Auchenblae
Coordinates: 56°53′N 2°28′W / 56.89°N 02.46°W / 56.89; -02.46
Auchenblae (Scottish Gaelic: Achadh nam Blàth) is a village in the Kincardine and Mearns area of Aberdeenshire, formerly in Kincardineshire, Scotland. It is featured in Lewis Grassic Gibbon's novel, Sunset Song. The name is a derivation from the Gaelic for "Field of Flowers" possibly due to the growing of flax in bygone times. The village was known for its weavers, a distillery and the annual Paldie's Fair horse market. The parish church on the opposite side of the Luther Water was built as Fordoun Parish Church on a site known as Kirkton of Fordoun, a religious site since the 7th century. St Palladius died and was reputedly buried here. There is a Pictish cross slab, the Fordoun Stone, in the kirk's vestibule. In the graveyard is the ancient ruin of St Palladius' Chapel and there is a memorial to Scotland's first Protestant martyr George Wishart, born at Mains of Pittarrow in the old parish of Fordoun and burnt at the stake by Cardinal Beaton in St Andrews.
Looking down into Auchenblae from the kirkyard
Someone from Auchenblae is referred to as an Auchenblaesian.
See also
Line notes
- George Robertson (1810) A General View of Kincardineshire, Or, The Mearns, R. Phillips (Originally published by Oxford University), 576 pages
Bibliography
- A. Grove, The History of Auchenblae, Scottish Women's Rural Institutes, Auchenblae Branch, Angus, Scotland (1967)
- Ronald P.A. Smith, Stonehaven/Portlethen Street Plan: Including Auchenblae, Drumlithie, Gourdon (1998) ISBN 1-85812-904-4
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