Golf and Scotland have gone together for centuries. James II had to ban it in 1457 because it was distracting from military training. The ban was finally lifted in 1502 by James IV who is also the first recorded purchaser of a set of golf clubs. The shape of the game was standardised in 19t h century Scotland into an 18 hole game, each hole being the standard four and a quarter inch diameter as set by Musselburgh (that claims to be the oldest golf course in the world).
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The estuaries of the Dee and Don teemed with fish, birds and eggs. They were naturally defensive areas and they offered rich food sources for hunters and gatherers. They later supported primitive farming on the sand and gravel laid by the last Ice Age. A couple of dozen settlements of extended families grew up around the estuaries of Dee, Don and Denburn. You could find them from as early as the second century A.D. at Donmouth, Seaton, Tillydrone, Torry, Fittie, Dee Village and the Green. They were eventfully to expand, amalgamate and merge with their inland cousins, to create Aberdeen.
The Royals had little reason to love Scotland in the 18t h C. The Jacobites were a real threat to the dynasty and the Clans had to be controlled and policed. For a time even the tartan was banned. Highland soldiers, however, helped change the image. They were increasingly seen as the heroes of the Empire, the gallant front-liners in India, the Americas, Africa and Europe. They were no longer the terrorist ogres from the wild and barbaric north.
Barley is regarded as the oldest cultivated grain in the world. It certainly predates rice in Asia. We can trace the consumption back to 8000BC in Syria. The Egyptians were the first to master distillation, originally for perfumes and balms. The art of distilling was probably brought to Scotland by the early Christian missionaries from Ireland. The first spirits were distilled in early medieval monasteries.
The Picts were already used to brewing heather ales from a mixture that included barley malt. The Christians added the still, the recipe scarcely varied. Whisky is really a form of distilled beer. The first historical mention of whisky dates from 1494 when the record shows the friar John Cor instructed to make "Aqua Vitae" for the royal household. It is from the Gaelic for "Water of Life" that we get the name "whisky". We start the tour at the Union Street entrance to the Town House.
The Whipping-Stone At the corner of Union Street and Broad Street we see the cobbles marking where public whippings took place. The Hangman’s duties included “scourging, burning and tormenting”. In really bad cases e.g. repeat offenders, the whipping would be through the streets of the town. Crowds would gather to witness the whippings. In 1640, a woman convicted of “unbecoming behaviour” was scourged and then “drawn in a cart through the streets, bearing a paper crown on her head, the bellman going before proclaiming her offence”. She was then banished. Women being whipped often had to wear the scold’s bridle: whipping of women was ended in 1817, whipping of men continued indoors after 1830. The practice remained well into the 20th century with the birching of young male offenders until the system was abolished in 1948 |
ArticlesNeil Cooney is Vice Chairman of our Society. He has kindly agreed to share these transcripts with our members. Archives
May 2021
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