Heritage

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The Society was founded in 1987, by Gordon Ritchie (local Solicitor) with the intention of preserving the history and heritage of the town of Stonehaven and area, and to encourage interest in the history by arranging meetings, lectures, exhibitions etc. Since then, the Society has thrived and now has around 350 members. The Society has published several books on aspects of local history, to order one of these books see the publications section. The Society also issues a quarterly magazine, "Stanehyve". Illustrated talks for members are arranged throughout the year with outings to places of interest. The Heritage Exhibition is held biannually to display part of the Society's large collection of photographs of Old Stonehaven.

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News

Press Release

Young Heritage
Launches
Blogs, Pods, & Ghosts

A special assembly at 13:30 this Friday 23rd March at Mill O’ Forest Primary School Stonehaven will see over 60 pupils collect certificates from the local Heritage Society.

The pupils under the supervision of their local ICT visiting specialist teacher Ms Jean Forsyth, and Rod Macleod webmaster of New Media Ltd have created a section of vibrant web pages containing blogs, pods, polls, video animation, ghosts, trails, quizzes and competitions http://www.stonehaven-heritage.org/content/young.asp

The pupils have taken part in an initiative introduced by Stonehaven’s Heritage Society of encouraging young people to take an active part in their heritage by contributing their ideas of heritage to a new Young Heritage section on the Society’s web site.

Local solicitor Gordon Ritchie Honorary Secretary, founder of the Society and partner of Connons Law Firm in Stonehaven noted:

“Traditionally an appreciation of heritage has been the preserve, to a large extent of adults, but it is imperative and common sense to encourage young people to participate in the heritage they will eventually inherit”

The pupils at Mill O’Forest Primary 7 have taken to the opportunity with real interest and excitement. The pupils themselves think its “well cool” and Ms Forsyth, their visiting ICT teacher, has experienced the strange phenomena of pupils lining up after break “ten deep” to get back into the class to finish off the work they have been doing.

The parent of one pupil stated that she had never seen her child so motivated and animated about schoolwork..

The Nano iPods provided by the Heritage Society have proved very popular, particularly when “dinky” memo microphones are attached for the pupils to record interviews for their PodCasts.

Ms Forsyth commented…”I have been using the Young Heritage initiative to allow pupils to show not only their creativity and technology skills but also an interpretation of heritage in a wider sense not just buildings but: art, dance, music and literature.

The initiative fits with the Scottish Executive’s new “Curriculum For Excellence” where pupils are encouraged to be successful, confident, contributing citizens.

Bruce Robertson,OBE the new Director of Education & Recreation Aberdeenshire Council agreed……….

"As an ex-history teacher with an interest in local heritage and history, I am delighted to see how young people from Mill O’ Forest Primary School have become actively involved in their area's past.

The new technologies give outstanding opportunities for young people to be influential in local history and heritage societies and this is a great example. Well done to everyone involved, but especially the pupils."

Press Release Ends

Notes to Editors:
Photo Desk note to cover. Permissions for photographs already sought. Time 13:15 Friday 23rd March Mill O’ Forest Primary School Stonehaven

Further information contact Phil Mills-Bishop
Committee Member Stonehaven Heritage Society pmbishop@aberdeencity.gov.uk Work:01224 52 Mobile: 07787 555 657

Web address: www.stonehaven-heritage.org click link to Young Heritage pages. For information on the Stonehaven Heritage Society Gordon Ritchie can be contacted on 01569 762971

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Officials

Chairman
Sheriff Douglas Cusine

"Sheriff in Aberdeen since 2001, formerly sheriff in Peterhead. Prior to that, Professor and Head of the Department of Conveyancing & professional Practice of Law, University of Aberdeen. Former member of the Council of the Law Society of Scotland."

Vice Chairman

Dr Keith Stewart

Keith, a native of Huntly Aberdeenshire, works at Aberdeen University where he researches into kidney disease and lectures in Immunology.
Having lived in B-listed buildings for most of his life, has given him a strong interest in the preservation and enhancement of old buildings.
Keith’s main role in the Society is to advise and comment on planning applications that may have an adverse impact on built heritage. Stonehaven’s rich built heritage makes a very important contribution to our environment and helps define the “Sense of Place” of our historic town– this unfortunately can all too readily be compromised through unsympathetic development. (for further information, see the Built heritage planning “matters” section of the Web site).

Hon. Secretary

Gordon J. N. Ritchie

50 Allardice Street,
Stonehaven,
AB39 2RA

Telephone: 01569 762971

email: info@stonehaven-heritage.org

Gordon J.N. Ritchie was the founder of the Society in 1987 and has been Honorary Secretary since then. He has a keen interest in local history and is Editor of several publications, including Stonehaven of Old, Vols I and II, books of old photographs of the town and Picturesque Stonehaven, a reprint of 1899 guide to the town.

He is a Solicitor and Estate Agent in Stonehaven and also heavily involved in other organizations in the town including dunnottar church, Stonehaven and District Motor Club and Stonehaven Business Association. He is Clerk to John Smart, Her Majesty the Queen's Lord Lieutenant for Kincardineshire and also acts as Clerk to Jubilee House, a holiday home in Stonehaven.

No Picture available
Hon. Treasurer

Keith Dodds, NBS Accountants

4 Barclay Street, Stonehaven, AB39 2BJ
Telephone 01569 762301

Committee:

John Christie was born and bred in Stonehaven, he attended Fetteresso School and then the old Mackie Academy, he is the third generation to run the family painting and decorating firm in Stonehaven and has a keen interest in old photos of the town and what Stonehaven used to be like.

Phil Mills-Bishop Msc

Phil works within Aberdeen City Council as the eGoverment manager.
Active within the community particularly helping local schools with new media
projects.
Member responsible for Publications, newmedia projects including CD rom production, oral and video history, website development and the online photo archive".

email: pmbishop@aberdeencity.gov.uk

eBuiness Advisor, New Media, Web & Publications:

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Objectives 1.To record the histoy of Stonehaven and its surroundings by whatever means desirable.
2. To preserve the heritage and amenity of the Town of Stonehaven and its surroundings by all possible means.
3. To act as a collecting body for items of local interest
4. To stimulate public interest in, and care for, the beauty, history, heritage and character of the Town of Stonehaven and its surroundings.
5. To encourage high standards of architecture and town planning in the Town of Stonehaven and its surroundings.
6. To pursue these ends by means of meetings, exhibitions, lectures, publications, conferences and publicity, and the promotion of schemes of a charitable nature.
MEMBERSHIP is open to all who are interested in the aims of the Society.
The Society is registered with the Scottish Civic Trust

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Events

Please telephone

Gordon Ritchie for details

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Membership

» Join the Stonehave Heritage Society
The society has over 320 members in the UK and overseas.

Membership Options:

UK Membership Cost £7.50 (includes 4 copies of Stanhyve (Qrtly) Mag, access to online Photo Archive and free admission to meetings)

Overseas Membership Cost £15.00 (includes 4 copies of Stanhyve (Qrtly) Mag and access to online Photo Archive)

For new or existing members please note that UK membership is now £7.50, Overseas membership £15.00 and that membership runs from April to April.
New members joining after April 2005 still have to renew after March 2006.

http://www.stonehaven-heritage.org/content/join.asp

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Member Log in

Welcome to the Stonehaven Heritage Society's Photo Archive.
Members who have not been allocated a password please contact the secretary.

You must be a member to view Photo Archive.

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Heritage Sites

Stonehaven Tollbooth/Harbour

The Tolbooth situated on the old pier is the oldest building in Stonehaven built at the end of the 16th Century by George the 5th Earl Marishal as a storehouse for Dunnottar Castle. It was converted to a Courthouse and Tolbooth in 1600. In its time the Tolbooth held condemned prisoners, rioters and notable members of the local Barclay family. The Tolbooth court continued to sit until it was moved in 1767. An account of the first sitting in this new Courthouse, that of the trial of John Couley, held in December of that year. However the new building was still incomplete and permission was requested, and granted, to move the trial after Sir William Ogilvy of Barras (chancellor of the jury) complained that, at 1am,
" It being both frost and snow, and the Court-house being very open, and no place or apartment therein,..... it would be impossible for them to give their verdict without imminent hazard to health."
So the grateful jurors accepted the hospitality of Mrs Logie, Mill of Stonehaven, in allowing them to deliberate in her home and by instruction, to return a verdict by ten o'clock that forenoon.
After 1767 it reverted to its use as a storehouse for merchants and fishermen. It suffered damage during 1944 when a mine exploded against the Harbour pier and its dilapidated state was further accelerated by the great storms of 1953. In 1963 the Tolbooth was restored and re-opened by Her Majesty the Queen Mother as a museum and now is an important part of the historical tapestry of Stonehaven.

Average High Tide Variation: 10 minutes after Aberdeen
Latitude: 56° 58'N
Longitude: 02° 12'W
Admiralty: Chart No. 1438
Stonehaven Harbour was originally a small natural bay to the south of the mouth of the River Carron, sheltered to the southeast by Downie Point. Stonehaven Harbour was first built prior to 1607 but was destroyed by storms.
It was repaired and again destroyed by storms. In 1678 it was built more robustly but broke up under the force of North Sea storms. Its usefulness as a harbour was curtailed by a large rock "Craig-ma-cair" which lay to the southward of the pier and its tendency to silt-up after storms. A new plan was drawn up in 1811, by Robert Stevenson the grandfather of Robert Louis Stevenson, to provide improvements and deepening as well as breakwaters and piers.
In 1825 an Act of Parliament invested title in the Harbour Commissioners and the following year quarrying and blasting of Craig-ma-cair was successfully concluded as well as the construction of a new South Pier extending the harbour to an area of 5 acres. In 1877 the old pier was extended for an inner harbour. In 1908 the breakwater was finally completed. The Harbour was handed over to Stonehaven Town Council in 1962.

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Market Square

Robert Barclay, Laird of Ury and a "Heaven born improver" bought the waste coastal moorland that is now Stonehaven, in 1795 for £1500. Recorded documentary evidence tells us that 12 acres were laid down for the town and that streets were to be "regular" with a minimum width of 48 inches. An additional 2 acres were allocated for a central square.
It was Captain Robert Barclay-Allardice the son of Robert Barclay who conceived the idea in 1826 of the Market buildings on the edge of the Square with open arcades or piazzas, originally for the accommodation of stalls then as the "pends" or covered ways. A stone water trough provided refreshment for animals.
Public subscription at the time provided a steeple; with clock and bell, the Square became the focal point for the new town and that of the local agricultural economy.

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Dunnotar Castle

Dunnottar Castle is a truly breath taking ancient monument steeped in history. In the 5th century the rock of Dunnottar became the home of one of St. Ninian's many churches. Between the 9th and 17th centuries the castle was fought over many times. For three centuries it was held by the Keith family who were Grand Marischals of Scotland.
Sir William Keith fortified the castle rock and brought Papal wrath on his head for violating hallowed ground. His excommunication from the church however was later revoked. In 1297 William Wallace burned alive an English Plantaganet garrison which was holding the castle. In 1562 and 1564, Mary Queen of Scots visited Dunnottar. The Scottish crown regalia which had been sent to Dunnottar for safekeeping, were smuggled out during a siege by Cromwell's Roundheads in 1650 and held safe further south at Kinneff Church, hidden under the crypt.
In 1685, over 167 Covenanters were imprisoned in terrible conditions. The Whigs vault where these men and women were kept can be seen today as it was then. After the Jacobite rebellion of 1715 and 1745, the property was fortified but later fell into disrepair.

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Mercat Cross

In front of the old Town House stands the plain base and shaft of the old Mercat Cross dating from 1645.
As in other Scots towns the Mercat Cross was the hub of municipal affairs in bygone days and the scene of feudal government.
" The market crosse to be the place at the whilk all citations, charges, denunciations of hornings (infidelities) and others whatsomerver..."
On October 28th 1651 proclamation was made from the Cross, of the attempt by the Commonwealth to incorporate Scotland with England and called upon the burgh of Stonehaven to elect representatives of integrity disposed to the welfare and peace to appear at Dalkeith to agree to the proposed Union. In the winter of 1715 one of the most fateful proclamations was made when the "Old Pretender" was declared King James VIII by John Maule the local Procurator-fiscal.

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Stonehaven Swimming Pool

In 1933, the Stonehaven Town Council, to ensure that the Town maintained its premier resort status in the North East, Commissioned Mr R. R. Gall of Gregory & Gall Architects to design a Swimming Pool 165ft long by 60ft wide, with a varied depth of 2ft 9 inches to 9ft 6 inches.
A poll of Stonehaven Householders voted in favour of the pool by 656 to 539 and the construction, by Wm Tawse Ltd, started in February 1934. The Grand Opening on June 2nd 1934 was done by Mr.C M Barclay-Harvey MP. 320,000 gallons of water was used to fill the pool taking nearly 3hrs. 2,300 people witnessed the opening and over 60,000 spectators attended the first season outnumbering swimmers three to one.
The advent of circulated, filtered, disinfected and "heated" water pushed the 1935 season attendances to 100,000 bathers and spectators. A record of 3000 attended in one day. Today while attendances are a fraction of past glories. The Pool still operates thanks to the support from Aberdeenshire Council, Friends of the Pool and local companies.

For more info see: www.stonehavenopenairpool.co.uk

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Carron Tearoom

On the 19th July 2001, 33 years after its original opening, the Carron Tea Rooms on Evan Street re-opened its doors.
The restoration was due to the vision and determination of local Stonehaven residents (and current owners) Jack Morrison and his partner Jean Rowan. The pains-taking restoration, which cost over £1 million, has saved one of the finest buildings of its kind.
The architectural design created by Colonel H.S. Tawse and Mr Mackie of Messrs Tawse & Allan together with internal designer Mr Bowman of Messrs Macdonald & Cresswick of Edinburgh can now be enjoyed by current and future generations in its original Art Deco setting where in past years it provided elegance, serenity, luxury and modernity even a hint of "risqué" with the "mystic nude lady" etched onto a large interior mirror.
The decor is based on the interior of a luxury liner. Charles Cameron Ballie, who created luxury interiors for cruise ships, made the style popular in the 1930's. 498 light bulbs reflected by thousands of tiny glass tiles, set within columns, illuminate the whole interior to evening diners.
Professor Charles McKean an eminent Scottish architectural historian describes the Carron Tea Room as "a rare example" and the... "Finest Art Deco patterned glazing surviving in Scotland"
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Visitor Information Links to other web sites of interest

Local Tourist Information

Travel Information

Local Amenities : Restaurants/Pubs/Hotels

Scottish Heritage Website

Local Supporting Businesses : Connons

Weather Information

National Museums of Scotland

Stonehaven. Special Events Group
Stonehaven Feein' Market
Stonehaven Half Marathon
Stonehaven Highland Games
Stonehaven Folk Festival
Stonehaven Fireballs

Stonehaven Guide
Dunnottar Castle
Fowlsheugh Nature Reserve
Stonehaven Heritage Society

Stonehaven Golf Club
Stonehaven Tennis Club
Stonehaven and District Angling Association
Fleet Fleet Triathletes
Aberdeen & Stonehaven Yacht Club
http://www.portalnetwork.net/stonehavenguide/listings/7.html

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Famous People

James Leslie Mitchell
Lewis Grassic Gibbon (1901 - 1935)

James Leslie Mitchell, alias the famous writer Lewis Grassic Gibbon whose, earthy writing style endeared him to thousands of Scots at home and abroad and led to the opening of a centre in his memory in Arbuthnott in 1992.
The Centre stands within two miles of the farm croft where Mitchell spent his boyhood, and yards from the parish school where his talent first flowered. His ashes rest in nearby Arbuthnott churchyard.Gibbon was born at Auchterless near Turriff, in 1901. His family moved to Arbuthnott while he was still a youngster. The young Mitchell had problems and rebelled from an early age against the way of life. Instead of the soil he found greater enjoyment in books.
His problems continued when he walked out of Stonehaven's Mackie Academy after an argument with a teacher. He also upset people in the Mearns who found his strong political and personal views unfitting with their way of life.
Mitchell worked as a trainee journalist in Aberdeen from l917-1919. He then moved to Glasgow to join the Scottish Farmer, but left after problems with expenses. The shame, and his feelings of isolation, led to an attempted suicide. His family took him back into the fold at Arbuthnott, believing simple life could save their wayward son. But the crofting life proved as frustrating to him as before, and he joined the armed forces to escape the Mearns and the stagnating effect it was having on him. He discovered an interest for social history and anthropology when he traveled through the Middle East.
He wrote fascinating philosophical discussions on Christianity and theories on the evolution of man, but this caused great upset at the time.
Mitchell returned to Arbuthnott in 1925 to marry the local girl who stayed opposite his home Rebecca (Ray) Middleton, whom he had kept in touch with throughout his years of travel. The couple moved to London where their early, married life is said to have been hard with cheap lodgings and city landlords breathing down their necks.
By the time the Mitchell's had moved to Welwyn Garden City in 1931, Mitchell was an established author, with short stories, novels and essays published widely under both James Leslie Mitchell and Lewis Grassic Gibbon.
Sunset Song, his best loved novel, is set in the Mearns around the Centre, and was a success right from its first publication in 1932. Today, after adaptations for TV, radio, theatre and music, it remains one of the most popular of all Scottish stories.
for more info see : www.grassicgibbon.com

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Famous People

Robert Thomson (1822 - 1872)

Robert Thomson invented the pneumatic tyre in December 1845 and his memory is kept fresh annually by a vintage car rally held in June on the Market Square in the town centre directly opposite the site of the house where he was born.
Robert was the eleventh of twelve children of a local woolen mill owner. His family wished him to study for the ministry but Robert refused, one reason being his inability to master Latin. He left school at the age of 14 and went to live with an uncle in Charleston, USA, where he was apprenticed to a merchant. Two years later he returned home and taught himself chemistry, electricity and astronomy with the help of a local weaver.
Robert's father gave him a workshop and by the time he was 17 years old he had rebuilt his mother's tangle so that wet linen could be passed through the rollers in either direction, a ribbon saw, and had completed the first working model of his elliptic rotary steam engine.
He patented the pneumatic tyre in France in 1846 and in the USA in 1847. His tyre consisted of a hollow belt of India-rubber inflated with air so that the wheels presented "a cushion to the ground, rail or track on which they run". This elastic belt of rubberized canvas was enclosed within an outer casing of leather bolted to the wheel.
Thomson's "Aerial Wheels" were demonstrated in London's Regent Park in March 1847 and were fitted to several horse-drawn carriages. One set ran for 1200 miles without sign of deterioration. However, despite satisfactory testing the tyre developed no further at this time because the North British Rubber Company was unable to supply the strong thin rubber necessary for the inner tubes. For many years Thomson was frustrated by this lack of thin rubber and he turned to the development of his solid rubber tyres. It was not until 43 years later that the pneumatic tyre returned when it was developed as a bicycle tyre by John Boyd Dunlop. Dunlop was granted a patent in 1888 but two years later was officially informed that it was invalid as Thomson's patent had preceded it.
At the Great Exhibition in 1851 Thomson demonstrated his self-filling fountain pen and an invalid chair with solid rubber tyres. The following year he accepted a post in Java, where he designed new machinery for the production of sugar, thus greatly increasing profitability. During this time he invented the first portable steam crane but did not patent it. In 1867 he patented solid India-rubber tyres for his road steamers.
The Scotsman described this application of vulcanised India-rubber "the greatest step which had ever been made in the use of steam on common roads". The resilience of the stout rubber tyres allowed his lightweight five ton steam engine to run on hard or soft, wet or dry surfaces, over obstacles, uphill or downhill. In addition, the thick rubber tyres did not damage the roads as did the iron wheels of heavy traction engines. Thomson's first road steamers, manufactured by Tenants of Leith, were fitted with three wheels, the small single wheel at the front being directly below the steering wheel. The tyres, which were 125 mm (5") thick, were corrugated and adhered to the wheel by friction.
Thomson's road steamers, often drawing four fully loaded coal wagons totaling 40 tons up and down steep gradients, excited great interest. Soon the first omnibus was in service between Edinburgh and Leith. Engines were exported to Java, India and Brazil, and by 1870 were being manufactured in the USA. Demonstrations of the engine's ability to plough effortlessly with two double-furrow ploughs had a major impact on farming practices and led to the eventual demise of the working farm horse.
In 1873 R. W. Thomson, died at his home in Moray Place, Edinburgh

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Famous People

John Charles Walsham Reith (1889 -1971)

Known as the "Father of the BBC" in the years 1927-38 John Charles Walsham Reith, statesman, administrator, engineer and 1st Baron Reith of Stonehaven, was a son of the Free Church Manse and was born on July 20th 1889, in what is now 80/84 Evan Street.
Stonehaven Heritage Society plaque on his his birthplace, was unveiled by his son exactly 100 years later.
Member of Parliament in 1940. Minister of Transport & Information in same year and later Minister of Works and Buildings in 1942.
Knight of the Thistle in 1969. CBE, GCVO & Privy Counselor followed.
Rector of Glasgow University from 1965-68
He died on the 16th June 1971.
Today Baron Reith is remembered as much for his writings (Reith Diaries, "Into the Wind and "Wearing Spurs") as for his activities in the BBC.

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Built Heritage Planning Matters
Important Built Heritage Web Links

Built Heritage Planning Matters

Important Built Heritage Web Links:-
Aberdeenshire Planning Web site you can now see all plans in detail and
can comment on these by E-Mail if you wish. Search by putting in AB39
http://www.aberdeenshire.gov.uk/web/home.nsf/html/57ENTP?OpenDocument
http://www.aberdeenshire.gov.uk/web/home.nsf/html/57ENTP?OpenDocument
Stonehaven & District Community Council:
http://www.stonehavencommunitycouncil.co.uk/home.html
http://www.stonehavencommunitycouncil.co.uk/home.html
North Kincardine rural Community Council
http://www.nkrcc.org.uk" http://www.nkrcc.org.uk
Scottish Executive Reporters Unit (The people who deal with Planning appeals).
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/about/DD/IRU/00014614/page888254394.aspx
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/about/DD/IRU/00014614/page888254394.aspx
The Scottish Executive Planning and Building Web Site:-
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Planning-Building
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Planning-Building
Planning guidance for protecting Archaeology:
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/about/Planning/nppg_5_archaeologypl.aspx
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/about/Planning/nppg_5_archaeologypl.aspx

Planning and the Historic Environment:
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/about/Planning/nppg_18_historicalen.aspx
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/about/Planning/nppg_18_historicalen.aspx
Planning and Listed Building Legislation:

http://www.hmso.gov.uk/acts/acts1997/1997009.htm
http://www.hmso.gov.uk/acts/acts1997/1997009.htm
The Royal Commission on Ancient & Historic Monuments of Scotland
You can search using Canmore or Pastmap to obtain details on every
Listed Building or Scheduled Ancient Monument
http://www.rcahms.gov.uk/" http://www.rcahms.gov.uk/
The RCAHMS web links page this is the most comprehensive
list of Heritage related Web sites – including our own.
http://www.rcahms.gov.uk/links.html" http://www.rcahms.gov.uk/