Description

James Mackie and John Burnet, 1706. Small rubble cistern house built into hillside. Flat-arched opening to centre of S Elevation with large lintel, metal plaque above reading "Old Well from Lands of Fountainhall, erected in connection with the first city water supply 1706, Re-erected 1903". Rectangular pool in front, with 4 stone steps on each side leading down to water; brick and stone lined vaulted inner chamber.

Statement of Interest

B-Group with Duthie Park Bandstand, Bowling Pavilion, East Lodge, Gates, Gatepiers and Boundary Walls, Footbridge over Upper Lake, Fountain, Gordon Highlanders Celtic Memorial, Gordon Highlanders Obelisk Memorial, Hygeia Statue, McGrigor Obelisk, Taylor Well, and Temperance Drinking Fountain (see separate listings). The site of the Duthie Park was originally a marshy piece of land covered in gorse (or whin, hence the nearby "Whinhill Road), it was known as Pulmoor, now "Polmuir". In 1850 Arthurseat (the villa on the site) and its surrounding land was intended to be developed as a Royal Garden to view the trains crossing the new viaduct to and from London via Ferryhill. However, in 1881 Miss Charlotte Duthie of Ruthrieston purchased the site and gifted it to the City of Aberdeen for a public park. It was decided it should be "available for all classes of citizens, that it should have a broad expanse of grassy sward upon which the young might indulge in innocent frolic and play..." (Duthie Park, p37). The park was designed by William R McKelvie of Dundee, and the first sod, of the 47 acres of land, was cut on the 27th of August 1881, the park being officially opened in 1883. The Cistern House was originally sited at Fountainhall, and

dates from the time when there was a single reservoir in Aberdeen, collected from the springs at Carden's Haugh, creating the first clean and healthy water supply to the city.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q56624806

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Oxfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Oxfordshire: North and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Northumberland (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Norfolk 1: Norwich and North-East: Norwich and North-east v. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Old House Care and Repair
• 
  [(Shropshire)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1958)