Step back in time
If you want to meet a 17th-century jailer, enjoy an atmospheric candlelight tour of a historic building, or step back in time at the home of one of the city’s most famous sons, Aberdeen has got Christmas all wrapped up for you, writes Caroline Brodie
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THE ghost of Christmas past will revisit the present during a series of magical tours round some of Aberdeen’s best-known landmarks in the run up to Christmas.
At the dark and atmospheric Tolbooth Museum, on the city’s Castle Street, a series of re-enactments will give visitors a glimpse of what life would have been like in a 17th-century prison.
City council assistant keeper Chris Croly, who will host the tours for up to 20 people, said: “It is a good chance to meet some of the characters from Aberdeen’s history.”
Visitors will be led through the ancient lock-up, where actors will help bring history back to life.
Jailer Thomas Fraser and his long-suffering wife will be among the characters, alongside John Littlejohn, a debtor who spent time in the Tolbooth before being executed in 1603 for sheep stealing.
In those dark days, debtors were able to buy their way out of prison for the day and the pre-Christmas tours bring to life the mischief prisoners such as Littlejohn could weave on such jaunts to the outside world.
The tour will also make a stop at the local tavern – the bar in local Italian restaurant La Lombarda – for mulled wine.
Chris, who described it as a “heart-warming tale of cheats” said he hoped the tours would bring history to life as well as entertain visitors.
He added: “These tours are always hugely popular with family groups as well as tourists and locals alike.
“There is just a wonderful huge appetite for the history and heritage of Aberdeen and re-enactment is a fantastic way to get a lot of information across and make it entertaining at the same time.”
The less blood-thirsty may prefer to take a glimpse of Christmas past at Provost Skene’s House, and find out how Aberdonians celebrated Christmas from Jacobean times right through to the Regency period.
The council’s keeper of applied art Alison Fraser will guide a series of tours, alongside colleagues Kate Gillespie and Fiona Mair.
She said: “We want to give an impression of what it would have been like in the past. We will start off in the Georgian dining room where we will look at what people would have eaten and all about Christmas traditions of the day.
“In the Great Hall, visitors will be able to find out about a 17th-century Christmas, in which a boar’s head and a yule log played a big part.”
As well as candles and decorations, festive refreshments will also be on offer.
Those with an interest in the Land of the Rising Sun may prefer a visit to Glover House in Bridge of Don.
Dubbed the Scottish Samurai, Glover is little-known in Scotland but revered in Japan, where schoolchildren learn all about the Aberdeenshire-born adventurer’s exploits.
Born at Fraserburgh in 1838, Glover travelled the world before settling in Nagasaki, the centre of European influence in feudal Japan.
Credited with playing a major part in bringing Japan into the modern age, Glover helped introduce the first mechanised coal mines and railways to the country. Later, he founded what is now car giant Mitsubishi before his death in 1911.
At Glover House, visitors will get a chance to meet family members of this most famous city son, including his brothers and sister.
Aberdeen’s Winter Festival Tolbooth Winter’s Trails will take place on Sunday at 4pm and 6pm, and at the same times the following Sunday. Provost Skene’s House Christmas Candlelight Tours will take place on Wednesday and Thursday between 6.15pm and 7pm and 7.15pm and 8pm. Glover House Tours will take place on Wednesday December 17 at 6pm and 7.30pm. Places must be booked on all tours, which cost £7. For more information or to book a place call 01224 523700 or visit www.aberdeencityand shire.com
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