Kintore (; ) is a town and former royal burgh near Inverurie in

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 Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

, now bypassed by the

A96 road The A96 is a major road in the north of Scotland. It runs generally west/north-west from Aberdeen, bypassing Blackburn, Aberdeenshire, Blackburn, Kintore, Aberdeenshire, Kintore, Inverurie, Huntly, Scotland, Huntly, Fochabers and Forres, and r ...

between

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 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 The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...

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, and was extended in the 1950s. In February 2006, a new school building was opened at Castle Walk, housing sixteen classrooms, an early years centre, and a library. The old school building was subsequently demolished. Due to the increasing population of Kintore, a second school was built to the south of the town. The £11.5 million Midmill Primary School opened in November 2016, and has a capacity of 540 pupils. The building is located on Carnie Road and comprises nineteen teaching areas, a hall, library, dining area, and outdoor sports facility. The school was officially opened by the Princess Royal in March 2017, and a commemorative plaque was unveiled.

Roman camp

Kintore is the site of Deers Den Roman camp and is thought to relate to Agricola's campaigns into Scotland; moreover, Deers Den is associated with the Severan invasion.

Archaeologist Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, ...

s say that the Kintore camp was definitely occupied in 120 AD and may have been occupied on as many as three occasions during the Scottish campaigns before lack of resources and more pressing matters elsewhere in the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ruled the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. The Roman people, Romans conquered most of this during the Roman Republic, Republic, and it was ruled by emperors following Octavian's assumption of ...

induced consolidation and retreat. The Romans, it is believed, were attracted by the belief that Scotland was rich in natural resources, including gold, silver and tin. The Deer's Den camp could have been involved in the preparations for the decisive battle of Mons Graupius; however, most researchers argue that the site of Mons Graupius was further south in Aberdeenshire, possibly near Raedykes at Kempstone Hill or Megray Hill. Arriving from the south,

Roman legion The Roman legion (, ) was the largest military List of military legions, unit of the Roman army, composed of Roman citizenship, Roman citizens serving as legionary, legionaries. During the Roman Republic the manipular legion comprised 4,200 i ...

s marched from Raedykes to Normandykes Roman Camp through the Durris Forest as they sought higher ground, evading the bogs of Red Moss and other low-lying mosses associated with the Burn of Muchalls. That march used the Elsick Mounth, one of the ancient trackways crossing the Mounth of the Grampian Mountains, lying west of Netherley.

Transportation

The Aberdeen to Inverness railway line lies to the west of Kintore. Since October 2020 the town is once again served by Kintore railway station. Kintore is bypassed to the west by the

. Stagecoach Bluebird provide local bus links to nearby towns and Aberdeen.

NECR

NECR (North East Community Radio) was a local

radio Radio is the technology of communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 3 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitter connec ...

station based on School Road in Kintore. It began broadcasting in 1994, after gaining an Independent Local Radio Licence in 1993. It closed at midnight on 15 August 2018, after 24 years on air, due to difficult trading and growing pressure from the internet, which brought streaming more prominently to the minds of prospective Kintore listeners.

Notable people

* Robert Marnock, 1800-1889, horticulturalist and garden designer, creator of Sheffield Botanical Gardens. * James Park, 1857-1946, studied science in London, worked as sheep farmer in

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

, became professor of geology in

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; ) is the second-most populous city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from ("fort of Edin"), the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of S ...

then

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

. Father of Air Chief Marshal Sir Keith Park, "Defender of London"

Battle of Britain The Battle of Britain () was a military campaign of the Second World War, in which the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Fleet Air Arm (FAA) of the Royal Navy defended the United Kingdom (UK) against large-scale attacks by Nazi Germany's air force ...

1940. * Andy Beattie, played for Inverurie Locos FC and Preston North End. * Caroline Phillips, Scottish suffragette and journalist. * Connor Barron, Aberdeen and Rangers football player.

References

External links

Kintore Golf ClubCommunity websiteParish Church
* {{authority control Royal burghs