From Wallace Tower to Brig o’ Balgownie

We went for a wee wander around Seaton Park today, starting at the Wallace Tower, then following the river path along the River Don, crossing the Brig o’ Balgownie then returning back to the park and up past St Machar’s Cathedral. I’ve been wanting to visit the Wallace Tower (also known as Blenholm’s Lodging) for some time as it has a fascinating story. Originally built around 1610 as a Z-plan tower house, it stood proudly for more than 300 years in the city centre on the corner of Netherkirkgate and Carnegie’s Brae, about where the M&S food hall used to be before it closed last year. Photo of the Wallace Tower when it stood in the city centre. Source: https://www.silvercityvault.org.uk/view-item?i=731 According to Diane Morgan in Lost Aberdeen, by the 1960s, the area has become a traffic bottleneck, while M&S wanted to expand its retail space. They proposed a new retail building on the site, closing the route to traffic altogether. The scheme also required the removal of the Wallace…