Lost Aberdeen

by Diane Morgan

The initial chapters are an odyssey through the early town, from the Green to the Gallowgate, charting the disappearance of the irreplaceable medieval townscape. Moving on to more modern times she traces the evolution and gradual erosion of the Granite City, whose stylish yet restrained architecture once brought visitors from all over the world to see an Aberdeen which they recognised and valued as a unique city. She writes of George Street, originally planned as 'an elegant entrance to the city' and of Union Street, a marvel of early nineteenth century engineering with stunning symmetry, elegant terracing and memorable shops.

There is also a requiem for Archibald Simpson's splendid New Market and the sadly missed Northern Co-operative Society Arcade. The final part of Lost Aberdeen recalls vanished mansions, and lost clachans, victims of the city's march westwards. Long gone industrial archaeology is also revisited, the railway stations, mills, shipyards, seafront, tollhouses and boathouse, which slipped away as if they never had existed.

In Lost Aberdeen Diane Morgan writes with the same fresh approach to local history that blends careful scholarship with high readability, and authority with humour that has made her 'Villages of Aberdeen' so successful a series.

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

There is more than one author by this name on Goodreads.

Reviews

[Jan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic book of the history of Aberdeen. So interesting to see how it grew..... and to know that the latest in council decisions on development planning are just the last in a long, long series of disasters that destroyed marvellous architecture and replaced it with concrete cubes.