The logo chosen by members for the Blackburn and Kinellar Men’s Shed features an artistic impression of Tappie Tower, a Victorian folly that sits atop Tyrebagger Hill just to the east of the village.
Though not very high – neither tower nor hill – Tappie is a popular destination for walkers and mountain bikers alike after negotiating a variety of woodland trails through Kirkhill Forest.
The granite tower has a spiral staircase with a wrought iron guardrail to access its top providing panoramic views of Aberdeen and the North Sea to the southeast, round to the Mither Tap of Bennachie in the northwest.
It was constructed at the behest of Sir William Henderson, a local merchant and philanthropist and one-time Lord Provost of Aberdeen, to mark a visit to the city by Queen Victoria in 1848.
A Forestry and Land Scotland information board sited in the car park at the base of the hill and the start of the forest walks provides an amusing opinion of the tower, presumably voiced by one of the builders, in the Doric, as follows: “Howkin steens for Queen Victoria. At’s me. Sir William wints iss cairnie ti mind abdy o Her Maijesty’s veesit ti Aiberdeen. Bit min, Queenie, she’ll niver get up thae Tappie steppies in at muckle gounies o’ hers.”
Blackburn and Kinellar Men's Shed 