Aberdeen Council Register: volume 70 - extract dated 20 August 1819 Council meeting, 20 August 1819 [Sederunt given] The Council ordained that the usual burgess oath be discarded, and that instead the burgh would adhere to an Act of the Convention of Royal Burghs of 14 July 1819, transmitted in a letter from Mr Irvine, agent for the Convention, recommending that a clause be inserted on the ticket of admission, binding each burgess to discharge his civil duty. (203v) The Council remitted to the Standing Committee consideration of a report from Messrs Gibb and Smith on their annual inspection of the state of the Bridge of Dee and the Bridge of Don. [Report engrossed.] The report included a recommendation that the parapet of the Bridge of Dee should be re-built, and that the bridge should be widened, though Messrs Gibb and Smith did not endorse the plan proposed by Mr Smeaton in 1779. (203v - 205r) The Council considered the report of the committee which recommended that the Council should purchase the stances of ground on the north side of Union Street, between Correction Wynd and Back Wynd, on behalf of the Master of Kirk and Bridge Works. The Council authorised the magistrates to make an offer for the stances at the roup to be held on the following day. (205r) The Council recommended that the following encroachments and obstructions, identified during the perambulation of the Town's Inner or Royalty marches, be removed. First, the obstructions on the road from the Spittal to the Gallowhills; in particular, the obstructions at both ends of the garden ground between the Spittal and King Street, and on the road from King Street to the hill on which the powder magazine was sited. Second, the encroachment on the pathway along the Burn of Ferryhill. Third, the wooden projecting stair erected near the Spaw Well by William Bathgate, skinner; alternatively, the committee recommended that Mr Bathgate should give an obligation to remove the stair when requested. Fourth, the obstructions on the path along the Burn of Broadford erected by Dr Dauney. The committee also recommended that the Loch should be cleaned. (205r - 205v) The Council admitted seven Burgesses of Guild. [No names given.] (205v) 20 August 1819