Balbithan House
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Balbithan House
Balbithan House ( ) is a three-storey L-plan keep dating from the 16th century.Lindsay, Maurice (1986) ''The Castles of Scotland''. Constable. p.61 Alternative names are ''Old Place of Balbithan'', ''Old Balbthan'' and ''Balbythan House''. It is located in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, south-east of Inverurie. History The grounds once belonged to the Abbey of Lindores, but by 1490 the Chalmers family had acquired them. An earlier House of Balbithan, of which there is now no trace, also stood above the River Don, opposite Kintore. The Chalmers built the new house, probably as an oblong with one round tower, in about 1560. A second wing, added in about 1600, entailed the removal of the tower, which had been to the north-west. Jacobites are supposed to have used the tower in 1746, after Culloden. The Chalmers sold the property to James Balfour, an Edinburgh merchant, in 1696. After a brief period – from 1699 to 1707 – in the ownership of the Hays, it came to be owned by a ...
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L-plan
An L-plan castle is a castle or tower house in the shape of an L, typically built from the 13th to the 17th century. This design is found quite frequently in Scotland, but is also seen in England, Ireland, Romania, Sardinia, and other locations. The evolution of its design was an expansion of the blockhouse or simple square tower from the Early Middle Ages. As building techniques improved, it became possible to construct a larger building footprint and a more complex shape than the simple blockhouse tower. A more compelling motivation for the L plan was the ability to defend the entrance door by providing covering fire from the adjacent walls. This stratagem was particularly driven by the advent of cannon used by attackers. It was common for the union of the two wings to have very thick wall construction to support a major defensive tower in the union area. For example, the stone walls of Muchalls Castle in Scotland are over 14 feet thick at the ground level. Built in the 1 ...
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Keep
A keep (from the Middle English ''kype'') is a type of fortified tower built within castles during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars have debated the scope of the word ''keep'', but usually consider it to refer to large towers in castles that were fortified residences, used as a refuge of last resort should the rest of the castle fall to an adversary. The first keeps were made of timber and formed a key part of the motte-and-bailey castles that emerged in Normandy and Anjou during the 10th century; the design spread to England, south Italy and Sicily. As a result of the Norman invasion of 1066, use spread into Wales during the second half of the 11th century and into Ireland in the 1170s. The Anglo-Normans and French rulers began to build stone keeps during the 10th and 11th centuries; these included Norman keeps, with a square or rectangular design, and circular shell keeps. Stone keeps carried considerable political as well as military importance and could take up ...
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Aberdeenshire
Aberdeenshire ( sco, Aiberdeenshire; gd, Siorrachd Obar Dheathain) is one of the 32 Subdivisions of Scotland#council areas of Scotland, council areas of Scotland. It takes its name from the County of Aberdeen which has substantially different boundaries. The Aberdeenshire Council area includes all of the area of the Counties of Scotland, historic counties of Aberdeenshire and Kincardineshire (except the area making up the City of Aberdeen), as well as part of Banffshire. The county boundaries are officially used for a few purposes, namely land registration and Lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy. Aberdeenshire Council is headquartered at Woodhill House, in Aberdeen, making it the only Scottish council whose headquarters are located outside its jurisdiction. Aberdeen itself forms a different council area (Aberdeen City). Aberdeenshire borders onto Angus, Scotland, Angus and Perth and Kinross to the south, Highland (council area), Highland and Moray to the west and Aber ...
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Inverurie
Inverurie (Scottish Gaelic: ''Inbhir Uraidh'' or ''Inbhir Uaraidh'', 'mouth of the River Ury') is a town in Aberdeenshire, Scotland at the confluence of the rivers Ury and Don, about north-west of Aberdeen. Geography Inverurie is in the valley of the River Don at the centre of Aberdeenshire and is known locally as the Heart of the Garioch. It sits between the River Don and the River Ury and is only from the imposing hill of Bennachie. The town centre is triangular and is dominated by Inverurie Town Hall built in 1863. In the middle of the 'square' (as it is known locally) is the Inverurie and District War Memorial, capped by a lone Gordon Highlander looking out over the town. The main shopping areas include the Market Place and West High Street which branches off from the centre towards the more residential part of the town. South of the River Don is the village of Port Elphinstone, which is part of the Royal Burgh of Inverurie and is so called due to the proximity of the ...
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Lindores Abbey
Lindores Abbey was a Tironensian abbey on the outskirts of Newburgh, Fife, Newburgh in Fife, Scotland. Now a reduced ruin, it lies on the southern banks of the River Tay, about north of the village of Lindores and is a scheduled ancient monument. The abbey was founded as a daughter house of Kelso Abbey in 1191 (some sources say 1178), by David, Earl of Huntingdon, on land granted to him by his brother William the Lion. The first abbot was Guido, Prior of Kelso, under whom the buildings were mostly completed. The church, dedicated to the Blessed Virgin and St. Andrew, was long, with transepts long. Edward I of England, John I of Scotland, John Balliol, David II of Scotland, David II, and James III of Scotland, James III were among the monarchs who visited Lindores at different times. The Abbey ceased operation in 1559. The Lindores Abbey distillery re-opened in 2017 and began distilling scotch whisky by December of that year. It is operated by the McKenzie Smith family. Hist ...
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River Don, Aberdeenshire
The River Don ( gd, Deathan) is a river in north-east Scotland. It rises in the Grampians and flows eastwards, through Aberdeenshire, to the North Sea at Aberdeen. The Don passes through Alford, Kemnay, Inverurie, Kintore, and Dyce. Its main tributary, the River Ury, joins at Inverurie. Course of the river The Don rises in the peat flat beneath ''Druim na Feithe'', and in the shadow of Glen Avon, before flowing quietly past the ice-age moraine and down to Cock Bridge, below the picturesque site of the recently demolished Delnadamph Lodge. Several streams, the Dhiver, Feith Bhait, Meoir Veannaich, Cock Burn and the Allt nan Aighean merge to form the embryonic Don. Water from the north of Brown Cow Hill () drains into the Don, while water from the west side runs into the River Spey and that from the south side into the Dee. The Don follows a circuitous route eastwards past Corgarff Castle, through Strathdon and the Howe of Alford before entering the North Sea just north of Ol ...
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Kintore, Aberdeenshire
Kintore (; Gaelic: ''Ceann Tòrr'') is a town and former royal burgh near Inverurie in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, now bypassed by the A96 road between Aberdeen and Inverness. It is situated on the banks of the River Don. Nearby are the remains of Hallforest Castle, former stronghold of the Earls of Kintore. History Established in the ninth century AD as a royal burgh, Kintore had its royal charter renewed by King James IV in 1506. But the area has clearly been a popular settlement since prehistoric times. Recent archaeological excavations show Neolithic finds dating to at least 5000 BC. Kintore Town House was completed in 1747. In 2018, Aberdeenshire Council estimated that around 4,790 people lived in Kintore. Education The town is served by two primary schools, Kintore Primary School and Midmill Primary School. For secondary education, local pupils travel by bus to nearby Kemnay and attend Kemnay Academy. The original Kintore Primary School building opened in 1907, ...
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Jacobitism
Jacobitism (; gd, Seumasachas, ; ga, Seacaibíteachas, ) was a political movement that supported the restoration of the senior line of the House of Stuart to the Monarchy of the United Kingdom, British throne. The name derives from the first name of James II and VII, which in Latin translates as ''Jacobus (name), Jacobus''. When James went into exile after the November 1688 Glorious Revolution, the Parliament of England argued that he had abandoned the Kingdom of England, English throne, which they offered to his Protestant daughter Mary II, and her husband William III of England, William III. In April, the Convention of Estates (1689), Scottish Convention held that he "forfeited" the throne of Scotland by his actions, listed in the Articles of Grievances. The Revolution thus created the principle of a contract between monarch and people, which if violated meant the monarch could be removed. Jacobites argued monarchs were appointed by God, or Divine right of kings, divine right, a ...
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Clan Hay
Clan Hay (Scottish Gaelic: ''Garadh or MacGaradh'') is a Scottish clan of the Grampian region of Scotland that has played an important part in the history and politics of the country. Members of the clan are to be found in most parts of Scotland and in many other parts of the world. However, the North East of Scotland, i.e. Aberdeenshire (historic), Banffshire, Morayshire and Nairnshire Nairn (boundaries), is the heart of Hay country with other significant concentrations of Hays being found in Perthshire, especially around Perth, in the Scottish Borders, and in Shetland. Origin of the name The family name is derived from that of several villages called ''La Haye'' in the Cotentin Peninsula of Normandy, France.Black 1946, p.350 The word, ''haye'' comes from ''haia'', a hedge, which in modern French is ''haie''. It can also mean "stockade", but it may have been used here because this part of Normandy is characterized by centuries-old interlocking hedgerows (bocage). The French, '' ...
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Clan Gordon
Clan Gordon is a Scottish Highlands, Highland Scottish clan, historically one of the most powerful Scottish clans. The Gordon lands once spanned a large territory across the Highlands. Presently, Gordon is seated at Aboyne Castle, Aberdeenshire. The Scottish clan chief, Chief of the clan is the Earl of Huntly, later the Marquess of Huntly. During the Wars of Scottish Independence in the 13th century, the Gordons supported William Wallace in the cause of independence. In the 15th century, the chiefship of the clan passed to an heiress, who married into the Seton family and her male descendants assumed the surname Gordon and continued as chiefs of the clan. The Gordons assisted in defeating the rebellion of the Earl of Douglas also in the 15th century. In the 16th century, the Gordons as Catholics feuded with their Protestant neighbors the Clan Forbes and also defeated at the Battle of Glenlivet, the Protestant Earl of Argyll. During the Wars of the Three Kingdoms of the 17th c ...
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Mary McMurtrie
Mary McMurtrie DA SBASociety of Botanical Artists (26 June 1902 – 1 November 2003) was a Scottish botanical artist and horticulturalist. She wrote and illustrated several books of wild flowers and became internationally recognised for her botanical art. She continued painting and publishing until she was over a hundred years old, becoming recognised as the oldest working artist in Britain. Early life Mary Margaret McMurtrie (née Mitchell), daughter of George and Jeannie Mitchell, was born in Skene in rural Aberdeenshire where her father was the headmaster of the local school. She was educated at Albyn School for Girls in Aberdeen. From early childhood she sketched animals in the fields near her home. She proved herself adept at art so she went to Gray's School of Art where she was one of the first female students. She came first in her year when she graduated and so would have won the prize of a study visit to Italy. However, because this was not considered appropriate for ...
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Listed Building
In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Ireland Environment Agency in Northern Ireland. The term has also been used in the Republic of Ireland, where buildings are protected under the Planning and Development Act 2000. The statutory term in Ireland is " protected structure". A listed building may not be demolished, extended, or altered without special permission from the local planning authority, which typically consults the relevant central government agency, particularly for significant alterations to the more notable listed buildings. In England and Wales, a national amenity society must be notified of any work to a listed building which involves any element of demolition. Exemption from secular listed building control is provided for some buildings in current use for worship, ...
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