1. Minarets Aberdeen-Initium Sapientiae Timor Domini
In 1833-34 Alexander Fraser erected immense gate piers for John Leslie of Powis. The piers are topped by conical slate caps crowned with golden orbs and crescent finials. The construction of the gates was contemporaneous with the slavery abolition act 1833 that outlawed slavery in British Colonies. A shield commemorates the freedom of slaves from the families Jamaican plantations.
They were restored in 2007.
Marvel at these magnificent structures before recording the four numbers on the gates from left to right (you will need these for the Cathedral co-ordinates in the next stage). There is no cache at this site.
Powis Gates
2. Cathedral
Replace the numbers taken from Powis Gates as read from left to right into the following coordinates as ABCD.
W 002, 06, 0AB N C7, D0, 208
There is a cache container here with the coordinates of the Tower cache.
The Cathedral was named after St Machar a Celtic saint who was a disciple of St Columba. A place of worship was established in 580 AD. It became a Cathedral in 1130 and was extensively renovated between 1282 & 1328.
In 1305 Sir William Wallace was hung, drawn and quartered and his dismembered body was sent to different parts of Scotland. Whether his left arm was indeed interred within the walls of St. Machar's is not known, however legend has it that the mysterious masons mark near the Churchyard gate is the site of the burial.
St Machar’s Cathedral
3 Wallace Tower
Coordinates for the Tower can be found in part 2. Cathedral
The tower has not only lost its name but its true identity. The Tower was originally built for the owner Robert Keith, Lord of Benholm in the Netherkirkgate in 1588 and was known as Benholm’s Lodgings. Locals nick named the Tower Wall Hoose Close after a public well nearby in Carnegies Brae. Later confusion reigned over the Doric tongue and the Victorians renamed it The Wallace Tower. The effigy of the Knight is that of Robert Keith & not as some thought William Wallace.
In 1964 a retailer paid the bill to move the Tower brick by brick to it’s new home so that they could expand the newly purchased Raggie Morrison’s store next door into the site where the Tower once stood.
Please replace the cache carefully keeping it nice and tight in its hiding place. BYOP
Wallace Tower