Sunday Times Where Was I? Holiday Competition

Not as difficult as last week. Near as I can figure it, the most likely answers are:

Q1. Aberdeen

Q2. Torry Point Battery

(NB for question 2, this is sometimes referred to as 'Torry Battery'. See links
http://www.aberdeencity.gov.uk/nmsruntime/saveasdialog.asp?lID=39172&sID=11081
http://www.scottish-places.info/features/featurefirst19575.html )

The initial clues place us in a part of the world that the Eastender Himself knows well, the city of Aberdeen. A wild rocker and poet called George Gordon Byron (6th baron Byron b1788), went to school at Aberdeen Grammar for four years. His wife was called Anne Isabella Milbanke.

There are three 'cathedrals' in Aberdeen but the one which the puzzle author is most likely referring to, is St Machar's, he uses the quotes advisedly,  perhaps because technically, it is no longer a cathedral but what is known in the trade as a 'high kirk'. There has been a place of worship on the site since around 580 ad but it did not become a cathedral until the 1130s. St Machar's feast day is November the 12th and he was indeed around in the sixth century.

The university-cum museum, is most likely the Marischal museum (founded 1786), which is part of Marischal college. It is housed in a beautiful building, which is reputed to be the second largest granite structure in the world. Union bridge, on Union street, claims to be the largest single span granite arch in the world.

Two miles south east of the Marischal museum puts us at Nigg bay and the ruined church referred to is most likely, St.Fittick's. St Fittick is the patron saint of gardeners and his feast day is on the 30th August/1st September. The lighthouse is most likely Girdleness lighthouse, built circa 1833 and is around 121 feet high. If the bearings are taken from the lighthouse, then approximately half a mile north west from there, lies a battery, which is most likely to be Torry battery (sometimes called Torry point battery), constructed in 1860 and sits near the mouth of the river Dee, which in some texts is reported to be 85 miles long.