Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire : Historical writing

Descriptive gazetteer entries

These other entries in our collection of descriptive gazetteers are also about Aberdeen. You may be able to find further references to Aberdeen in the descriptive gazetteers by doing a full-text search here.

Place Type of entry Source
Aberdeen county town Bartholomew
Aberdeen the ' Granite City,' capital of Aberdeenshire, seat of a university, and chief town and seaport Groome
Aberdeen and Banff Railway Groome
Aberdeen Railway a railway Groome

Travel writing

This website includes the complete texts of books describing journeys around Britain, written between the twelfth and nineteenth centuries. Selecting one of the links below will take you to the first reference to Aberdeen within the selected text. This will not always be a description of a visit: travellers often mention places other than where they are, for example as a basis for comparison.

Traveller Section No. of Refs.
Daniel Defoe Letter 13, Part 2: Dundee, Aberdeen and the Highlands 17
James Boswell August 21st to 23rd, 1773: Montrose to Aberdeen 10
Thomas Pennant August 7-13: Aberdeen and the North East 10
Samuel Johnson Aberdeen 7
John Wesley 1763-4: In Scotland Again; Methodist's Wealth; "No Law for Methodists"; Exhausting Days 7
Thomas Pennant Appendix IV: Of the Murder of a Laird of Innes 7
James Boswell August 27th to 31st, 1773: Forres to Glen Moriston via Inverness 3
James Boswell Sept. 1st to 7th, 1773: Glen Moriston to Skye 3
Thomas Pennant August 1-6: Loch Tay to Deeside 3
Thomas Pennant Appendix II: Of Elgin and the Shire of Murray 3
James Boswell August 24th to 26th, 1773: Aberdeen to Forres 2
James Boswell October 3rd to 8th, 1773: Coll 2
James Boswell October 27th to November 7th, 1773: Through Glasgow to Ayrshire 2
William Camden Scotland: North of the Antonine Wall 2
Daniel Defoe Letter 13, Part 1: Fife and Perth 2
George Head The Caledonian Canal 2
Samuel Johnson Elgin, Forres and Fort George 2
Samuel Johnson Inverness, Loch Ness and Foyers 2
Samuel Johnson Coll 2
John Wesley 1765-8: Justice for Methodists; Methodist Character; Instructions to Parents 2
John Wesley 1774-6: Wesley Arrested; A Terrible Ride; A Methodist Isaac Newton; the American War 2
James Boswell Introduction 1
James Boswell August 18th to 20th, 1773: From Edinburgh to Montrose 1
James Boswell September 21st to 24th, 1773: Dunvegan to Talisker 1
James Boswell October 9th to 16th, 1773: Mull 1
William Camden Scotland: South of the Antonine Wall 1
Daniel Defoe Letter 12, Part 2: Glasgow and central Scotland 1
Robert Gammage Touring central Scotland 1
Samuel Johnson The economy of the islands 1
John Wesley 1760-2: Letter to an Editor; Impositions and Declarations; Speaking Statue; Pentecost 1
John Wesley 1769-70: Opens a New Church; Comments on Rousseau; Geology; Swedenborg 1
John Wesley 1771-3: Windsor Park; Wesley as Art Critic; Glasgow and Perth; Preaches to 30,000 People 1
Thomas Pennant July 24-31: Fife and Perthshire 1
Thomas Pennant August 30-September 5: The Great Glen and Argyll 1
Thomas Pennant Appendix III: The Life of James Crichton of Clunie 1
Thomas Pennant Appendix V: Of Caithness, Strathnavern, and Sutherland 1
Thomas Pennant Appendix VIII: Itinerary 1

This website includes two large libraries, of historical travel writing and of entries from nineteenth century gazetteers describing places. We have text from these sources available for these places near your location:

Place Mentioned in Travel Writing Mentioned in Historical Gazetteer
Torry 0 2
Ferryhill 0 1
Old Aberdeen 13 1
Old Machar 0 2
Bridge of Dee 4 1
Woodside 0 2
Bridge of Don 2 3
Grandholm 0 2
Balgownie 0 1
Banchory Devenick 0 2
Cove 0 2
Cults 0 2
Nigg 0 2
Newhills 0 2
Dyce 0 2
Findon 0 3
Portlethen 0 2
Maryculter 0 2
Belhelvie 0 2
Peterculter 0 4

Names from historical writing

The following appear as names for Aberdeen. Follow the links for what the author actually said:

Name Author Source
ABERDEEN John Bartholomew Gazetteer of the British Isles (Edinburgh: Bartholomew, 1887).
F.H. Groome Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland (Edinburgh: T.C. Jack, 1882-4).
ABERDEEN AND BANFF RAILWAY F.H. Groome Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland (Edinburgh: T.C. Jack, 1882-4).
ABERDEEN RAILWAY F.H. Groome Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland (Edinburgh: T.C. Jack, 1882-4).
ABERDON William Camden Britain, or, a Chorographicall Description of the most flourishing Kingdomes, England, Scotland, and Ireland (London: George Bishop and John Norton, 1610).
HABBERDYN Thomas Pennant A Tour in Scotland 1769 (London: Benjamin White, 1776).
NEW Daniel Defoe A tour thro' the whole island of Great Britain, divided into circuits or journies (London: JM Dent and Co, 1927).
NEW ABERDEEN Daniel Defoe A tour thro' the whole island of Great Britain, divided into circuits or journies (London: JM Dent and Co, 1927).
John Wesley The Journal of John Wesley (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Christian Classics Ethereal Library, 2000).
NEW ABERDON William Camden Britain, or, a Chorographicall Description of the most flourishing Kingdomes, England, Scotland, and Ireland (London: George Bishop and John Norton, 1610).

NB: These variant names come from our collections of historical travel writing and descriptive gazetteers:

  • The above links take you to the first reference to this particular version of the name within a book of travel writing, or to the relevant gazetteer entry.
  • Some names may derive from research by antiquarian writers such as William Camden and Thomas Pennant into the Roman, Saxon and medieval names of places. Their claims are not always supported by modern place-name researchers.
  • References by travel writers to the place using its "normal" name are not included. Descriptive gazetteer entries are included only if the name does not appear anywhere else.