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Coat of Arms and Motto
The coat of arms
shows a red shield bearing three triple towered castles within the
double royal tressure. It is widely accepted that these represent the
fortifications which from earliest times stood on the three hills
where the city sprang up, namely Castle Hill, the Port or Windmill
Hill (Gallowgate) and St Catherine's Hill (Adelphi). The Arms are
supported by two leopards - one either side - and above, the scroll
with the words 'Bon Accord'.
Legend has it that during the Wars
of Scottish Independence, when the Castle of Aberdeen was stormed
and the English troops 'were killed all in one night', the watchword
to initiate the campaign was 'Bon Accord', and it is from this
massacre that the Coat of Arms and the motto originated.
History
Aberdeen grew up as two separate burghs - Old
Aberdeen at the mouth of the Don and New Aberdeen, a fishing and
trading settlement where the Denburn entered the Dee estuary. The
earliest charter was granted by King William
the Lion about 1179, confirming the
corporate rights granted by David I. The city received other royal
charters later. In 1319, the Great Charter
of Robert the
Bruce transformed Aberdeen into a property owning and financially
independent community. Bruce had a high regard for the citizens of
Aberdeen who had sheltered him in his days of outlawry, helped him win
the Battle of Barra and slayed the English garrison at the Castle. He
granted Aberdeen with the nearby Forest of Stocket. The income from
this land has formed the basis for the city's Common Good Fund, which
is used to this day for the benefit of all Aberdonians.
The city was burned by Edward
III of England in 1336, but was soon
rebuilt and extended, and called New Aberdeen. For many centuries the
city was subject to attacks by the neighbouring lords, and was
strongly fortified, but the gates were all removed by 1770.
In 1497 a blockhouse was built at the
harbour mouth as a protection against the English. During the
struggles between the Royalists and Covenanters the city was
impartially plundered by both sides. In 1715
the Earl Marischal proclaimed the Old Pretender at Aberdeen, and in 1745
the Duke of Cumberland resided for a short time in the city before
attacking the Young Pretender.
In the 18th
century a new Town Hall was built, elegantly furnished with a
marble fireplace from Holland and a set of fine crystal chandeliers
and sconces. The latter are still a feature in the Town House. This
century also saw the beginnings of social services for the Infirmary
at Woolmanhill which was opened in 1742 and
the Lunatic Asylum in 1779.
The 19th century
was a time of considerable expansion. By 1901 the population was
153,000 and the city covered more than 6,000 acres (24 km²). In the
late 18th century, the council embarked on a scheme of road
improvements, and by 1805 George Street,
King Street and Union Street were open, the latter a feat of
extraordinary engineering skill involving the partial levelling of St
Catherine's Hill and the building of arches to carry the street over
Putachieside. The Denburn Valley was crossed by Union Street with a
single span arch of 130 ft (40 m). Along these new streets was built
the nucleus of the Granite City in buildings designed by John
Smith and Archibald
Simpson.
The increasing economic importance of Aberdeen and the
development of the shipbuilding and fishing industries brought a need
for improved harbour facilities. During this century much of the
harbour as it exists today was built including Victoria Dock, the
South Breakwater and the extension to the North Pier. Such an
expensive building programme had, of course, repercussions, and in 1817
the city was in a state of bankruptcy. However, a recovery was made in
the general prosperity which followed the Napoleonic
wars. Improvements in street lighting came in 1824
with the advent of gas, and a vast improvement was made to the water
supply in 1830 when water was pumped from
the Dee to a reservoir in Union Place. An underground sewerage system
was begun in 1865 to replace the open sewers
which previously ran along certain of the streets.
Background
Though Old Aberdeen, extending from the area
surrounding Aberdeen
University to the southern banks of the Don, had a separate
charter, privileges, and history, the distinction between it and New
Aberdeen can no longer be said to exist. Aberdeen's popular name of
the "Granite City", is justified by the fact that the bulk
of the city is built of granite, but
to appreciate its more poetical designation of the "Silver City
by the Golden Sands", it should be seen after a heavy rainfall
when its public buildings and countless houses gleam pure and white
under brilliant sunshine. It is also known as the 'Flower of
Scotland', as Aberdeen has long been famous for its outstanding parks,
gardens and floral displays that include 2 million roses, 11 million
daffodils and 3 million crocuses. Aberdeen has won the Royal
Horticultural Society's Britain
in Bloom contest on numerous occasions, and at one time was banned
from entering to enable other cities to win. On 5
March 2003 Aberdeen was granted Fairtrade
City status.
The area of the city extends to 71.22 square miles
(184.46 km²), and
includes the former burghs of Old Aberdeen, New Aberdeen, Woodside and
the district of Torry to the south of the Dee. The city was first incorporated
in 1891. The city is represented in
Westminster by two MPs who are both from the Labour party, and in the Scottish
Parliament by three MSPs (one Labour, one SNP and one Liberal
Democrat). The city council comprises forty-three councillors who
represent the city's wards
and is headed by the Lord Provost. The current Lord
Provost is John Reynolds.
As of 1996, Aberdeen has
been governed by the unitary Aberdeen
City Council and no longer has any direct control over the
neighbouring area of Aberdeenshire
(although the headquarters of Aberdeenshire Council are located within
the city's boundaries).
Aberdeen has good links to the rest of Scotland and
the UK. The main road south to Edinburgh
is a fast dual carriageway and plans are in hand to build a bypass
round the city. Aberdeen is served by good rail links to the south and
north to Inverness, all services
running from the Railway Station in the city centre. Although there
are no direct sea links south any more there is still a ferry service
running to Orkney and Shetland.
Aberdeen Airport is
located at Dyce, about 5 miles (8 km) north west of the city centre,
and has frequent services to London and
several international destinations.
The mean temperature is 8 °C
(47 °F) and it varies between
0.4 °C (0.7 °C) in winter and 17.6 °C (63.7 °F) in summer. The
average yearly rainfall is 816 mm.
The city is one of the healthiest in Scotland.
Art and architecture
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 Union
Street
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Aberdeen Market Cross
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Marischal College as seen from Upperkirkgate
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Union Street is one of the most imposing and famous
thoroughfares in Britain. From Castle Street it runs for nearly a mile
(1.5 km), is 70 ft (21 m) wide, and originally contained the principal
shops and most of the public buildings, all of granite. Part of the
street crosses the Denburn ravine (utilized for the line of the Great
North of Scotland railway) by Union Bridge, a fine granite arch of 132
ft (40 m) span, with portions of the older town still fringing the
gorge, 50 feet (15 m) below the level of Union Street. Union Street
was built from 1801 to 1805,
and named after the 1800 Act of Union with Ireland.
Amongst the notable buildings in the street are the
Town and County Bank, the Music Hall 1822,
the Trinity Hall of the incorporated trades (originating between 1398
and 1527), now a shopping mall; the Palace
Hotel; the former office of the Northern Assurance Company, and the
National Bank of Scotland.
In Castle Street, a continuation eastwards of Union
Street, is the Town House, the headquarters of the city council. One
of the most splendid granite edifices in Scotland, in the
Franco-Scottish Gothic style, it contains the great hall, with an open
timber ceiling and oak-panelled walls; the Sheriff Court House; the
Town and County Hall, with portraits of Prince
Albert, the 4th Earl
of Aberdeen, various Lord Provosts and other distinguished
citizens. In the vestibule of the entrance corridor stands a suit of
black armour, believed to have been worn by Provost Sir Robert
Davidson, who fought in the Battle
of Harlaw in 1411. On the south-western
corner is the 210 ft (64 m) grand tower, which commands a fine view of
the city and surrounding country. Adjoining the Town House is the old
North of Scotland Bank building, in Greek
Revival style. This building is now a pub named the Archibald
Simpson, after its original architect. On the opposite side of the
street is the fine building of the Union Bank.
At the upper end of Castlegate stands The
Salvation Army Citadel, an effective castellated mansion. In front
of it is the Market Cross,
built in 1686 by John
Montgomery, a native architect. This open-arched structure, 21 ft
(6 m) in diameter and 18 ft (5 m) high, comprises a large hexagonal
base from the centre of which rises a shaft with a Corinthian capital,
on which is the royal unicorn. The
base is highly decorated, including medallions illustrating Scottish
monarchs from James
I to James
VII. To the east of Castle Street were the military barracks,
which were demolished in 1965 and replaced
with two tower blocks.
Marischal College on Broad Street, opened by King Edward
VII in 1906, is the second largest
granite building in the world, and is one of the most splendid
examples of Edwardian architecture in Britain. The architect,
Alexander Marshall Mackenzie, a native of Aberdeen, adapted his
material, white granite, to the design of the building with the
originality of genius. This magnificent building is sadly no longer a
seat of learning and is under renovation as the new home of Aberdeen
City Council.
There are no tramways in Aberdeen. The last tram
went through the streets on May 3, 1958.
All trams except one were scrapped. The last tram is on display in the
Transport Museum in Alford,
Aberdeenshire.
Churches
Like most Scottish burghs, Aberdeen has many churches,
most of them of good design.
The East and West churches of St Nicholas' Kirk, their
kirkyard separated from Union Street by a 147 ft (45 m) long Ionic
facade, built in 1830, form one continuous
building, 220 ft (67 m) in length. It contains the Drum Aisle (the
ancient burial-place of the Irvines of Drum) and the Collison Aisle,
which divide them and which formed the transept
of the 12th-century church
of St Nicholas. The West Church was built in 1775,
in the Italian style, the East
originally in 1834 in Gothic Style. In 1874
a fire destroyed the East Church and the old central tower with its
fine peal of nine bells,
one of which, Laurence or "Lowrie", was 4 ft (1.2 m) in
diameter at the mouth, 3.5 ft (1.1 m) high and very thick. The church
was rebuilt and a massive granite tower erected over the intervening
aisles, a new peal of 36 bells, cast in the Netherlands,
being installed to commemorate the Victorian
jubilee of 1887.
These were replaced in 1950 with a carillion
of 48 bells, the largest in the United
Kingdom.
The Diocese of
Aberdeen was first founded at Mortlach in Banffshire
by Malcolm
II in 1004 to celebrate his victory
there over the Danes, but in 1137 David
I transferred the bishopric to
Old Aberdeen, and twenty years later St
Machar's Cathedral, situated a few hundred yards from the Don, was
begun. Save during the episcopate of William
Elphinstone (1484-1511),
the building progressed slowly. Gavin Dunbar, who followed him in 1518,
completed the structure by adding the two western spires and the
southern transept. The church suffered severely at the Reformation,
but is still used as the Church
of Scotland cathedral. It now
consists of the nave and side aisles. It is chiefly built of outlayer
granite, and, though the plainest cathedral in Scotland, its stately
simplicity and severe symmetry lend it unique distinction. On the flat
panelled ceiling of the nave are the heraldic shields of the princes,
noblemen and bishops who shared in its erection, and the great west
window contains modern painted glass of excellent colour and design.
St. Mary's Cathedral is the Roman
Catholic cathedral. A Gothic
building, it was erected in 1859.
St. Andrew's Cathedral is the Scottish
Episcopal cathedral. The Episcopal Church in Aberdeen is notable
for having consecrated the first bishop of the Episcopal
Church in the United States of America, Samuel Seabury. The
cathedral was rennovated in the 1930s to
commemorate the 150th anniversary of Seabury's consecration. The
memorial was dedicated with a ceremony attended by the then U.S.
ambassador to the UK, Joseph
P. Kennedy, Sr.
The cemeteries are St Peter's in Old Aberdeen, Trinity
near the links, Nellfield at the junction of Great Western and Holburn
Roads, Allenvale, adjoining Duthie Park and the most recent Facilities
at Dyce. There is also a crematorium and cemetery near Hazlehead.
Education
The first of Aberdeen's two universities, the University
of Aberdeen, was founded in 1495 by William
Elphinstone, Bishop
of Aberdeen and Chancellor of Scotland. The University of Aberdeen
is Scotland's third oldest, and the UK's fifth oldest University.
Robert Gordon's College (originally Robert Gordon's
Hospital) was founded in 1729 by the
merchant Robert Gordon,
grandson of the map maker Robert Gordon of Straloch, and was further
endowed in 1816 by Alexander Simpson of
Collyhill. Originally devoted to the instruction and maintenance of
the sons of poor burgesses of guild and trade in the city, it was
reorganized in 1881 as a day and night
school for secondary and technical education, and in the 1990s became
co-educational and a day-only school. It also produced the Robert
Gordon Institute of Technology, which became The
Robert Gordon University in 1992.
Gray's
School of Art, founded in 1886, is one
of the oldest established colleges of art in the UK. It is situated in
beautiful grounds at Garthdee on the edge of the city. It is now
incorporated into Robert Gordon University.
Aberdeen
College has several campuses in Aberdeen and offers a wide variety
of part-time and full-time courses leading to several different
qualifications. It the largest further education institution in
Scotland.
Northern
College was a teacher training
college with campuses in Aberdeen and Dundee. In 2000,
the Aberdeen campus of Northern College became the University of
Aberdeen School of Education.
Aberdeen
Grammar School, (now comprehensive, despite its name) founded in 1263
and one of the oldest schools in Britain, was removed in 1861-1863
from its old quarters in Schoolhill to a large new building, in the Scottish
baronial style, off Skene Street. A famous alumni of the Grammar
School is Lord
Byron.
There are 12 secondary schools and 54 primary schools
which are run by the city council in the city. There are also a small
number of private schools.
At Blairs, in Kincardineshire,
five miles (8 km) S.W. of Aberdeen, is the abandoned St Mary's Roman
Catholic College, for the training of young men intended for the
priesthood, with plans to turn it into a hotel.
Culture
His Majesty's Theatre, Aberdeen.
The city is blessed with amenities which cover a wide
range of cultural activities and boasts a selection of museums. The
Aberdeen Art Gallery houses a collection of Impressionist, Victorian,
Scottish and 20th Century British paintings as well as collections of
silver and glass. It also includes The Alexander Macdonald Bequest, a
collection of late 19th century works donated by the museum's first
benefactor and a constantly changing collection of contemporary work
and regular visiting exhibitions.
The Aberdeen Maritime Museum, located in Shiprow,
tells the story of Aberdeen's links with the sea from the days of sail
and clipper ships to the latest oil and gas exploration technology.
The museum includes a range of interactive exhibits and models,
including an 8.5m (28 feet) high model of the Murchison oil production
platform and a 19th Century assembly taken from Rattray Head
lighthouse.
Provost Ross' House is the second oldest dwelling
house in the city. It was built in 1593 and
became the residence of Provost John Ross of Arnage in 1702.
The house retains some original medieval features, including a
kitchen, fire places and beam-and-board ceilings. The Gordon
Highlanders Regimental Museum tells the story of one of Scotland's
best known regiments.
The Marischal Museum holds the principal collections
of the University of Aberdeen, comprising some 80,000 items in the
areas of fine art, Scottish history & archaeology, and European,
Mediterranean & Near Eastern archaeology. The museum is open to
the public, but also provides an important resource for the
University's students and researchers. The permanent displays and
reference collections are augmented by regular temporary exhibitions.
Central Library, Aberdeen.
Aberdeen's museums and attractions include:
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Aberdeen Art Gallery
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Aberdeen Maritime Museum
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Provost Ross' House
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The Gordon Highlanders Museum
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Marischal Museum
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James Dun's House
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King's College Visitor and Conference Centre
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Museum of Education Victorian Classroom
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Provost Skene's House
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Tolbooth Museum
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Doonies Farm
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Marischal College
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Aberdeen Arts Centre
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The Lemon Tree
- The Aberdeen Central Public Library contains more than 60,000
volumes.
- His Majesty's Theatre 1906 (presently
-2005- under renovation) is a fine granite theatre which provides
a home for popular entertainments.
It has a 1,500 capacity and is one of the most beautiful major
touring theatres in Britain.
- Doonies Farm has one of the largest collections in Scotland of
endangered breeds of farm animals. Open to the public, the farm is
nationally recognized as a breeding centre for rare breeds and is
situated on the old coast road between the Bay of Nigg and Cove.
Parks and open spaces
Duthie Park 50 acres (202,000 m²)), situated
on Riverside Drive, was named after and gifted to the city by Miss
Elizabeth Crombie Duthie of Ruthrieston in 1881
and opened by Princess Beatrice on 27
September 1883. It occupies an excellent
site on the north bank of the Dee and includes extensive gardens, a
rose hill, boating pond, bandstand, and play area as well as the David
Welch Winter Gardens. First opened in 1899,
the Winter Gardens were rebuilt in 1970
following storm damage and extended. They are Europe's largest indoor
gardens and one of the most visited in Scotland.
Victoria Park 13 acres (53,000 m²) opened in 1871,
is a beautiful park situated in the north-western area. There is a
conservatory used as a seating area and a fountain made of 14
different granites, presented to the people by the granite polishers
and master builders of Aberdeen.
Westburn Park 13 acres (53,000 m²) opposite
Victoria Park, caters for football and tennis, has a children's cycle
track and a play area. An open section of the Denburn runs through the
park.
Stewart Park (15 acres (61,000 m²) opened in 1894.
The park was named after a former Lord Provost of the city, Sir David
Stewart, and is laid out as an 18 hole golf course; a section is
reserved for cricket and football.
Hazlehead Park is a large, heavily wooded park
on the outskirts of the city. It is popular with sports enthusiasts,
walkers, naturalists and picnickers. Around the park are football
pitches, a golf course, pitch and putt course, a horseriding school
and woods for walking. The park has a significant collection of
sculpture by a range of artists and heritage items which have been
rescued from various places within the city. It also features
Scotland's oldest maze, first planted in 1938.
Aberdeen Beach/Queen's Links is a well-loved
and extremely popular recreational area of the city, visited by
holidaymakers and city residents all year round. The area is well
provided with sporting and recreational facilities, including the
Beach Leisure Centre and the Lynx Ice Arena, cafes, restaurants, a fun
fair, a multiplex cinema, a nightclub and other attractions.
Seaton Park (270,000 m²) is located in the
north of the city and was purchased by the Council in 1947
from Major Hay. Beside the park's south gates stands St Machar's
Cathedral. There are flowerbeds and a walled garden beside the old
stables, which have been converted for housing. The Cathedral Walk is
always a resplendent sight in midsummer and one of the most popular
with visitors to the city. Seaton Park is also an access point for the
River Don and there is a walk from the park to the city boundary.
Union
Terrace Gardens form a popular rendezvous in the heart of the
city.
Statues
Adjacent to Union
Terrace Gardens stands a colossal bronze statue of William
Wallace, by W. G. Stevenson. Also nearby these same gardens are a
bronze statue of Robert Burns
and Charles
Marochetti's seated figure of Prince
Albert.
In front of Robert Gordon's College is the bronze
statue, by T. S. Burnett, of General
Gordon. At the head of Queen's Road stands the bronze statue of
Queen Victoria, erected in 1893 by the royal
tradesmen of the city. Near the Cross stands the granite statue of
George Gordon, 5th Duke of Gordon.
There is a 70 ft (21 m) high obelisk
of Peterhead granite, originally
erected in the square of Marischal College, to the memory of Sir James
McGrigor (1778-1851),
the military surgeon and director-general of the Army Medical
Department, who was thrice elected lord rector
of the College. In the 1890s when the
College was extended, the obelisk was moved to the Duthie Park.There
is also a statue commemorating Lord Byron in Aberdeen Grammar School
in the front grounds.
Bridges
The Dee is crossed by a number of bridges, from west to east:
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Bridge of Dee
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King George VI Bridge
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Railway bridge
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Wellington Suspension Bridge
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Queen Elizabeth II Bridge
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Victoria Bridge
Until 1832, the only access
to the city from the south was the Bridge of Dee. It consists of seven
semicircular ribbed arches, is about 30 ft (10 m) high, and was built
early in the 16th century by
Bishops Elphinstone and Dunbar. It was nearly all rebuilt 1718-1723,
and in 1842 was widened from 14 to 26 ft (4
to 8 m). This was the site of a battle in 1639
between the Royalists under Viscount Aboyne and the Covenanters who
were led by the Marquis of Montrose.
The Bridge of Don has five granite arches, each 75 ft
(23 m) in span, and was built 1827-1832.
A little to the west is the Auld Brig
o' Balgownie, a picturesque single arch spanning the deep black
stream, said to have been built by King
Robert I, and celebrated by George
Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron in the tenth canto of "Don
Juan".
Harbour
A ship in Aberdeen Harbour.
Aberdeen Harbour is the principal commercial port in
northern Scotland and an international port for general cargo,
roll-on/roll-off and container traffic.
Originally, the defective harbour, with a shallow sand
and gravel bar at its entrance, retarded the trade of Aberdeen, but
under various acts since 1773 it was greatly
deepened. The north pier, built partly by John
Smeaton 1775-1781, and partly by Thomas
Telford 1810-1815, extends nearly
3,000 ft (1000 m) into the North Sea
and raised the bar. A wet dock of 29 acres (117,000 m²) and with 6000
ft (1800 m) of quay, was completed in 1848
and called Victoria Dock in honour of the queen's visit to the city in
that year. Adjoining it is the Upper Dock. By the Harbour Act of 1868,
the Dee near the harbour was diverted from the south at a cost of £80,000,
and 90 acres (364,000 m²) of new ground, in addition to 25 acres
(101,000 m²) formerly made up, were provided on the north side of the
river for the Albert Basin (with a graving dock), quays and
warehouses. A 1050 ft (320 m) long concrete breakwater
was constructed on the south side of the stream as a protection
against south-easterly gales. On Girdleness, the southern point of the
bay, a lighthouse was built in 1833.
Thirty-two people were drowned in the harbour on 5
April 1876, in the River
Dee Ferry Boat Disaster. Aberdeen Harbour was the first publicly
limited company in the United Kingdom. A harbour in Hong
Kong has been named Aberdeen
Harbour, supposedly by ex-patriots from the Scottish city.
Industry
Owing to the variety and importance of its chief
industries Aberdeen is one of the most prosperous cities in Scotland.
Very durable grey granite was quarried
at Rubislaw quarry for more than 300 years, and blocked and dressed
paving "setts", kerb and building stones, and monumental and
other ornamental work of granite have long been exported from the
district to all parts of the world. Quarrying finally ceased in 1971.
This, though once the predominant industry, was
surpassed by the deep-sea fisheries, which derived a great impetus
from improved technologies throughout the twentieth century. Lately,
however, catches have fallen due to overfishing in previous years, and
the use of the harbour by oil support vessels. Aberdeen remains an
important fishing port, but the catch landed there is now eclipsed by
the more northerly ports of Peterhead
and Fraserburgh.
Most of the leading pre-1970s industries date from the
18th century, amongst them woollens
(1703), linen (1749), and cotton
(1779). These gave employment to several thousands of operatives. The paper-making
industry is one of the most famous and oldest in the city, paper
having been first made in Aberdeen in 1694. Flax-spinning
and jute and combmaking
factories also flourished, along with successful foundries
and engineering works.
In the days of wooden ships ship-building
was a flourishing industry, the town being noted for its fast clippers,
many of which established records in the "tea
races". The introduction of trawling revived this to some extent,
and despite the distance of the city from the iron
fields there was a fair yearly output of iron vessels. The last major
shipbuilder in Aberdeen, Hall Russells, closed in the late 1980's.
With the discovery of significant oil deposits in the
North Sea during the late twentieth
century, Aberdeen became the centre of Europe's
petroleum industry, with the port
serving oil rigs off-shore. The number
of jobs created by the energy industry in and around Aberdeen has been
estimated at half a million. In 1988, the city was dealt a heavy blow
by the loss-of-life suffered during an explosion and fire aboard one
such rig, the Piper Alpha.
Population
In 1396 the population was
about 3,000. By 1801 it had become 26,992;
in 1841 it was 63,262; (1891)
121,623; (1901) 153,503; in 2001
it was 197,328.
Sport
Aberdeen
Football Club was founded in 1903. Its
major success was winning the European
Cup Winners Cup in 1983 and three League
Championships between 1980 and 1986,
under the current Manchester
United F.C. manager Alex
Ferguson. The club's stadium is Pittodrie
which holds the distinction of being Britain's first all-seater
stadium.
Aberdeen F.C. holds the distinction of being the last
team to have won the Scottish Premier League Championship outside the Old
Firm.
Well known footballers who have played for the club
include Gordon Strachan
(Current Celtic manager), Alex
McLeish (Current Rangers manager) and club legend Willie
Miller. Denis Law, the joint
top scorer for the Scotland national team was also born in the city,
but spent his professional career playing for English and Italian
clubs.
Aberdeen Golf Club was founded in 1815.
It has two 18-hole courses at Balgownie, north of the River Don. There
are other golf courses at Auchmill, Balnagask, Hazlehead and King's
Links.
Transport
There are four main roads serving the city;
The city's original ring road, Anderson Drive, which
was built in the 1930s has long since been
engulfed by the expansion of the city, and is inadequate for dealing
with today's traffic. To this end, a new main bypass road, the Western
Peripheral Route, is planned to divert through traffic away from the
city centre. The road is due to open in 2010.
The city is well served by the national railway
network. Aberdeen has regular rail services to Glasgow
and Edinburgh as well as long distance trains to London
via Edinburgh. It is possible to take the longest scheduled rail
journey in the whole of the UK from Aberdeen. A daily service runs
from Aberdeen to Penzance in Cornwall,
which is 722 miles (1,162 km) and twelve and three quarter hours away.
Regular trains also run north westerly towards Inverness and north to Dyce
for the airport.
Aberdeen also has an airport
in the neighbouring town of Dyce, which is operated by BAA
plc. As well as connecting the city to the rest of the UK, Aberdeen
Airport (sometimes refererred to as Dyce Airport) is a
major helicopter terminal for
flights serving the many North Sea oil installations. The IATA
airport code for the airport is ABZ.
External links
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