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Publication Account
Date 1997
Event ID 1019111
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Publication Account
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1019111
To defend the harbour of Aberdeen a blockhouse or fort was erected on the Sandness in the first half of the sixteenth century, its construction having commenced in 1513-14 prior to the battle of Flodden. It may have replaced an earlier fort dating from 1477. By 1542, the sixteenth-century blockhouse was virtually complete. It was constructed of stone and lime, measured 36ft (10.97m) by 18ft (5.49m), and had walls 6ft (1.83m) thick, pierced by gun holes. Instructions in that year that it should be covered with turf indicate that the fort was then still roofless. Across the mouth of the Dee was built a complementary watchtower, which housed a bell to warn of approaching danger. Entrance to the harbour was controlled by a chain which was kept on the surface of the water by masts of ships attached along its length. By 1661, the blockhouse was 'not made use off bot in the tyme of great alarms and when forrayne incursions are feared'. To date there is no archaeological evidence of this structure.
Information from ‘Historic Aberdeen: The Archaeological Implications of Development’ (1997).
