Cortes is a rural settlement in the

Banff and Buchan Banff and Buchan is a committee area of the Aberdeenshire Council, Scotland. It has a population of 35,742 (2001 Census). Fishing and agriculture are important industries, together with associated processing and service activity. Banff and Bucha ...

area of Aberdeenshire, Scotland, situated in the parish of

Rathen Rathen is a village in the Elbe Sandstone Mountains, in Saxony, Germany, about southeast of Dresden. The village occupies both banks of the river Elbe and, as of 2020, has 339 inhabitants. Rathen is a popular tourist destination, the main sigh ...

, south of

Fraserburgh Fraserburgh (; sco, The Broch or ; gd, A' Bhruaich) is a town in Aberdeenshire, Scotland with a population recorded in the 2011 Census at 13,100. It lies at the far northeast corner of Aberdeenshire, about north of Aberdeen, and north of ...

. The area stretches from the grounds of Cortes House in the west to Cortes Village in the east on the border with the adjacent parish of

Lonmay Lonmay (Scottish Gaelic: ''Lòn Magh'') is a village and parish in the Buchan area of Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It lies along the A90 road, between Peterhead and Fraserburgh, near to the junction with the A952 road at Cortes. The parish, formerly k ...

Schools

Primary education is provided at Rathen School, whilst secondary pupils travel to Fraserburgh Academy.

Transport

Cortes lies at the northern end of the A952 road at its junction with the A90 road. Regular bus services connect the area to

Peterhead Peterhead (; gd, Ceann Phàdraig, sco, Peterheid ) is a town in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It is Aberdeenshire's biggest settlement (the city of Aberdeen itself not being a part of the district), with a population of 18,537 at the 2011 Census. ...

and

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

, and an on-demand Dial-a-bus service is also available. The nearby Lonmay railway station closed in 1979, and now offers an access point to the

Formartine and Buchan Way The Formartine and Buchan Way is a long-distance trail in Scotland, extending from Dyce north to Peterhead and Fraserburgh in the Buchan and Formartine districts of Aberdeenshire in Scotland. It follows the track of a former railway line, the ...

, the long-distance path that follows the route of the former railway.

Landmarks

To the south lies Mormond Hill, on the slopes of which a

hill figure A hill figure is a large visual representation created by cutting into a steep hillside and revealing the underlying geology. It is a type of geoglyph usually designed to be seen from afar rather than above. In some cases trenches are dug and ...

known as the White Stag of Mormond, marked with quartz stones, was first laid out by Mr F. W. Cordiner of Cortes to mark his wedding in 1870.

History

The name ''Cortes'' is said to derive from a Gaelic word meaning ''circle'', in reference to a structure that was described as a Druid temple in the New Statistical Account of Scotland (1845), but is now believed to be the remains of a

recumbent stone circle A recumbent stone circle is a type of stone circle that incorporates a large monolith, known as a ''recumbent'', lying on its side. They are found in only two regions: in Aberdeenshire in the north-east of Scotland and in the far south-west of Irel ...

. Another stone circle, of which only three stones remain, is situated on farmland at Cortie Brae. Cortes House is a

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained ( phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies under ...

-built

Regency A regent (from Latin : ruling, governing) is a person appointed to govern a state '' pro tempore'' (Latin: 'for the time being') because the monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge the powers and duties of the monarchy ...

mansion, built in 1810.

References

{{authority control Villages in Aberdeenshire