Cortes, Aberdeenshire
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Cortes is a rural settlement in the
Banff and Buchan Banff and Buchan is a committee area of the Aberdeenshire Council, Scotland, covering an area along the northern coast of the council area. The main towns are Banff and Fraserburgh. Fishing and agriculture are important industries, together with ...
area of
Aberdeenshire Aberdeenshire (; ) is one of the 32 Subdivisions of Scotland#council areas of Scotland, council areas of Scotland. It takes its name from the Shires of Scotland, historic county of Aberdeenshire (historic), Aberdeenshire, which had substantial ...
, 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 (; ), locally known as the Broch, is a town in Aberdeenshire (unitary), Aberdeenshire, Scotland, with a population recorded in the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 Census as 13,100. It lies in Buchan in the northeastern corner of th ...
. 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.


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 The A90 road is a major north-to-south road in eastern Scotland, running from Edinburgh to Fraserburgh, through Dundee and Aberdeen. Along with the A9 road (Scotland), A9 and the A82 (road), A82 it is one of the three major north–south tr ...
. Regular bus services connect the area to
Fraserburgh Fraserburgh (; ), locally known as the Broch, is a town in Aberdeenshire (unitary), Aberdeenshire, Scotland, with a population recorded in the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 Census as 13,100. It lies in Buchan in the northeastern corner of th ...
,
Peterhead Peterhead (; , ) is a town in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It is the council area's largest settlement, with a population of 19,060 at the 2022 Census for Scotland, 2022 Census. It is the largest fishing port in the United Kingdom for total landi ...
and
Aberdeen Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...
, 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 Fo ...
, the long-distance path that follows the route of the former railway.


Landmarks

To the south lies
Mormond Hill Mormond Hill (from Scottish Gaelic, Gaelic ''Mórmhonadh'', "big hill") is a broad eminence in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, not far from Fraserburgh. Its twin summits reach heights of and ; the higher of the two is known as Waughton Hill. The hill i ...
, 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 Gaelic (pronounced for Irish Gaelic and for Scots Gaelic) is an adjective that means "pertaining to the Gaels". It may refer to: Languages * Gaelic languages or Goidelic languages, a linguistic group that is one of the two branches of the Insul ...
word meaning ''circle'', in reference to a structure that was described as a
Druid A druid was a member of the high-ranking priestly class in ancient Celtic cultures. The druids were religious leaders as well as legal authorities, adjudicators, lorekeepers, medical professionals and political advisors. Druids left no wr ...
temple in the New Statistical Account of Scotland (1845), but is now believed to be the remains of a recumbent stone circle. 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 (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, 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 coo ...
-built
Regency In a monarchy, a regent () is a person appointed to govern a state because the actual monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge their powers and duties, or the throne is vacant and a new monarch has not yet been dete ...
mansion, built in 1810.


References

{{authority control Villages in Aberdeenshire Buchan