46-695: Glasgow Cross is at the hub of the ancient royal burgh and now city of Glasgow , Scotland, close to its first crossing over the River Clyde . It marks the notional boundary between the city centre and the East End As a major junction at the gateway into the city centre, its five streets run: north up the High Street to Glasgow Cathedral , Cathedral Square and the Royal Infirmary ; east along Gallowgate and London Road, close to St Andrew's Square ; south on
92-510: A Dean of Guild Court which was given the specific duty of building control. The courts were abolished in 1975, with building regulation transferred to the relevant local authority. Appointments to the office of Dean of Guild are still made in some areas: for instance the Lord Dean of Guild of Glasgow is described as the "second citizen of Glasgow" after the Lord Provost although the appointment
138-497: A mayor , was called a provost . Many different titles were in use until the Town Councils (Scotland) Act 1900 standardised the term as "provost", except in cities with a lord provost. Since 1975 local authorities have been free to choose the title of their convener and provosts are appointed to chair a number of area and community councils . Under the provost were magistrates or baillies who both acted as councillors, and in
184-524: A guild, but many merchants did not belong to it, and it would be run by a small group of the most powerful merchants. The class of merchants included all traders, from stall-holders and pack-men to shop-holders and traders of considerable wealth. As used in this article, the Scots language word burgh is derived from the Old English Burh . In Scotland it refers to corporate entities whose legality
230-447: A number of their members to be bailies, who acted as a magistrates bench for the burgh and dealt with such issues as licensing. The provost, or chief magistrate, was elected from among the council every three years. The Royal Burghs Act was also extended to the 12 parliamentary burghs which had recently been enfranchised. These were growing industrial centres, and apart from the lack of a charter, they had identical powers and privileges to
276-592: A placename on its own, in the West Germanic countries: Old Aberdeen Old Aberdeen is part of Aberdeen in Scotland . Old Aberdeen was originally a separate burgh , which was erected into a burgh of barony on 26 December 1489. It was incorporated into adjacent Aberdeen by Act of Parliament in 1891. It retains the status of a community council area. The town's motto is "concordia res parvae crescunt" ("through harmony, small things increase"). Located to
322-486: A region outside their settlements. Properties known as Burgage tenures were a key feature, whose tenants had to be of the Burgher class, known as a " Burgesses ", and therefore eligible to participate in trade within the town, and to elect town officials. Most of the early burghs were on the east coast, and among them were the largest and wealthiest, including Old and New Aberdeen , Berwick, Perth and Edinburgh, whose growth
368-611: A widened high street or junction, marked by a mercat cross , beside houses for the burgesses and other inhabitants. The founding of 16 royal burghs can be traced to the reign of David I (1124–53) and there is evidence of 55 burghs by 1296. In addition to the major royal burghs , the late Middle Ages saw the proliferation of baronial and ecclesiastical burghs, with 51 created between 1450 and 1516. Most of these were much smaller than their royal counterparts. Excluded from foreign trade, they acted mainly as local markets and centres of craftsmanship. Burghs were centres of basic crafts, including
414-526: Is Kevin Stewart . The iconic and renowned buildings of King's College are perhaps the dominant structures of Old Aberdeen. The College itself now finds itself surrounded by the wider Old Aberdeen campus of the University of Aberdeen which, since the decline of Marischal College , is now the main focal point of the university. The area boasts two museums, King's Museum, which features changing exhibitions from
460-559: Is an autonomous municipal corporation in Scotland , usually a city , town , or toun in Scots . This type of administrative division existed from the 12th century, when King David I created the first royal burghs . Burgh status was broadly analogous to borough status , found in the rest of the United Kingdom . Following local government reorganisation in 1975 , the title of "royal burgh" remains in use in many towns, but now has little more than ceremonial value. The first burgh
506-538: Is built of granite and is of restrained but elegant early Georgian design, with a fine cupola above the façade. It was acquired by the university in recent years, and was renovated in 2005. The Old Town House now houses King's Museum . The Cathedral Church of St Machar is the high kirk of Aberdeen and following the Reformation lies in the hands of the Church of Scotland . The Cruickshank Botanic Gardens were gifted to
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#1732847492903552-496: Is in the hands of the Merchants House of Glasgow, and not the city council. Early Burghs were granted the power to trade, which allowed them to control trade until the 19th century. The population of burgesses could be roughly divided between merchants and craftsmen , and the tensions between the interests of the two classes was often a feature of the cities. Craftsmen were usually organised into guilds . Merchants also had
598-598: Is incorporated into many placenames , such as Hamburg , Flensburg and Strasburg . The word has cognates in other Germanic languages . For example, burg in German, and borg in both Danish and Swedish . The equivalent word is also to be found in Frisian , Dutch , Norwegian , Icelandic and Faroese . Burgh in placenames is found in its greatest UK concentration in the East Anglia region of southern England, where also
644-708: Is peculiar to Scotland. ( Scottish law was protected and preserved as distinct from laws of England under the Acts of Union of 1707 .) Another variant pronunciation, / b r ʌ f / , is heard in several Cumbrian place names, e.g. Burgh by Sands , Longburgh , Drumburgh , Mayburgh Henge . The English language borough , like the Scots Burgh , is derived from the same Old English language word burh (whose dative singular and nominative/accusative plural form byrig sometimes underlies modern place-names, and which had dialectal variants including "burg" ; it
690-407: Is to say, all counties, counties of cities, large burghs, small burghs and districts, shall cease to exist, and the council of every such area shall also cease to exist. The use of the title continues in informal use, however. The common good properties and funds of the royal burghs continue to exist. They are administered by the present area councils , who must make "have regard to the interests of
736-794: The House of Commons in the Parliament of the United Kingdom , Old Aberdeen forms part of the Aberdeen North constituency. The current Member of Parliament (MP) for Aberdeen North is Kirsty Blackman . For elections to the Scottish Parliament , it elects a constituency member as part of the Aberdeen Central constituency. The current Member of the Scottish Parliament for Aberdeen Central
782-672: The Late Middle Ages . It was distinct from the more commercial New Aberdeen and they remained separate cities until 1891. In the 1630s the Covenanters challenged the Doctors of Aberdeen by holding a meeting in Muchalls Castle and responding to certain letters issued by the doctors, thus setting the stage for the first battle of the Bishops' Wars , when William Keith, 7th Earl Marischal and
828-632: The Marquess of Montrose led a Covenanter army of 9,000 men over the Causey Mounth to attack forces at the Bridge of Dee , effectively gaining control of Old Aberdeen. The central part of the old town is a conservation area rich in historical buildings, some dating to the Middle Ages , and many vernacular buildings of the 17th-early 19th centuries built in the locally ubiquitous grey granite. A notable feature of
874-540: The Parliament of Great Britain . Under the Scottish Reform Act 1832 , 32 years after the merger of the Parliament of Great Britain into the Parliament of the United Kingdom , the boundaries of burghs for parliamentary elections ceased to be necessarily their boundaries for other purposes. There were several types of burgh, including; Until 1833, each burgh had a different constitution or "sett". The government of
920-594: The Saltmarket to Glasgow Green and the Justiciary Buildings ; and west along Trongate continuing as Argyle Street towards St Enoch Square and Buchanan Street . Its most recognisable features are the Tolbooth Steeple, the surviving part of the 17th century Glasgow Tolbooth , and the mercat cross replica commissioned in 1929 by William George Black , and designed by architect Edith Hughes . Linked to
966-591: The University of Aberdeen and opened in 1898. The gardens are set over 11 acres (45,000 m ) and are accessible to the public for no charge. Just south of King's College and across the High Street lie the Powis Gates, an impressive and imposing archway with a Near Eastern influence demonstrated in its ' minaret ' towers. These were erected in 1834 by Hugh Fraser Leslie of Powis, the owner of an estate which formerly lay behind them. The Fraser Leslie Arms are visible on
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#17328474929031012-523: The Tolbooth stood the Tontine Hotel and its Assembly Rooms, designed from 1737 by architect Allan Dreghorn with adaptations in 1781 by architect William Hamilton of St Andrew's Square. The Tontine was the exchange centre of early mercantile business and the focal point of political and social gatherings. A number of artist paintings over the centuries depict Glasgow Cross, the Tolbooth and Tontine. In front of
1058-503: The Tontine was placed the equestrian statue of King William III, erected in 1734; now sited at Cathedral Square . After the Tolbooth Steeple, the nearby Tron Theatre , formerly the Tron Kirk, built in 1794 is one of the oldest buildings in the city. The presently disused Glasgow Cross railway station sits beneath the junction. Burgh A burgh ( / ˈ b ʌr ə / BURR -ə )
1104-433: The act as "paving, lighting, cleansing, watching, supplying with water, and improving such Burghs respectively, as may be necessary and expedient" . The act could be adopted following its approval in a poll of householders in the burgh. Burghs reformed or created under this and later legislation became known as police burghs . The governing body of a police burgh were the police commissioners. The commissioners were elected by
1150-434: The anomalies in the administration of burghs were removed: police commissioners were retitled as councillors and all burghs were to consist of a single body corporate, ending the existence of parallel burghs. All burghs of barony and regality that had not adopted a police system were abolished. Councils were to be headed by a chief magistrate using the "customary title" of the burgh. In 1900, the chief magistrate of every burgh
1196-497: The burgh was often in the hands of a self-nominating corporation, and few local government functions were performed: these were often left to ad hoc bodies. Two pieces of reforming legislation were enacted in 1833: The Royal Burghs (Scotland) Act 1833 ( 3 & 4 Will. 4 . c. 76) and the Burgh Police (Scotland) Act 1833 ( 3 & 4 Will. 4 . c. 46). The Royal Burghs (Scotland) Act 1833 ( 3 & 4 Will. 4 . c. 76) provided for
1242-421: The election of magistrates and councillors. Each burgh was to have a common council consisting of a provost (or lord provost), magistrates (or bailies) and councillors. Every parliamentary elector living within the "royalty" or area of the royal burgh, or within seven statute miles of its boundary, was entitled to vote in burgh elections. One third of the common council was elected each year. The councillors selected
1288-483: The enforcement of laws. As well as general tasks, they often had specific tasks such as inspecting wine, or ale, or other products sold at market. The title of bailie ceased to have any statutory meaning in 1975, although modern area councils do sometimes make appointments to the office on a purely ceremonial basis. For example, Glasgow City Council grants the title in an honorary capacity to senior councillors, while Stirling Council appoints four bailies to act in lieu of
1334-603: The existing town council of the burgh, not by the electorate at large. The town council of a burgh could by a three-quarters majority become police commissioners for the burgh. In many cases this led to the existence of two parallel burgh administrations, the town council and the police commissioners, each with the same membership, but separate legal identity and powers. Further legislation, the Police (Scotland) Act 1850 ( 13 & 14 Vict. c. 33), allowed "populous places" other than existing burghs to become police burghs. In 1893, most of
1380-411: The inhabitants of the area to which the common good formerly related". The use of these assets are to be for the benefit of the inhabitants of the former burgh. Any person or body holding the honorary freedom of any place... formerly having the status of a city, burgh or royal burgh continued to enjoy that status after the 1975 reorganisation. The chief magistrate or convener of a burgh, equivalent to
1426-445: The late 15th Century King's College Chapel, one of two surviving Scottish medieval churches with open "crown" spires, and which has the largest surviving collection of medieval woodcarving in any Scottish building; St Machar's Cathedral itself; the recently restored Old Town House (early 18th century); and the Brig o' Balgownie (14th Century), now pedestrianised, and which is a contender for
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1472-526: The later buildings is the early use of hand-made bricks to build up gables, top garden walls, etc.; this use of brick being rare elsewhere in Scotland before the late 19th century. A number of the streets remain paved with stone setts . There are also several university buildings from the late 20th century. Old Aberdeen is effectively the main campus of the University of Aberdeen . There are also residential and commercial properties, but many of these are owned by
1518-471: The manufacture of shoes, clothes, dishes, pots, joinery, bread and ale, which would normally be sold to "indwellers" and "outdwellers" on market days. In general, burghs carried out far more local trading with their hinterlands, on which they relied for food and raw materials, than trading nationally or abroad. Burghs had rights to representation in the Parliament of Scotland . Under the Acts of Union of 1707 many became parliamentary burghs , represented in
1564-568: The north of Aberdeen city centre, Old Aberdeen was for a long time fairly isolated at the edge of the city, being followed to the north by the River Don , Seaton Park and the small Brig o' Balgownie hamlet. Since the 1960s, and the North Sea oil boom of the 1970s, however, housing development has surrounded the area, in particular with the nearby Tillydrone development. Old Aberdeen was an important political, ecclesiastical and cultural centre since
1610-623: The obverse of the arch, with a shield on the reverse showing the bust of three black men - a link to the family's involvement in a grant of freedom made to their slaves in Jamaica (or possibly impaled arms celebrating a marriage between a member of the Leslie family and a member of the Moir of Scotstoun family). The entrance now leads to the University's Crombie-Johnston and King's Postgraduate Halls of Residence. To
1656-470: The provost in specific geographical areas. A resident granted the rights of a "freeman" of the burgh, was styled a burgess ( pl. burgesses ), a title also used in English boroughs. These freemen and their wives were a class which did not include dependants (e.g. apprentices) and servants, though they were not guaranteed to be wealthy. This was a title held by one of the bailies of the burgh who presided over
1702-522: The royal burghs. Royal Burghs retained the right to corporate property or "common good". This property was used for the advantage of the inhabitants of the burgh, funding such facilities as public parks, museums and civic events. The Burgh Police (Scotland) Act 1833 ( 3 & 4 Will. 4 . c. 46) allowed the inhabitants of royal burghs, burghs of regality and of bBarony to adopt a "police system". "Police" in this sense did not refer to law enforcement, but to various local government activities summarised in
1748-615: The stores of the University and the Zoology Museum, home to the natural history collection belonging to the University. The Old Town House was the original home of the Burgh's local government, completed in 1789. It was originally the centrepoint for trading in Old Aberdeen (still discernible in the widening of the street to accommodate trading booths), and the mercat cross (head late medieval, shaft more recent) stands outside it. The building
1794-559: The title of Scotland's oldest surviving bridge. Old Aberdeen is now fully incorporated into the Aberdeen City council area , with its local authority as Aberdeen City Council . Old Aberdeen remains a community council area within the city. For elections to Aberdeen City Council, Old Aberdeen forms part of the 'Tillydrone/ Seaton/Old Aberdeen' electoral ward , which elects three councillors. These are currently Jim Noble, Alex McLellan (both SNP), and Ross Grant (Labour) For elections to
1840-405: The university or owned by the staff and students of the university. Additionally the area includes a small police station, a pub, a bakery, and until recently its own Post Office. To the north of the university lies St Machar's Cathedral , whose medieval ecclesiastical buildings formed the original Old Aberdeen before the University arrived in 1495. Major historic buildings in Old Aberdeen include:
1886-1013: The word has taken the form bury , as in Canterbury. A number of other European languages have cognate words which were borrowed from the Germanic languages during the Middle Ages , including brog in Irish , bwr or bwrc , meaning 'wall, rampart' in Welsh , bourg in French , borgo in Italian , and burgo in Spanish (hence the place-name Burgos ). The most obviously derivative words are burgher in English, Bürger in German or burger in Dutch (literally ' citizen ', with connotations of middle-class in English and other Germanic languages). Also related are
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1932-467: The words bourgeois and belfry (both from the French ), and burglar . More distantly, it is related to words meaning ' hill ' or ' mountain ' in a number of languages (cf. the second element of iceberg ). Burgh is commonly used as a suffix in place names in Great Britain, particularly Scotland and northern England, and other places where Britons settled, examples: Examples: And as
1978-548: Was Berwick . By 1130, David I (r. 1124–53) had established other burghs including Edinburgh , Stirling , Dunfermline , Haddington , Perth , Dumfries , Jedburgh , Montrose , Rutherglen and Lanark . Most of the burghs granted charters in his reign probably already existed as settlements. Charters were copied almost verbatim from those used in England, and early burgesses usually invited English and Flemish settlers. They were able to impose tolls and fines on traders within
2024-543: Was also sometimes confused with beorh , beorg , 'mound, hill', on which see Hall 2001, 69–70). The Old English word was originally used for a fortified town or proto- castle (e.g. at Dover Castle or Burgh Castle ) and was related to the verb beorgan ( cf. Dutch and German bergen ) 'to keep, save, make secure'. In the German language , Burg means ' castle ' or ' fortress ', though so many towns grew up around castles that it almost came to mean city , and
2070-516: Was facilitated by trade with other North Sea ports on the continent, in particular in the Low Countries , as well as ports on the Baltic Sea . In the south-west, Glasgow , Ayr and Kirkcudbright were aided by the less profitable sea trade with Ireland and to a lesser extent France and Spain. Burghs were typically settlements under the protection of a castle and usually had a market place, with
2116-456: Was to be known as the provost – except in burghs granted a lord provost . The last major legislation to effect burghs came into effect in 1930. The Local Government (Scotland) Act 1929 ( 19 & 20 Geo. 5 . c. 25) divided burghs into three classes: The Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 (c. 65) formally abolished burghs. Section 1(5) of the act stated: On 16 May 1975, all local government areas existing immediately before that date, that
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