Market Cross Aberdeen City and Citadel
Aberdeen, often called The Granite City, is Scotland's third largest city, with a population of 212,125. Aberdeen is the chief commercial centre and seaport in the north-east of Scotland. The city is often referred to as the Oil Capital of Europe thanks to becoming, in the 1970s, a major service base for the extraction of crude oil in the North Sea. The city forms the Aberdeen City unitary council area, and it is surrounded by the Aberdeenshire council area. It mostly stands between the mouths of the rivers Don and Dee. At the upper end of Castlegate stands The Salvation Army Citadel, an effective castellated mansion, on the site of the medieval castle. 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. the market cross (Scots = 'mercat' cross) was the symbol of a burgh's right to trade and was located centrally in the town's market place. Documentary evidence suggests that this monument type existed by at least the 12th century in Scotland, although it is thought that these early examples were wooden. Many of the standing examples date from the 16th and 17th century, but there are also several more elaborate Victorian examples. Some burghs are recorded as having more than one market cross according to the produce sold around their base (eg - the 'Fish Cross' and 'Flesh Cross' in Aberdeen). Documentary evidence, particularly in town council records, also refers to all manner of announcements, celebrations and grizzly punishments carried out at the market cross, prompting Small (1900, 5) to describe t
Size: 5288px × 3512px
Location: Castlegate, Aberdeen. Grampian Region. Scotland. United Kingdom.
Photo credit: © David Gowans / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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