Fordyce is a village in

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 differe ...

, Scotland that is slightly inland from the point where the Burn of Fordyce meets the sea between Cullen and

Portsoy Portsoy ( gd, Port Saoidh) is a town in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. Historically, Portsoy was in Banffshire. The original name may come from ''Port Saoithe'', meaning "saithe harbour". Portsoy is located on the Moray Firth coast of northeast Scotlan ...

. It has existed since at least the 13th century. In 1990,

Charles McKean Charles McKean FRSE FRSA FRHistS FRIBA (16 July 1946 – 29 September 2013) was a Scottish historian, author and scholar. Biography McKean was born in Glasgow, Scotland, on 16 July 1946. He was educated at Fettes College, the University of Po ...

wrote that Fordyce was "a sheer delight to discover, concealed as it is from the passing eye by hills and rolling countryside". The Kirkton of Fordyce was erected into a Burgh of Barony in 1499 by Bishop

William Elphinstone William Elphinstone (143125 October 1514) was a Scottish statesman, Bishop of Aberdeen and founder of the University of Aberdeen. Biography He was born in Glasgow. His father, also William Elphinstone, later became the first Dean of the Fac ...

of Aberdeen. Fordyce Parish Church, a fair distance from the village centre, dates to 1804. Its predecessor, St Talorgan Parish Church, has a belfry dating to 1661.

Fordyce Castle

Fordyce Castle, a T-plan structure built in 1592 and extended in 1700, lies in the centre of the village.

Fordyce Academy

Until 1964, the village had a notable secondary school called

Fordyce Academy Fordyce Academy, known until the mid-19th century as Fordyce School, and also sometimes called Smith's Academy, was a famous grammar school in the village of Fordyce, Banffshire, Scotland, founded about 1592, refounded in 1790, and closed in 19 ...

, which although small achieved high standards. Old boys of the school included the physicist and meteorologist Alexander Geddes, the zoologist

William Dawson Henderson William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Eng ...

, and the 18th-century antiquary William Robertson. The brothers

Robert The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory, honou ...

and James Smith, who both played for

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

in the first football international of 1872, were educated at the school.

Sources

;Specific ;General
Fordyce
in the ''

Gazetteer for Scotland The ''Gazetteer for Scotland'' is a gazetteer covering the geography, history and people of Scotland. It was conceived in 1995 by Bruce Gittings of the University of Edinburgh and David Munro of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society, and cont ...

''.

External links

Village website
(inactive) {{authority control Villages in Aberdeenshire