Insch ( gd, An Innis or Innis Mo Bheathain) is a village in the

Garioch Garioch ( sco, The Geerie, , gd, Gairbheach) is one of six committee areas in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It has a population of 46,254 (2006 estimate), which gives it the largest population of Aberdeenshire's six committee areas. The Garioch con ...

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 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 ...

. It is located approximately from the city of

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 ...

Etymology

The name of the village may have come from the

Scottish Gaelic Scottish Gaelic ( gd, Gàidhlig ), also known as Scots Gaelic and Gaelic, is a Goidelic language (in the Celtic branch of the Indo-European language family) native to the Gaels of Scotland. As a Goidelic language, Scottish Gaelic, as well as ...

''innis'', meaning an

island An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...

, or, as in this context, a piece of ''terra firma'' in a marsh.Watson, W.J., ''Celtic Placenames of Scotland'', (Edinburgh, 1926) Alternatively, ''inch'' or ''innis'' can refer to a meadow or low-lying pasture which more closely corresponds with the site of the village.Smith, Alexander (Ed.). ''A New History of Aberdeenshire in Two Parts: Part II'', Lewis Smith, Aberdeen, 1875. ''Innis'' also indicates the presence of water - a river, loch or estuary, perhaps - often seen as ''Inch'' in place names, as in Perth's famous North and South Inches on the west bank of the

River Tay The River Tay ( gd, Tatha, ; probably from the conjectured Brythonic ''Tausa'', possibly meaning 'silent one' or 'strong one' or, simply, 'flowing') is the longest river in Scotland and the seventh-longest in Great Britain. The Tay originates ...

.Watson, W.J. ''Place-Names of Ross and Cromarty'', 1904, reprinted in paperback 1996 by Highland Heritage Books).

Inchnadamph Inchnadamph is a hamlet in Assynt, Sutherland, Scotland. The name is an anglicisation of the Gaelic name Innis nan Damh meaning 'meadow of the stags'. Assynt is a remote area with a low population density. Inchnadamph contains a few houses, a l ...

at the eastern end of Loch Assynt and

The Inch The Inch is a district of Edinburgh, Scotland, located to the south of Inch Park in the south of the city. It is located 2 miles (3 km) south south-east of central Edinburgh. It incorporates the Inch housing development, Inch Park and the ca ...

in southern Edinburgh are further examples. ''Innis'' can also be translated as ''haven'' or ''sanctuary'' - an island of safety from enemies or a resting place on the cattle drove.

Transport

The village is served by Insch railway station and has regular bus services to

Huntly Huntly ( gd, Srath Bhalgaidh or ''Hunndaidh'') is a town in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, formerly known as Milton of Strathbogie or simply Strathbogie. It had a population of 4,460 in 2004 and is the site of Huntly Castle. Its neighbouring settlement ...

and

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 vall ...

with connections to

and

Inverness Inverness (; from the gd, Inbhir Nis , meaning "Mouth of the River Ness"; sco, Innerness) is a city in the Scottish Highlands. It is the administrative centre for The Highland Council and is regarded as the capital of the Highlands. Histori ...

Facilities

There is a small selection of general and specialist shops, and a

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional serv ...

. There is also a leisure centre with a variety of activities next to which there is an 18-hole

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...

course. There is also a (greens) bowling club attached to the local library. Houseware shop Stephens DIY, Zero Waste Shopping and refillery with coffee shop Butterfly Effect are on Commerce Street. There are

Church of Scotland The Church of Scotland ( sco, The Kirk o Scotland; gd, Eaglais na h-Alba) is the national church in Scotland. The Church of Scotland was principally shaped by John Knox, in the Scottish Reformation, Reformation of 1560, when it split from t ...

and Scottish Episcopal churches. There is two hotels: The Commercial Hotel, towards the centre of the village and Station Hotel, next to train station. Houses offer bed and breakfast facilities in response to demand from migrant workers. There is also a health centre, part-time fire station, library, bowling and a community centre. A number of small play-parks are scattered around the village, along with a larger play park and football pitch beside the leisure centre. The village has a regular bus and train service, located on the main Aberdeen to Inverness train line.

Education

Within the village there is a nursery and a Insch Primary School. For secondary education, the pupils usually attend

The Gordon Schools The Gordon Schools is a six-year, non denominational comprehensive co-educational secondary school located in Huntly, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It takes pupils from Gordon Primary School, Insch Primary School, and smaller primary schools locat ...

or sometimes

Inverurie Academy Inverurie Academy is a secondary school in Inverurie, Aberdeenshire. The school is one of the 42 secondary schools run by Aberdeenshire Council. Inverurie Academy is located on Jackson Street, Inverurie. History Built in the Victorian Period, the ...

Insch Golf Club

The game of golf in Insch was first recorded before World War I, with the course being laid around Dunnideer Hill. It was then moved to its present location around 1923 where it existed until 1940, when the ground was seconded by the War Department for use as a grenade range. Golf was absent in Insch until a committee was formed in 1977 to provide the village with such a facility. A nine-hole course was built by voluntary labour along Valentine Burn and was reopened for play in 1982. The club expanded further in 1987, when a clubhouse facility – complete with changing rooms, office, bar, café and dance floor – was provided from the remnants of temporary accommodation for a local school. The course was extended by the addition of 12 new holes on the slopes of Dunnideer.

Famous residents

The surgeon/adventurer Robert Daun

FRSE Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". This soci ...

(1785-1871) was born and raised here.

Demographics

86% were born in Scotland, 10% in England and 4% elsewhere.

References

External links

Insch community website

Loch Insch Fishery

{{authority control Villages in Aberdeenshire