Shiprow is a historic street in the heart of

Aberdeen Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

, near the

harbour A harbor (American English), or harbour (Commonwealth English; see American and British English spelling differences#-our, -or, spelling differences), is a sheltered body of water where ships, boats, and barges can be Mooring, moored. The t ...

. Formerly the Shiprow sloped upward more gradually than it does now, and it crossed

Union Street Union Street may refer to: United Kingdom *Union Street, Aberdeen, Scotland * Union Street, East Sussex, between Ticehurst and Flimwell *Union Street, London * Union Street, Plymouth, Devon * Union Street, Reading, Berkshire United States *Un ...

in a depression between St Catherine's Hill on the west and Castle Street, once high uneven ground, on the east. That the Shiprow has been made up several feet can be seen by a house at the end of Exchequer Row, and it crossed Union Street and entered Broad Street at a lower level than the present. The Shiprow was one of the most important streets in the city, since it led from the harbour into the Castlegate area - the heart of Aberdeen. It is first mentioned in documents in 1281. Over the years it became more and more rundown and, although it had many historic connections, nearly all of it was demolished in the 1950s and 60s. Exchequer Row known locally as Cheq'ra Wynd (first mentioned in 1350) was a short congested lane connecting the Shiprow to the Castlegate, and on its right side, were a number of courts leading into an area crammed with insanitary dwellings which were later demolished. It was popularly supposed that the name Exchequer Row derived from the Aberdeen Mint which stood in the area. However, it comes from the name of the Royal Customs House - the Skakkarium, dating back to the 14th century. Provost Ross's house, dating from 1593 and the second oldest house in the city, is located here. Since 1981, it has housed part of the

Aberdeen Maritime Museum Aberdeen Maritime Museum is a maritime museum in Aberdeen, Scotland. The museum is situated on the historic Shiprow in the heart of the city, near the harbour. It makes use of a range of buildings including the former Trinity Congregational Ch ...

. Shiprow has changed dramatically in the last few years and now houses, alongside the

Maritime Museum A maritime museum (sometimes nautical museum) is a museum specializing in the display of objects relating to ships and travel on large bodies of water. A subcategory of maritime museums are naval museums, which focus on navy, navies and the m ...

, the City Wharf office development,

PureGym PureGym Limited is a British chain of no-frills health clubs, headquartered in Leeds. It is Britain's largest gym chain by membership, with over 1,900,000 members registered to their gyms. PureGym also operate gyms in 8 more countries and have ...

, Hotel Ibis, Lane7 Bowling Alley and

Vue Cinema Vue International ( , like "view"), is a multinational cinema holding company headquartered in London, England, and registered in St Helier, Jersey. It operates in the United Kingdom, Ireland and Denmark as Vue, with international operations in ...

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Culture in Aberdeen Streets in Aberdeen {{Aberdeen-geo-stub