Port Elphinstone Co-operatives

GO TO SCWS▶▶

The Aberdeenshire Canal was planned to connect Aberdeen, Inverurie and Monymusk, but the Monymusk sectio had been removed before the Act of Parliament was obtained. The canal opened in 1805. The canal extended to the Don. The northern port of the canal, across the Don from Inverurie, was called Port Elphinstone after Sir James Elphinstone, a local supporter and financier of the canal. The canal was used for cargo and passengers but had competition from the adjacent faster but more expensive turnpike road. The share holders never recieved a dividend and the canal was eventually sold to the Great North of Scotland Railway, who closed the canal in 1854 to remove competition and to use the land for it's railway from Aberdeen to Huntly.

With the closure of the canal, Port Elphintone developed as an industrial suburb of Inverurie. A major employer was Inverurie Paper Mill. The Tait family, major shareholders in the canal, used the money they recieved from the sale of the canal to establish the paper mill in 1858 on the Port Elphinstone side of the river.

The map opposite, from a reproduction with the permission of the National Library of Scotland, shows Port Elphinstone in 1900. The line of the canal can be seen close to the river and Inverurie Paper Mill can bee seen South of Port Elphinstone.

DON CO-OPERATIVE SOCIETY 1876-1921

The Don Co-operative Society Ltd was opened in Port Elphinstone in 1876. In 1879 a branch was opened in Kemnay with a branch opened later in Inverurie. In 1921 the society was taken over by the Aberdeen Northen Co-operative.

THE DON CO-OPERATIVE SOCIETY LIMITED
	Source
	Filename	DonCoop.3
	Value	3d
	Add Desc.
	Size (mm)	Oval 31.2x21.8
	Manufacture	Plated Iron Bracteate
	Notes
	Source	(DRR)
	Filename	DonCoop.1s
	Value	1/-
	Add Desc.
	Size (mm)	30.6 to 30.8
	Manufacture	Brass Bracteate
	Notes

GO TO SCWS▶▶