The Clydesdales of Duthie Park

The Publicity and Promotions Department Photographs is a sizable collection of photographs from the 19th and 20th century. There are over 2000 pictures in total, which were digitised by our Kickstart intern Jonathan earlier this year. Each of the albums within the collection contains photographs of very different subjects. For this post, we are looking at a topic that may seem a little 'left field' (excuse the pun): horses.

The bulk of the photographs in this post are from the album “Clydesdale Horses” and were taken between 1980 and 1983. These images show the beautiful horses usually found in Duthie Park during this period. These first images of the horses show them amongst the snow during the Winter.

You can see the frozen lake and snow on the benches in the first image, whilst the next two show other areas of Duthie Park. The fountain in the image below is located near the entrance of the Winter Gardens and was sculpted by Alexander Taylor in grey granite. The Taylor Well incorporates a drinking fountain, dog basin and a horse trough and has two inscriptions: 'Erected in the memory of Alexander Taylor, Merchant in Aberdeen by his daughter, Jane Forbes Taylor, Morkeu, Cults' and 'He Prayeth best who loveth best all things things both great and small'. The Clydesdale horses in the images are certainly great. 

The next scene is recognisable as Duthie Park's cafe:

The horses weren't just enjoyed in Winter, but throughout the summer months too - 

And they sometimes ventured outside of the park too. The image below shows the horses and their cart surrounded by cars on Union Street:

The Clydesdales were clearly a firm favourite of the City. Do you have any memories of them you can share in our comments?

Interested in learning more about this type of horse? The first World Clydesdale Show to be held in the UK will be in Aberdeen at the P&J this October 2022: https://www.pandjlive.com/events/world-clydesdale-show/

Jonathan, Kickstart Intern

Kimberley Smith, Archivist