Page:The National Gazetteer - A Topographical Dictionary of the British Islands, Volume 1.djvu/22

Rh ABERDEEN. 12 ABERDEEN', OLD. are several paper-mill*, which, irivo employment to about 400 hands. There are also iron foundries, at three of which the heaviest anchor work is don-. < 'hain-making is carried on in two foundries, and boiler-making in several other*. Ship-building is extensive ten vessels of aggregately 6,678 tons having been built in 1 "",_>. There ore eight rope-making works, which are on a largo Male, and several smaller works. The maniilactu I combs was commenced in 1788, and has been cam on an enlarged scale and by means of steam since 1830. Among the lesser miscellaneous manufactures and indus- trial processes may be named, the making of quill pens, tanning, distilleries, and breweries. The fisheries form a important part of tho industrial occupations of Aber- deen. They consist of three main branches, the whale, the salmon, and the herring fisheries. Whale fishing was commenced in 1753. In 1820, there were fifteen vessels engaged in it, and in 1 823 they brought home 1 ,84 1 tons of oil, the largest quant ity ever obtained in one season. From various causes the fishery has declined, and in 1845 only two vessels were engaged in it. The salmon fishery has been generally successful. About 200 men are engaged in it, and tho average number of fish taken in a season is 20,000. The rents of tho Deo fishing* form a v.-ry huge item in the revenue of the city, amounting to about 8,000 a year, (treat part of the salmon are packed in ice and shipped for London. Ice packing was intn i about forty years ago. The herring fishery is of more recent growth, but is increasing. The number of boats employed in it in 1844 was sixty. The Aberdeen Banking Company was established in 1768, the Town and County Bank in 1826, and the North of Scotland Banking Com- pany in 1836. Besides these establishments, which transact business on a large scale, there are several branch banks. There is a Savings' Bank conducted according to a plan formed by the Rev. Dr. Duncan in 1815, the advantages of which are considered so great, thnt no savings' bank on tho national plan has ever been introduced. The port of Aberdeen has a geographical position vi TV advantageous for trade with Northern BBTOpa, Itwas originally a in. re shallow channel neur the side of the basin through which the Dee passed to the ocean ; the entrance to it was impeded by a bar. Uy successive endeavours, and at very heavy expense, principally )>y tho skill of Mr. Smeaton (1770), and .f Mr. Trlf'.rd (1810), von- great improvements have been effected, and Ab< . -,< i ;!,- m<t < m- modious harbours in Scotland. On tho north side of tho entrance a stone pier has been erected, extending 1,200 feet into the sea. A breakwater, of 800 feet in li. Wretches out from the omxwito side. The cost of these works was 140,000, and 500,000 has been tx- -;ng th.in. All round the harbour arc magnificent quays, and a spacious wet dock ha - d of a reach of the river. Tho area of the harbour contain* thirty-four acres, an extent greater than I anyothcrsingl'edook. In 1807 the canal was opened which connected tho port with the rivi-r I>on n: fifteen miles distant. The cost of this canal now superseded by the Great No: mil rnilwav, which passes along part of its c i liiilit m tin- mirth i>i'T, t.i direct vessels tig thr harlionr. nnd two lending lights to the south resscls belonging to the
 * r total burden, 78,(>'-i'-

llie saim- yrar lil.'I.HOn -iilr, and the Grent h of Scotland railway* ! n with towns; and regular commir ' K. pt up, by team, with London, L- ..n with X,,rth An,, ri ... il:. . . [nd the Ifuliie, and :!, j.rt of Archangel. . horses, tcr. 'ton. II. ix. iron, Kilt, are similar t.> Un*e nf Edinburgh. It is well supplied with gas. Water is supplied from thr Pi i. There is a Mechanics' Institution, which was established in 1 >.'!. Besides tho libraries of the University, tic ity, the Medical Socict itcs, and tho Mechanics' 1: -ire .- wral sub- scription libraries, chiefly consisting of light literatim-. A weekly market for meal is held on Thursday. < (n Fri'l iv, a market for meat and provisions. Time is a daily H-di-market. A fair is held for timber, mi the last Wednesday in August. A feeing' market. lor hiring servants, is held on tho second Friday in M . November. Fairs for the Rale of horses and cattle ai in the neighbourhood -.f the town at short intervals : at ridge of Don on the first Tuesday of each month ; unofield on the second Monday of every month ; at Kuthriestone on tho third Monday, and at Old Aberdeen on the last Thursday of April, and the first Wednesday of November. Amongst the eminent men, natives of Aberdeen, must be named John Barbour, born in 1330, author of "The Bruce," a metrical history of Robert 1586 ; he studied under Rubens, nnd painted above a hundred portraits of distinguished persons in his time, many of which are still preserved in the collections of the nobility; James Gregory, born in 1638, the ii tor of the reflecting telescope, afterwards Professor of Mathematics at Edinburgh ; and David Anderson, a mechanical genius, who obtained the title of " Davie do a' thing." He removed a rock from the middle of the entrance to the harbour. Amongst tho distingn men connected with the city, though not by birth, are Dr. Robert Hamilton, Professor of Mathematics: author of the "Treatise on the National I . Dr. Patrick Copland, Professorof Natural Philosophy; Drs. Thomas Reid, James Beattie, George Campbell, and John Abercrombie. Sir James Mackintosh and Robert Hall were students of King's College. Lord Byron once lived in Broad-street. Aberdeen gives the title of earl to a branch of the .Gordon family, royalists of the 17th century. According to the census of 1861, there were 5,901 inhabited houses within tho borough, occupied by 18,784 separate families, consisting nf 73.704 indi viduals, of whom 12,222 were childn-n attending k between the aces of five and fifteen. ABERDEEN, OLD, a small town, the capital of the par. called Old Machor, in Abcrdeenshirc, Scotland ; 1 mile north of the city of Aberdeen. I tsnnricnt name is -/*< windings of tin- Dee and the Don, woods nnd ; men's seats. md villages. But the town is decayed and dull, deriving importance chiefly fi incor- porated craft*, but no guildry. It was once tin- si at i-f a bishopric. The see was transferred in 1137 I'l.nuMort- Ineli, in the county of li.intt". to Old Aberdeen, which was :i' y by -1 " tin- hail village t" (iml and the Blessed Mary, Si M iius." On tho abolition nf episcopacy, tin- right of nominating the magistrates fell to the erown. Its charter nf I. in IT'J.'i. wl- nt nf privy eniinril, authorised tin m.< -uccessore in office in future. Previous to the Municipal Art, ii " i by a pro- hailici, tn-asurer, M- OOOnofl. fa It possesses tho o| King's ( '.. liege, and a great JKirtion i if tin- ani'irnt cathedral. King's ( 'ollege wa< foundnl in 1UM at tin- i' l'.i>hiip Kip- ml by virtue of a bull of Alexander V I i m-d at the i Ig'l 1' It- r ' tin- foundation of thi-i univei-it the inha- bitants of the north us almost unri ilisi -d : dr]il- n - tin- i>]. ,ieh and administer the saorn- mmts; and s]'.iks of the mountain*, and tho i. and tin di.!:incev. as ii hindrances in the way nig inni nvailin I he advantages of the in -iiui existing, viz. those <-l St. Andrew's
 * George Jamicson, tho portrait painter, born in