Duthie Park
Temperate House in the Winter Gardens
TypePublic Park
LocationFerryhill, Aberdeen, Scotland
Coordinates57°7′49″N 2°6′14″W / 57.13028°N 2.10389°W / 57.13028; -2.10389
Area44 acres (18 ha)
Created1881
FounderElizabeth Duthie
DesignerWilliam R McKelvie
Operated byAberdeen City Council
OpenAll year
Designated2006

Duthie Park is a public park in the Ferryhill area of Aberdeen, Scotland located near the River Dee. It comprises 44 acres (180,000 m2) of land given to the council in 1881 by Miss Elizabeth Crombie Duthie of Ruthrieston, in memory of her uncle and of her brother. She purchased the land for £30,000 from the estate of Arthurseat.[1]

The former Deeside Railway ran along the northern edge of the park. The park is now the starting point for the Deeside Way, a long-distance path which uses the trackbed of the railway.

History

Duthie Park was opened in 1883 after it was gifted to the city by Miss Elizabeth Crombie Duthie in 1880 for the 'wellbeing and recreation of Aberdeen residents'.[2]

During the 1970s Duthie Park played host to several television programmes. A round of It's A Knockout, featuring a team from Aberdeen against a team from Arbroath, was staged in Duthie Park on 10 May 1970 and transmitted on BBC1 on 13 May 1970.[3] An episode of the children's programme Play School, transmitted Monday 3rd May 1976, visited Duthie Park in 1976.[4]

In 2013 paddle boats were reintroduced to the park. Kayaks are regularly offered in the boating pond.

Duthie Park from the Air

The park has undergone a £5 million pound refurbishment with funding provided by the Heritage Lottery Fund and Aberdeen City Council. The original 1883 plans were consulted in order to restore some of the long-lost features. Work was completed in 2013 and the official reopening was on 30 June 2013. The refurbished park cafe was reopened in 2017 and is operated by the same company as the cafe at Hazlehead Park.[5]

Winter Gardens

The park is noted for the David Welch Winter Gardens with tropical and arid houses which contain the second largest collections of bromeliads and of giant cacti respectively in Great Britain[6] (second to the Eden Project in Cornwall, England). Originally opened in 1899, the greenhouses had to be demolished and rebuilt after suffering storm damage in 1969. The gardens contain a range of plants including tree ferns, Spanish moss, anthuria, and banana trees.

Within the gardens are railings salvaged from the south side of the major bridge in the middle of the city's Union Street. These feature unusual metal cats, derived from the city coat of arms, and were saved when the side of the bridge was developed for retail units in the mid-20th century.

The Japanese Garden is an outdoor area of the Winter Gardens, opened in 1987 to commemorate the dead of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.[7]

The gardens closed to the public due to the COVID-19 pandemic[8] and reopened in October 2021.[9]

Art in Duthie Park

An interactive musical art installation, called Hornchestra, was installed in 1975.[10] It consisted of a set of horns mounted on a 39ft. pole activated to play different notes by standing on underground foot pads and was donated by the Electrical Association for Women's Aberdeen branch.[10] The installation was later referred to as the Honking Horns.[11]

Images

See also

References

  1. ↑ "History of the Duthie Park".
  2. ↑ "Duthie Park | Aberdeen City Council". www.aberdeencity.gov.uk. 19 January 2022. Retrieved 16 February 2022.
  3. ↑ "Series Guide: 1970". www.jsf.hiddentigerbooks.co.uk. Retrieved 19 February 2022.
  4. ↑ "BBC Programme Index". genome.ch.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 19 February 2022.
  5. ↑ "Duthie Park café to reopen this week". Duthie Park café to reopen this week. Retrieved 2 January 2021.
  6. ↑ "Treasures of Britain".
  7. ↑ Walsh, Stephen. "Designer of Aberdeen's Duthie Park peace garden returns to site". Aberdeen Press and Journal. Retrieved 3 February 2021.
  8. ↑ Gossip, Alastair (2 August 2021). "Importance of Duthie Park's Winter Gardens made clear as Aberdeen City Council pressed to consider reopening". Aberdeen Evening Express. Archived from the original on 2 August 2021. Retrieved 2 August 2021.
  9. ↑ Gossip, Alastair. "Duthie Park's winter gardens to reopen a week on Monday but visitors will have to book". Aberdeen Press and Journal. Retrieved 19 February 2022.
  10. 1 2 "'Hornchestra' attracts in Aberdeen park". Aberdeen Press and Journal. 16 September 1975. p. 7.
  11. ↑ "Spike's garden initiative is talk of the town". Aberdeen Evening Express. 12 May 1988. p. 9.
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