Category: Aberdeenshire
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The Crooked Hythe
A hundred years back, this crooked notch in the Findochty coastline was not a place for a stroll. It was a shipyard, thick with the noise of wooden steam drifters going up, tall as the houses around them. The story starts with Thomas Mackenzie, a ships carpenter from Dumbarton who came to Findochty on holiday…
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Findlater Castle
Findlater Castle does not so much sit on the cliff as clings to it, and the history behind it is stranger than the ruin lets on. The first mention of a stronghold here dates to 1246, and King Alexander III had it repaired in the 1260s to guard against Viking invasion. It did not go…
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The Red Well: Roman Ruin or Victorian Fancy?
An information board stands nearby the well, quoting local caretaker Charles M Napier. He was certain the building was Roman. His proof was the doorway. It measures out in neat metres, he wrote, and that alone told him the builders worked in Roman measurements. Here is the snag. Metres did not exist until the 1790s,…
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The Bridge of Alvah and the Legend of James MacPherson
The Bridge of Alvah, spanning the gorge of the River Deveron. This crossing was built almost one hundred years after James MacPherson is said to have lept across it. MacPherson was a fiddler, a fighter, and a thorn in the side of every laird from Elgin to Keith. Born the illegitimate son of the Laird…
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Gardenstown
Gardenstown clings to the cliffs between Macduff and Fraserburgh, a proper cling too, as if it might slide into the sea on a bad day. Alexander Garden of Troup founded it in 1720, and yet hardly anyone calls it Gardenstown at all. Locals stick with Gamrie, the old parish name, borrowed straight from the bay…
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Rattray Head
I know the name from the Shipping Forecast, tucked between Cape Wrath and Berwick-upon-Tweed, and yet I have never set foot here. Odd, that. A name can live in your head for years before the place ever does. The Aberdeenshire coast does not do gentle. Gurly rocks and cliffs run for miles, broken here and…
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Fire, Seaweed and a Green Lady: The Legends of Dunnottar Castle
Some places earn their legends. Dunnottar Castle, two miles south of Stonehaven on Scotland’s north-east coast, is one of them. Perched on a sheer clifftop above the North Sea, it has been collecting stories for over fifteen hundred years — and frankly shows no sign of stopping. It starts early. A chapel here is said…
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A Splash of Bistort by the River Dee
A timeless scene in the upper reaches of the River Dee, just before the Quoich Water merges with its flow. In the foreground, a splendid display of Bistort, also known as Pudding grass, offers a glimpse into local tradition. This plant, with its bitter leaves, forms the base of “dock pudding,” a dish prepared during…
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Rebirth of the Caledonian Pines—A Day on the Mar Estate
I wanted to view the regeneration efforts of the National Trust for Scotland on their Mar Estate. After centuries of deforestation of the native Caledonian pine forest, the Trust has implemented an intensive deer culling programme across the estate. This initiative aims to reduce deer populations to a level the land can naturally support, thereby…
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From Pyres to Stones: The Stone Circle of Tomnaverie
Tomnaverie is one of several stone circles in the north-east of Scotland distinguished by a recumbent, or flat-lying stone, flanked by two upright stones. It lies amidst grass and heather on a small hill’s crest. To the south-west, Lochnagar commands attention, suggesting it was a focal point for the circle. The arrangement may have been…