Day 75: Newburgh to Huntly, Aberdeenshire

Virtual Walk: Scotland 2021

20th March 2021: 101.76km walked today taking the total to 7677.35/8868km. 18.5% of 75 entries submitting 550.07km.

From Newburgh we walk inland to Haddo House then continue west to Fyvie Castle and Huntly, before heading southeast to reach the Bennachie Hills.

Route 21: Inverness to Aberdeen

We follow the course of the river inland to join the A975 and cross the bridge towards Newburgh, passing old World War 2 bunkers and looking out for seals who frequent the sands in large numbers as we do so: we don’t venture near the seals as they are protected by Scottish law. The largest population in the world of eider duck is also found here, so we watch out for the little black and white birds, but we’d probably hear them before we see them!

After crossing the bridge, we turn right to visit Knockhall Castle, built by Lord Sinclair of Newburgh in 1565, who entertained James VI in 1589. It was sold to Clan Udny, who lived here until a fire gutted the building in 1734; the Laird of Udney’s fool was said to have saved the family’s life. The family then moved back to their other property, Udny Castle. The castle ruins are for sale for £130,000, though any redevelopment would require planning consent.

Newburgh has existed since the early 13th century and was the coastal port for Ellon further inland during the 19th century. As a result, some of the ship captains constructed houses here and gave them grand names such as Sydney House and Shanghai House. Newburgh was bombed during World War 2 and the beach was classed as a high threat from enemy unit invasion based in Norway. Many pillboxes along with barbed wire, anti-tank blocks and scaffolding poles were installed (that ran almost to Aberdeen along the coast), as well as landmines planted on the beaches.

We make our way to the Newburgh On Ythan Golf Course car park where we head over the dunes to view the grey seal ‘haul-out’; there can be as many as 3,000 here at a time! The Golf Course was founded in 1888 and is one of the oldest courses in Scotland. National Club Golfers Top 100 Courses describe it as ‘old fashioned links at its finest’.

Returning to the B9000, we walk west for 11 kilometres to Pitmedden, a rural village which was the base for a prisoner of war camp during World War 2; the prisoners were sent to work on the local farms. Taking the Oldmeldrum Road out of town we turn left to go through Udny Green. As we do so we pass Udny Castle dating from the late 14th century. It stands as the original tower house today but was at one point extended with a baronial style wing; this was demolished in the1960s. Udny descendants still occupy the house as a private home to this day.

Passing through Udney Green we walk along country roads to turn northwest onto the A947 leading us into Old Meldrum. This is an old village, having witnessed the Battle of Barra in 1308, near the Hill of Barra (191m), between Robert the Bruce and the Earl of Buchan in the War of Scottish Independence. The hill once had a fort dating back to at least 500 BC, with several other fortifications following on from it. As we make our way through the village, we pass the Glen Garioch Distillery, pronounced Glen Geery, established in 1797 and one of Scotland’s oldest distilleries. Heading northwest out of Oldmeldrum we pass Meldrum House entrance, which started life as a castle in the 1200s, changing over the centuries and now a hotel with a golf course. We continue for 10 kilometres turning right at the Formartine’s Eatery to take a path at the West Lodge. We are now on the Haddo Estate, the path leading us through Keithfield Wood, alongside the Burn of Keithfield, through Icehouse Wood to arrive at Haddo House.

The Gordons of Haddo built this property between 1731-1736, designed by William Adam, on the grounds of their previous property, House of Kellie, which had been burnt to the ground by Covenanters. The Gordons had already lived on this site for over 500 years, having acquired the estate in 1469. George Hamilton-Gordon, 4th Earl of Aberdeen, was born here in 1784 and served as the British Prime Minister from 1852–1855.

During World War 2 the house was the Haddo Emergency Hospital, serving as a maternity hospital for Glasgow mothers; nearly 1200 babies were born here and many return to reminisce: they are known as the Haddo Babies. When the 4th Marquess, David Gordon, died in 1974 he left Haddo House and its gardens to the National Trust for Scotland. The Trust opened the house to visitors in 1979 and is now one of the most popular visitor attractions in Scotland. We spend time visiting the house, enjoying its art collection of Scottish castles from the 1800s painted by Aberdeenshire artist, James Giles, as well as its beautiful gardens and country park.

We leave the Haddo Estate on a wooded lane then continue west along country roads. This stretch of the road is called the Peth of Minnonie; it passes over the highest points of a sloping range called the Braes of Minnonie to join the A947. Peth means a ‘steep and narrow way’; this one was cut through hard rock and done so at considerable expense. We pass alongside the River Ythan for a time before joining the main road taking us north to Fyvie.

We are here to visit Fyvie Castle, an 800-year-old royal fortress built by William the Lion in circa 1214. The site was chosen on the bend of the River Ythan for the protection it offered. It was a royal residence until 1390, and among others, hosted Alexander II, Charles I (this was his childhood home), Robert the Bruce, Robert II and finally Robert III. It was then transferred out of royal hands to be home to clan families: Preston, Meldrum, Seton, Gordon and, lastly, Leith. Sir Alexander Seton, who purchased the castle in 1596, is responsible for transforming it into the structure we see today. It was sold in 1885 to Scottish industrialist Alexander Leith, Lord Leith of Fyvie, who made his money in the US steel industry. His descendants sold it to the National Trust for Scotland in 1984 and the rest, they say, is history!

This is a truly magnificent castle, aesthetically extended and renovated by its owners, with 109 rooms, an incredible collection of antiquities, paintings and armour. The staircase is so large you can race two horses to the top floor! It’s worth reading more of its history to fully appreciate what occurred within its walls. The history that took place here has left its mark and, like many castles in Scotland, has its legends and ghosts. The Charter Room is such a place, having a secret chamber underneath; it is said that if you open the chamber, a curse will cause the death of the current laird and blind his wife. In 1920 the skeleton of a woman was found behind a bedroom wall during renovations. The Laird gave her a proper burial after which strange happenings started to occur. So much so, they exhumed her body and reburied her back in the wall and the happenings ceased. They believe her to be Lady Grey, a ghost often seen, thought to be Lady Meldrum who had asked to be buried in the bedroom wall when she died! There is also the Green Lady, who is said to have etched her name in a window sill (which you can see on the tour), as well as the phantom trumpeter, who people have heard playing and seen dressed in tartan. There are 9 ghosts experienced here which have led to the castle to feature on ‘Most Haunted’ (S6E13), ‘Castle Ghosts of Scotland’, and most recently ‘Help! My House is Haunted’ (S1E6). The castle also holds paranormal nights for those who enjoy things of a spooky nature!

As we walk back through the grounds, we pass the artificial Loch of Fyvie, established by the Gordon clan along with the landscaped gardens and trees. The River Ythan also passes to the south and west side of the castle grounds, as mentioned previously. The river is famous for its pearl mussels. According to tradition the large pearl on the Crown of Scotland was obtained in the river a few miles downstream; presented to James VI in 1620. The river proved an excellent power source for several mills, as many valleys run from the river. In 1793 there were 13 corn mills, 2 fulling mills, a barley mill and a lint mill in use. Fulling is the pounding of woollen cloth to knit the fibres together; lint mills split the fibrous flax stems in preparation for the fibres being spun into a thread to make linen cloth.

From Fyvie we follow country roads west to join the B9001 for a short time. We turn left at Badenscoth onto more country roads which follow the course of the River Ythan to the Wells of Ythan. Here we find the source of the river, rising to the surface as wells, which flow initially south-east. We push on through several small villages along our route to arrive in Huntly.

Huntly was known historically as Milton of Strathbogie until 1488, when a charter was granted to change the name of the area and its castle. The town has old origins and certainly developed to serve the castle, the Peel of Strathbogie, from the 1180s. What we see today dates from the 18th century when the Duke of Gordon built a planned town in a gridiron pattern with a square at the centre, which also acted as a marketplace. This was done to take advantage of the growing economy, as the town was thriving with the export of leather, linen cloth webs, pork, butter, eggs and cheese. In the 19th century, more fine buildings arrived along with the railway in 1845. By this time, the industry had moved to wool weaving, agriculture, milling, whisky distilling and tanning.

Today Huntly is more a commuter town but retains its market town character, which is celebrated every September with the Huntly Hairst: a traditional harvest festival. It is the historic home of the Gordon Highlanders Regiment, home to Deans shortbread, and the award-winning art organisation, Deveron Projects, who host artists from all over the world to collaborate with the Huntly community; they also run a community kitchen and gardening projects.

We cross the River Bogie (a tributary of the River Deveron) onto West Park Street, then turn onto Castle Street. This leads us north past the Huntly War Memorial, unveiled to over 4,000 people in 1922, and on past the Gordon Schools. The Gordon Schools, designed by Archibald Simpson, were founded by the Duchess of Gordon, Elizabeth Brodie, in 1839 as a memorial to her late husband. We walk through the school entrance archway, located on Castle Street; an impressive structure with its clocktower decorated with the Clan Gordon crest. Before us is a pretty tree-lined avenue, a peaceful stroll which leads us past the golf course to Huntly Castle ruins.

Huntly Castle has certainly seen its fair share of history in its 600 years. It was the seat of the mighty Gordon Earls and Marquises of Huntly from the 14th century. Strathbogie Castle or the Peel of Strathbogie, as it was first called, was built as a motte and bailey structure nearby in circa 1190 by the MacDuff Earls of Fife. This castle was burned in 1452 by the Earl of Moray, of the Black Douglas family; the Earl of Huntly, Sir Alexander Gordon, destroyed the Black Douglas family in Moray for destroying his castle.

The new grander castle was built circa 1455 on the site of the ruins today. It saw centuries of siege, slaughter, pillaging, attacks, damage, restoration and remodelling - it was attacked or besieged 8 times - to then be abandoned in 1745-6 after the Government troops commandeered it as a garrison during the Jacobite uprising. By now it was in poor condition but still had its roof in 1799. It was then quarried to build other local buildings and used as a dump until 1923. It was at this point it entered into state care and is maintained by Historic Environment Scotland today. As we explore the ruins, set in a wooded location, we can see the remnants of the magnificent ornate building that it had become as the palace section still standing to full height. Another castle worth reading more about when you have the time.

We retrace our steps back into town and approach The Square, noting the attractive, solid-built grey stone buildings; the town is a Conservation Area because of the important 18th-19th century architecture that survives here. In The Square, we see a memorial drinking fountain to James Robertson, a bank agent, erected in 1882 by his widow. There is also a statue of the 4th Duke of Richmond, nephew of the 5th Duke of Gordon, at the base of which are 2 stones. These are the remains of a stone circle removed to make way for The Square, giving evidence that this area was settled long before the castle appeared.

We turn onto Duke Street (A920) which leads us out of Huntly onto the A96 heading southeast towards Aberdeen.