Wedding String Quartets in Aberdeen for hire

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About Aberdeen

The name Aberdeen probably comes from the word aber (meaning mouth of the river) Don. It was probably founded as a fishing settlement by the 8th century. Aberdeen had grown into a town by the early 12th century. In 1136 the burgesses (merchants) were given the right to charge a tithe (a tax of one 10th of all goods) on ships entering or leaving the harbour. In 1137 Aberdeen was given a bishop, a sign of its growing importance. In 1179 Aberdeen was given a charter. (A charter was a document granting the townspeople certain rights).

The people of Aberdeen lived by fishing or by weaving and dying wool or by working leather (some of them were skinners, tanners, glovers and saddlers). Exports from Aberdeen included salted fish, hides and wool. In the 12th century many of Aberdeens inhabitants were immigrants from Flanders (roughly modern day Belgium). They would have spoken French

In the year 1200 Aberdeen may have had a population of around 3,000. That might seem very small to us but by the standards of the time it was quite a large town. There were 4 main streets forming a cross. The market was held by the Denburn. In the early Middle Ages there were 2 settlements, Old and New Aberdeen. In the late Middle Ages they merged together but they remained legally separate.