-up look is rewarding. The 'cairn' forms a sit-down viewing platform, and itself contains references to pictish symbol stones and the saucer marked stones which bounded our city in the pre-medieval era.

The 'recumbent' and 'flankers' are characterised by modern-style rule-marker metrology symbols which remind us that the recumbent stone circles of Aberdeenshire are not some superstitious pagan's mystic temples, but are, in fact, accurate observatories used to divine and define important days in the agricultural and social calendar through careful observation and measurement of the wheeling of the cosmos and the motion of the planets and moon.

The people who build the stone circles of Aberdeenshire had a keen interest in knowing exactly how their communities fitted into the entirety of the cosmos, and used their stone calendars/observatories to gain levels of insight into the true nature of the universe which were not surpassed by western civilization until after the Renaissance and Enlightenment.

We should know that we are lucky to live on the same land as these pioneers of cosmology. The contemporary sculpture on Thorngrove Avenue honors them.

You should still go and see a real recumbent stone circle, though.

The A to Z of Aberdeen - C

C is for Cycling

"No, no... There's no way... Oh no, ye canna cycle in Aiberdeen!"

A mere handful of years ago, in a taxi on our way to pick up some newly-bought hybrid bikes, those were the self-congratulatory and dismissive words bursting incredulously from the mouth of our taxi-driver; our own personal private-hire knight-of-the road.

As we all know, taxi drivers have a proprietorial attitude to the public highway, so we thought he was likely to know what he was speaking about!

Truth was, at the time, we kinda agreed with him. We were well aware that motorists generally regard speed limits as advisory in this town; we knew that gridlock and traffic volumes cause the city to grid to a halt twice a day; and we were cognisant of the fact that cyclists who use the road are regarded as the lowest of the low - hated by all other road users.

But we thought that this didn't apply to us, as we'd only intended to use the Old Deeside Line for our cycling - not to go anywhere or do anything (don't be silly!) - just to keep up a level of fitness.

How little we knew! And how little our taxi-driving knight-of-the-road knew!

As it turns out Aberdeen is one of the best possible places to cycle. A cross-town cyclist, starting from, say Pitmuxton (close to Broomhill Primary) going to Kittybrewster (say, the Nothern Hotel) can easily beat (by up to a half) the time taken by any motorised transport for the same point-to-point, and with no parking-space-hunting or charges!

As time goes on, we see that cycle routes begin to join up as 'missing links' are sewn together; roads which are forbidden to motorised transport open up as 'bypass' routes for pedestrians and cyclists; one way systems are declared 2-way for cyclists and special interest groups get their voices heard by local and national governments, resulting in increasing ring-fenced funding for 'cycling, walking and safer streets' budgets.

Brand-new 'missing link' connects

Old Switchback, Westhill Cycle Route,

Hazlehead Paths, Kingswells Paths and

Fernhill Paths. Phew.

(Not sure about the 'pushmepullu' bike, though)

Fernilea Road - closed to motors, but a 'bypass' for cyclists and pedestrains.

Connects Rubislaw with Summerhill.

Additionally, the potholes caused by the very harsh '09-'10 winter have prompted the closure of some roads to motor traffic. That needn't worry us cyclists (as long as we've got a suitable bike)

The weather has been a kind of Dr Beeching for roads

It's as if there's a kind of parallel Aberdeen just for cyclists and pedestrians; a city which bypasses the world of those who like to spend their time tied to a chair in a locked hot metal box. A city which is at right angles to - over, under and through - the Aberdeen which they think they know. The Aberdeen Cycle Map has recently been published in an updated revision which shows all the recent developments in our favour. The networks are extensive - spreading like the branches of a forest, linking up and intertwining as transport nodes increasingly interconnect.

All over the west end.

Thing is, cycling's a bit like a drug - it leads on to harder things and suddenly we find ourselves cosulting the council's 'Core Paths' maps and noticing that routes around the city expand further still for cyclists who use mountain bikes. Now, it's possible to cycle from Pitfodels to Dyce via Hazlehead and Fernhill all off-road. Indeed, it's now possible to cycle from Banchory to Aberdeen, cross the city, and continue on to Ellon, Auchnagatt and Fraserburgh all on routes dedicated to cyclists, pedestrians and equestrians.

Bucksburn Valley

So, as those who choose to be motorists grind their teeth in the gridlock, tied to their chairs in their hot locked metal boxes, we cyclists enjoy rapid transit across what feels like an altogether different city. A human-scale city; a city of freedom and fitness and fun, a town where we can go where we please - free of charge and freed from care.

You see, motoring compresses the consciousness, and anaesthetises the soul. It disconnects the driver from the town being crossed.

By contrast, cycling expands the consciousness and re-connects us with our city - as more and more people are finding out. Government stats show a near-doubling in cycle commuting in Aberdeen since 2007, second only to Edinburgh for cycling as a choice of way to travel to work in a city. No surprise - when it looks like this:

Off-road route at Airyhall.

Off-road route at Kingswells

Alienated at Union Square

Earlier, we wrote a post exploring the hyperreality and mediated experiences which are forced upon the hapless consumer inside Union Square.

An altogether different and much more real experience is available to the visitor on top of Union Square.

Esoteric, secret, hidden.

Out of respect, (and maybe even a little fear) for the trouserleg-lifting funny-handshakers of Crown Street, we're not going to reveal where this is. You might be able to guess.

Click the images for a full size view. Look closely if you don't see the content immediately. Patience pays. There are literally hundreds of these ciphers at this location, hidden in plain view.

Yet Another Year of the Cheviot.

The idealistic Buddhists say that "as the wheel turns, that which was below will be on top". Contrastingly, the cynical French say "Plus ça change - plus c'est la même chose." [The more things change, the more they stay the same].

Here at Other Aberdeen, we reckon we must be French...

In an earlier post, we used the word 'granitette' to describe the non-material so often used as a simulacrum substitute for Aberdeen's granite.

When we used the word, we knew we weren't coining a neologism, but we couldn't remember exactly where the reference had come from. We've been scanning the bookshelves at Other Aberdeen's prestigious, upscale, exclusive studios with a fine-toothed-comb ever since.

And now we've got it!

It's from arch-socialist John McGrath's innovative in-the-round 1973 agit-prop play "The Cheviot, the Stag and the Black Black Oil" as staged by his theatrically radical, politically revolutionary and sadly now defunct 7:84 theatre company.



Astonishingly, the play was even filmed for BBC's Play for Today strand. The words are in the mouth of 'entrepreneur' Andy McChuckemup (as played by a young Bill Paterson) -

[It's] the thing of the future. That's how we see it, myself and the Board of Directors, and one or two of your local councillors - come on now, these are the best men money can buy. So, picture it if yous will, right there at the top of the glen, beautiful vista, - The Crammem Inn, High Rise Motorcroft - all finished in natural washable plastic granitette. Right next: door, the "Frying Scotsman" all night chipperama - with a wee ethnic bit, Fingal's Caff - serving seaweed suppers in the basket and draught Drambuie. And to cater for your younger set you've got your Grouse-a-Go-Go. I mean, people very soon won't want your bed and breakfasts, they want everything laid on, they'll be wanting their entertainment an that and wes've got the know-how to do it and wes've got the money to do it. So - picture it if yous will - a drive-in clachan on every hill-top where formerly there was hee-haw but scenery.

A recent retrospective review of the BBC screening concludes...

One wonders whether a drama as uncompromisingly left-wing as this could possibly be produced or broadcast on mainstream television today: the Labour Government of the time is presented in the play as little different from the Tory Party. The play attacks the political classes: their unwillingness to offend big business and capitalism and their desire to appease American big business.

Quite.

Plus ça change - plus c'est la même chose.

Rubislaw Quarry: Source of Wealth. Curse. Liability.

We heard recently that the remains of Aberdeen's world-famous Rubislaw Quarry were to be put up for sale at auction, starting bid £30k. The sale is now complete.

We read that the quarry, starting work in earnest in 1778, produced something like 6 million tonnes of the fine grey silver granite we are so familiar with. The granite from the quarry supported an ecosystem of business networks in the city and the stone found its way into some famous buildings elsewhere in the world such as Waterloo Bridge, the Palace of Westminster and the parliament in New Deli. But all things must pass, and the quarry became uneconomic and closed in 1971, round about the time of this famous picture...

Wooooaaaaahhh!

Here's a picture of the quarry in its high Victorian hey-day in 1885.

Interestingly, in this illustration looking south towards the low hills of Kincardineshire, on the brow of the ridge in the middle-distance we can see Kepplestone House to the left (east) and Rubislaw House to the right (west).

Rubislaw House has been well preserved and added to over the years, and today houses the Gordon Highlanders' regimental museum.

Kepplestone House has fared less well.

Back on-topic... Often fetishised by Aberdonians, 'the granite' - and the perceived need to maintain the city's 'granite heritage' - can sometimes act as a brake on innovation in urban realm architecture and spacemaking in the city. Worse, as the grey silver granite is now hard to come by, all too often we see builders paying lipservice to this heritage through the use of 'granitette' blockwork simulacrum (which is concrete breeze-block with a coating of rice-crispie-sized granite chips). This is used to hoodwink the passerby into believing that a building politely fits in among its Neo-Grecian Georgian and Neo-French-Gothic Victorian neighbours. This 'granitette' un-material can be seen most obviously on the deck of the St Nicholas Ctr in the heart of the city. But look at any - yes any - residential building built between 1972 and 2010 - it's everywhere. And it's horrible.

Ironically, the granite itself built the long breakwater pier at Aberdeen Harbour from which it was exported worldwide. Today, in Aberdeen, the quarry exhausted, rather than dig and blast our wealth from the ground, we sook it from beneath the seabed. This over-reliance on one business sector is known as 'the Dutch Disease' and is related to 'the Resource Curse'.

There is, however, in addition to this economic disease, a real physiological disease associated with Aberdeen granite: lung cancer. Granite contains uranium and radium, both of which follow a radioactive decay chain to form radon gas. Radon is the single largest contributor to an individual's background radiation in the UK and there is a well established link between breathing high concentrations of radon and the incidence of lung cancer. Radon is heavier than air, and so accumulates in the basements of granite buildings. You have been warned.

It's often said that the quarry is the biggest man-made hole in Europe, but we can't find any reliable confirmation that this assertion is a fact. But one thing's for sure, it is now one of the largest man-made lochs in Scotland!

We didn't have the Other Aberdeen theodolite with us on the day we visited the quarry loch to take this photo, but by simple dead reckoning on line of sight, we could establish that the water level is now significantly higher than the road level of Queens Road at Queens Avenue (opposite Kepplestone) where access can be gained to get a look at the quarry loch.

As mentioned at the top, the quarry loch was put up for sale with starting bids of £30,000. And, as luck would have it, the buyers happen to be friends of a relative of ours. They won't say how much they paid, but will say that it was "less than a one-bedroom flat". We scratch our heads at why they bought this obvious liability... one day, the water level will overtop the berm on the Queen's Road side.

A friend has calculated that the quarry loch now contains about 2 million cubic metres of water. That's two megatonnes in weight. He asks:

"How do you get rid of that amount water? Do you simply drop a sump pump down the hole with a riser draining onto Queen's Road and hope the water finds its way down to the sea?"

This makes for an interesting thought experiment: On it's way downhill, the water would first encounter Stewart Milne's magniloqent (if oddly asymmetrical) grand processional stairs at Kepplestone:

"All Grecian, sir; Modernist details on a classic body"

We think that the resulting cascade would be most beautiful and spectacular! It might even become a top tourist attraction for the North East! Unfortunately the SuDS at the bottom of the Kepplestone basin would need upgrading.

Kepplestone SuDS

We don't think that this is up to the challenge of half a megatonne of water.

And the culvert of the West Burn of Rubislaw (or the Holburn, if you want) which drains this entire basin is only 1.5 metres in diameter.

This culvert runs below the houses of Cromwell Road and Union Grove, so we can't see any way to increase its capacity other than by demolishing some of these prestigious, exclusive west end properties.

But hey, you can't make an omelette without breaking eggs!

Regeneration, restoration, redevelopment.

Elsewhere, and in real life, we have had discussions regarding the relative merits of redevelopment or regeneration, as opposed to restoration of 'historic' areas within a city.

Often, when we speak to older relatives or friends, who have a deeper well of memories, it is tempting to indulge in a sort of "oooh it's not like the old days" nostalgia. A case in point is the recent comprehensive redevelopment of the major part of the south of Justice Mill Lane. Let's have a little think about the context in this 'historic' area.

A large office complex flanked by a premium hotel on one side and a budget hotel on the other now occupies a site which has, for the last 30 years been more-or-less derlict, home to itinerant small businesses, ad-hoc car-parks, vacancy and neglect.

The area, without doubt, is 'historic' - being associated with a particularly regrettable episode during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms; but the built environment in the area has, throughout our lives, been host to a different source of regret - that of blight. (Yeah, alright, nobody dies of blight, but bear with us...)

Now as the new-build complex approaches completion, we are aware of increasingly strident voices denouncing the development. This surprises us.

Did those who denounce the new development prefer the derelict motor trade premises and brick & concrete former furniture factory which most recently occupied this site on Justice Mill Lane? Or do they want to turn the clock back further still?

The car sales/service/filling station place (Town & County Motors) did some nasty now-you-see-it now-you-don't misdirection in order to achieve the demolition of Strawberry Bank in 1967, but that was before our time, so we cannot honestly lament it. We're certainly not going to call for its restoration. Of all things we might dislike in the built environment, we detest hollow pastiche the most.

Where would it stop, with that sort of "keep everything as it is/was" philosophy? We note that during this particular area's industrial and residential heyday in the 1860's, the recently grassed area with the shallow steps close to the former (wrong) site of Hardgate Well was occupied by a public house. The Hardgate Well itself was on private ground, with no public access, and a little down the hill a large tannery operated. Would the voices of reaction wish to restore all that? Would they restore the agricultural implement factory (which was on the site where the Travelodge is about to open) even though it would have no hope of finding staff to work in it or a market for its products?

When in time do they believe that the 'perfect Aberdeen' existed? We have no wish to live in someone else's idea of an 'ideal' utopian or arcadian past, for we know that no such thing ever existed. By contrast, we have every intention of living in the future - a future in which we will be full participants - making it as great a place to live as possible.

Or is it that those voices raised against redevelopment simply do not like the physical appearance of the new buildings? Here at Other Aberdeen, we do not have any particular favourite architectural styles; beauty, or otherwise is in the eye of the beholder. Fashions come and go. You've got to give architecture time. Tastes change.

What we do appreciate is quality, authenticity, and integrity. We believe that these aspects cannot be judged instantly when a new building is unveiled - so we're reserving comment on the architectural merit of this complex for the moment. Did similar controversies rage when the redundant Upper Justice Mill was demolished by Scott Sutherland to make way for his Regal Cinema (latterly Odeon, most recently some sort of gym)? Did the folk of Rosemount object to the building of the Shell HQ on the site of Altens farm?

This position is subtle; for instance, there has been much comprehensive redevelopment in Aberdeen which was regrettable. St Nicholas Street and George Street spring instantly to mind; the buildings which were destroyed to create the covered shopping malls had quality and integrity. The threat to Union Terrace Gardens is similarly intolerable.

Here at Other Aberdeen, we are not dogmatically pro- or anti-development. We are pro-quality - we appreciate authenticity - we love integrity.

Duthie Park 'Sundial'

The 'interpretation' panel in the Duthie Park claims this is a sundial. That's putting it mildly.

This item is nothing less than a full solar (and possibly lunar - bits are missing) observatory with astonishingly accurate capabilities for measuring and cross-referencing both time and longitude (at our latitude).

Only one of the 10 or 11 instruments which make up the artifact is what we would understand as a conventional sundial. The other instruments are something else - instruments which are capable of providing the owner/user with a completely accurate understanding of the true shape of the earth's orbit and movement through the solar system. This includes the accurate measurements of axial, perihelion and ecliptic precession necessary for establishing corrections to the apparent solar and lunar time; this, in turn, necessary for establishing accurate longitude; that, in turn, necessary for performing and logging accurate astronomical observations.

The original commissioner/owner/user of the instrument had a rational and sophisticated understanding of our place in the cosmos and was fascinated by the still-ongoing great quest of inquiry into the true nature of the universe. The artifact pre-dates the Duthie Park and Arthurseat House; the lands of Arthurseat having been bought by Miss Duthie (a linen-mill heiress) and gifted to the city as the Duthie Park.

The artifact is incomplete, as the ground on which it stands would form a 'dial' and would be an integral and essential part of the instrument and its function. According to ScotlandsPlaces, the horizontal part of the instrument was 'nearby' as recently as 1978. There is no sign of it today.

The artifact is inscribed with the date 1707. I can't stress enough how advanced this instrument is. It should be inside, and carefully conserved.

I wonder if, by any chance, they could be related...?

Grey Granite (II)

Often, Aberdonians are confronted by an outsider with the usual preconceived opinion:

"Oh, Aberdeen; it's a really grey place, isn't it? So... grey",

And, inevitably, we reply with the time-honoured old saw:

"Actually, the city's nickname is 'the Silver City', and while it's true that, on a driech day, the city is grey, (which city isn't?) if you see Aberdeen on a fine day, you'll notice the mica in the granite a-glistening and a-glinting in the sun, truly shining silver... a radiant beacon in the north... beautiful... twinkling... shimmering... etc etc..."

But now, we're afraid to say, some of the city's buldings are not so much 'silver' as 'urine-yellow'. The most glaring example is the City of God Church at Babbie Law.

Eeeewww!

It is as if some leviathan late night reveller has chosen (the city lacking pubic conveniences) to relieve his brobdingnagian bladder all over this place of worship. It looked great the moment the scaffolding came down, but within a week, it started developing a tinge of pigment. Now it's just yellow. Yellow.

We've noticed this phenomenon on other buildings all over the city-centre, and notably on some properties in residential terraces of the prestigious, exclusive west end. As the height of summer came, and the days became brighter and brighter, we could no longer ignore it and just hope it would go away - it's getting worse all the time. Up close, it's possible to see what look like brush strokes on the yellowed stones. What's going on?

My old dad says that traces of the corrosive chemical used as the first part of a two-stage cleaning process have been left in situ, and are now reacting with airbourne pollution (Aberdeen having some of the worst air-quality in the UK) to turn this unsavoury colour. The second stage of the process involves ablation of the corrosive agent along with the now dissolved dirt by a grit-entrained high pressure water jet. It is a fine line between using enough pressure to remove the corrosive agent completely, and using too much pressure; necessitating re-pointing of the stonework. He thinks that the cleaning contractor has erred on the side of lesser pressure.

But.... we think he's talking rubbish. We can remember the cleaning that went on in the 1980's with this two-stage process, and it was a big deal. It took ages. Streets were closed, buildings shrouded in scaffold and tarp for weeks on end. So no, we don't think that's what happened at the City of God church.

We think they chose Q-Switched Nd:YAG Laser Cleaning.

For about 15 years, debate has raged within the conservation community as to the benefits and drawbacks of this technique. One thing is for sure, under certain conditions, the phenomenon of 'yellowing' occurs. The phenomenon is not well understood, but it is real and has been studied in the cleaning of granite.

The a*-parameter, or red-green component, is the most affected, leading to a change in hab (hue) and was interpreted as a result in variations in the Fe compounds, which strongly condition stone color.

That study concludes that the laser treatment can chemically change the make-up of the stone - resulting in a permanent change in the colour - the iron content has been oxidised; in effect, the laser treatment has rusted our granite.

Other studies have suggested alternate mechanisms which might be causing the yellowing:

Yellowing is a well-known phenomenon after laser cleaning of marbles, especially in case of Nd:YAG lasers operating at 1064 nm (Klein et al. 2000b, 2001, Vergès-Belmin & Dignard 2003, Pouli et al. 2006). It has not widely been reported in case of sandstone. In principle, analogous explanations may apply. The colour effect may be due to (organic) remnants of soiling, whether or not transformed by the energy of the laser, or, alternatively, represent former surface treatments (based on organic oils) that came into view again after cleaning.

We have seen that a laser cleaning contractor is at present working on the rennovation of Marischall College. Let's hope they don't **** it up.

Edit:

Actually, the yellower Alexander Marshall Mackenzie's Marischal frontage (1904-6) becomes, the more it will resemble Charles Barry and Augustus Pugin's Palace of Westminster (1840-70), of which it is of course, a pale yet pompous plagiarism.

Aberdeen's World-Famous Tramway Rosettes

{Trainspotter mode = on}

This is one of Aberdeen's world-famous (within the vintage-tram-loving community, anyway) Tramway Rosettes. This one is visible on the wall of the City of God Church on Holburn St (formerly Holburn Central Parish Church).

The rosettes held the cross-street wires in place, which in turn supported the naked live wire which supplied power to the trams.

Some were made locally by Wm McKinnon foundry (among others), they're about 15kg in weight and there's a variety of decorative designs (hence - 'rosette').

The one in the picture above is a 3-way example and has a 'guard rosette' above, which was used to prevent domestic-supply electricity cables from coming into contact with the tram overhead wires. Which would have caused explosions.

There is (or used to be) an Aberdeen Tramway Rosette Appreciation Society (no, really). The society was instrumental in the preservation in situ of these artifacts, and worked worldwide, making a nuisance of itself from Sydney to San Fransisco to preserve the heritage of similar items.

I can't find any pages for the appreciation society online, but the council have lots of info and appear to have logged the rosettes on Holburn St, Gt Western Rd and west Union St. Maybe they haven't got around to King St, Crown St, Alford Place and Fonthill Road yet. There are dozens of these artifacts around the city.

This one's on Alford Place.

Here's what Holburn St used to be like when these things were operating.

(Pic from Aberdeen City Council)

Who is Minty?

Hargate Well, again.

As contractors struggle to deal with the fluctuating water-levels (see photo) in the now exposed and visible 'historic' Hardgate Well, word comes from the City Historian of Aberdeen City Council (who is a visitor to this blog) that all is not as we had thought...

Hi Other Aberdeen,

I think these [new wellhead and 1970 plaque] represent the sum total of the developer's intentions: these were always to retain the well in some respect, as well as the plaque. The old facing was I think 20th century.

Intriguingly there is in fact nothing to link this well to the battle on Friday 13 September 1644. There are no actual historical references to the well in the original sources which pertain to the battle. This association seems to have developed in the centuries after the battle.

Chris

Christopher P. Croly
Historian

This itself raises the next question - does it matter that this well did not, in fact "run red with blood"?

The site of the well remains the only marker of this important event in the life of our city which, in our opinion, tells a story much greater and more complex than that of what happened on that day and the days afterwards. A story which goes to the very heart of the character of our city and us, its people.

It is a story which places us in a context, to this very day.