Monthooly to New Aberdour Shore

The old road from Peathill to New Aberdour roller coasts along parallel to the coast, at times between banks and gorse covered dykes, at others open and giving spectacular views down to the shore and out towards Troup Head to the west and Rosehearty to the east.  Grey Granite has known and loved this quiet back road for well over half a century. Our walk was accompanied by lark song until we left the road for the shore when oyster catchers took over. There were snowdrops in places at the roadside, almost going over now to be replaced by occasional daffodils, red dead nettle, chickweed and wavy bitter cress.  



A fine day for ploughing.

Dundarg Castle, a Gothic gatehouse, built in 1935, largely  with stones from the Free Church of New Aberdour. The ruins of an Iron Age promontory fort and later small Celtic monastery which eventually became a Comyn Castle are just visible on the headland between the 'castle' and the tractor. The most conspicuous being the remains of a 16th century gatehouse. The Edward Bonaventure, carrying the Russian Ambassador and assorted treasures, is supposed to have sunk in the vicinity of Dundarg in 1556.





Today the Broad Shore was completely deserted. we reached it by cutting down an almost forgotten path and climbing over a broken style to the cliffs above the Boat Shore. There were starry celandines fully open in the sunshine at the top of the cliff, closed up in the shade lower down.

St Drostan's Well, currently slightly squalid the well was built in 1884 and is said to be on the spot where St Drostan landed around 575. Later strangers arriving on the shore included German spies who were put ashore here from a submarine in  a rubber dinghy in 1942. Subsequently they were arrested whilst cycling along the Banff road on conspicuously shiny red bicycles. The William hope from Dundee was shipwrecked here in October 1884, the crew was rescued due to the heroic efforts of Jane Whyte. A  memorial to Jane is at the west end of the shore, fixed to thre ruins of the old walkmill beyond  burn.

St Drostan's Kirk. The oldest part of the kirk, dates from the early 16th century and was in use until 1818.The south aisle is still roofed, on the right (east) is the burial aisle of the Lesleys of Coburty

The nave has been used for burials despite the edict of the Reformation forbidding burials in church buildings.

The chancel is now the burial aisle of the Bairds of Auchmedden. William Baird, laird of Auchmedden was an officer in the Prince's bodyguard at Culloden, his forfeited estate passed to Lord Huntly. A prophecy of Thomas the Rhymer predicted that 'Whilst are eagles on the crag there will be Bairds at Auchmedden'. The eagles which had nested on the cliffs at Pennan for centuries are said to have disappeared when  the estate passed out of Baird ownership. The Baird motto, 'Dominus Fecit' (The Lord Made) appears at the top of the plaque. The Bairds are one of several clans who claim to have saved their monarch, in this case William the Lion, from a rampaging beast.

Now resting on a ledge on the east wall of the church, this octagonal stone font is thought to have been brought from Chapelden to have once contained the relics of St Drostan. The bones had magical powers and by touching the urn it was thought that the afflicted faithful would be miraculously cured.

The old manse, for many years The Beach House Hotel with the kirk beyond, seen from the old Penny Schoolie.

Pitsligo Castle:The Turkey House

Behind the round bedroom tower and palace block of Pitsligo Castle is a small bothy like building thought to date from the late 19th century. This was re roofed and made technically habitable by Malcolm Forbes, of Forbes Magazine fame, in the 1980's as part of his restoration of the  castle ruins in order to gain the title 'Baron Forbes'.The building, currently used as a lambing shed, has several curious features which point to it having been used for turkey rearing, hence 'The Turkey House'.

The palace block from the inner courtyard.

The round bedroom tower from the castle garden, the back wall turkey house can just be seen sticking out from behind the tower.

The stone work and architectural features of the turkey house are of a high standard. The stone probably came from the castle. There is an external fireplace at the opposite end to chimney stack, a metal pipe heating originally  ran the length of the building from the fire place to below the chimney stack. Note the wide stone window ledge and the stone finial.(Pictured below)

Pittulie Castle can be seen in the distance behind the telegraph pole. Imagine Lady Pitsligo waving to her neighbour Mrs Cumine of Pittulie at  a time when both had menfolk involved in the '45 and its aftermath.

The remains of the heating pipe in the internal wall under the chimney.

Ladybird, ladybird fly away home

A seven spot ladybird tempted out by the mild weather explores an elder (bourtree) twig at Pitsligo castle

February Heatwave

The Broch beach from the dunes at Water of  Philorth

This morning the temperature briefly reached 16.5c, within  a degree of  the century old record held by Aberdeen for the highest February temperature. The snowdrops in the wood at Invernorth were fully open in the heat and appear to be 'going over'.We noticed several patches of daffodils,  wavy bittercress and lesser celandines and red currant just starting to flower in the hedge at Ashburn. We were cheered to overhear a toddler and her Mum being looking for the daisies on their lawn. Grey Granite and Rufus walked along the Line from Kirkton then round by Mains of Cairnbulg returning along the almost deserted beach. Until we reached the beach we were accompanied by lark song, along the beach black headed gulls flew noisily overhead.

Portsoy: a rare iron and stone gravemarker



A magnificent display of crocus in Aird Street. Spring really has arrived in Portsoy

The recent mild weather, 14.5c this afternoon, has brought wildflowers into bloom. There were several patches of butterwort in damp places at the roadside between Fraserburgh and Portsoy, notably by the Tyrie Burn. The banks of the Durn at Back Green (pictured below) had lesser celandines, daffodils and snowdrops all in flower.




Portsoy graveyard is situated by the shore close to the mouth of the Durn Burn where it forms a peaceful final resting place within sight and sound of the sea. It dates from around 1728 and has been extended on several occasions over the centuries so that now it seems to consist of several linked enclosures.There is a wide variety of gravestones ranging from the roughly hewn stones of the early 18th century to massively imposing Victorian headstones. The styles of earlier examples, in particular, are subtly different from those found in Buchan.

  

A rare surviving example of a cast iron and stone gravemarker. These were popular for a brief period in the 19th century but have not stood the test of time well, in many cases the iron work has corroded away. The stone inset solved the problem of writing individual inscriptions on to pre cast iron. Ironically this stone is that of  a mason.

Portsoy Salomon Bothy, the venue for an interesting talk on Castle Point, Cullykhan where an enigmatic medieval castle was excavated during the 1960s.

Peathill manse:snowdrops at the glebe

Grey granite and Rufus happened to peer through a hole in the glebe dyke whilst passing Peathill Manse recently. Grey Granite was surprised by the extensive carpet of snowdrops under the trees  in the glebe. We associate  the glebe with daffodils which, each spring,  are bunched up by Rosehearty BBs and sold for charity at the local shop.

Peathill manse was built around 1770 and remodelled during the ministry of Rev Walter Gregor. The dilapidated, insanitary state  of the manse caused so much concern to Walter Gregor that for almost 25 years of his ministry, from about 1875, onwards he lived in a house built at his own expense in Brucklay Street,Rosehearty. The Grade B listed  manse is now dilapidated and uninhabited, it  is included in the Scottish 'Buildings at Risk' register.

The two storey manse has three wings and extensive stabling and steading. The frontage of the manse retains an air of decayed elegance, despite every pain of glass in the windows having been smashed so that the shutters flap and bang eerily in the wind. The porch over the front door is a 19th century addition. During the cholera outbreak  at Pittulie, Walter Gregor famously preached a series of sermons urging his parishioners to whitewash their walls and plant flowers round their doors. One can hardly imagine that he would approve of the decay and debris about the manse but he would surely have taken pleasure from the snowdrops.

Snowdrops in the glebe. There are also daffodil and wild hyacinth (bluebell) leaves showing through. It was an unusually mild day (14.5c) and the snowdrop flowers are fully open.

First lambs

The first lambs of the year, a temperature of 14.5, larks in the sky and a bright patch of celandines at Peathill, Spring must be almost here.