The hidden Denburn

Beneath the centre of Aberdeen runs an ancient stream, the Denburn, which once provided water and food to mesolithic settlements. It runs through the Denburn valley which was carved out during the last ice age and starts from Kingswells, about 5 miles west of the city centre. In the city centre the stream is now buried beneath train tracks and the road you can see in this next photo but it continues to move underground down to Aberdeen Harbour where it joins the sea.

The Victorians buried it in a culvert – a brick tunnel – in the late 1800s to build the railway line. They built culverts all over the country usually for one of two reasons: either to build something on top or to entomb the stench of sewage. In this case they wanted to build the railway line and a new train station. The stream was very likely polluted too as it was widely used for linen bleaching and there are reports it was already filthy as far back as the 1600s due to human activity.

Here’s the Denburn during construction of the culvert. Photo from https://doriccolumns.wordpress.com/water-supply/medieval-water-supply/denburn/

And here’s the open waterway before it disappeared underground. Photo from https://www.aberdeenlive.news/news/history/how-denburn-valley-aberdeen-changed-8758610

I do feel sad that we’ve lost this natural waterway in our city centre. I hope one day humans will dig it up and return it to its former glory. I can’t see it happening in my lifetime but maybe in a century. It has been done in other places like the Chronggyecheon Stream restoration project in South Korea. What an eyesore this was.

And now they have this.

I dream that one day Aberdeen may restore the Denburn too.

At least we still have the Dee and the Don. I took this photo of the River Dee on a bike ride today. That’s the Bridge of Dee in the distance, built in 1527.