Aberchirder Travel Guide - Scotland

The second half of the 18^th Century was a time of great change in country life, as new ways of farming meant fewer people were needed to work the land. Many Northeast landowners felt a moral duty to help their surplus tenants and founded planned villages, which they hoped would provide employment in textiles and other industries.

Aberchirder is a fine example of such a planned village. It was founded in 1764 by Alexander Gordon, the laird of Auchintoul House, and was originally known as Foggieloan after a nearby ferm toun (farm town).

Gordon and his successors seem to have been determined that the village should be called Aberchirder, a name which goes back to the Aberkerder thanes who lived at Kinnairdy in the early 13^th Century. However, the popular name Foggieloan – often shortened to Foggie – has survived resolutely for over two centuries, and has been incorporated in the motto of the coat of arms granted to the Community Council in 1998.

The original village was guilt on a grid pattern around a central square. The old part of the village is now a conservation area, which still gives a good idea of how the original settlement would have looked, with its one and–a–half storey thatched cottages fronting on the street and at the back, long feu gardens, which provided the inhabitants with most of their food. By 1800 Aberchirder had a population of 350, with weaving as the main occupation.

Aberchirder's greatest claim to fame is having had the first Free Church in Scotland – New Marnoch Church at the east end of Main Street. This was built in 1842 following a walkout by most of the congregation of the parish church at Marnoch because of a disagreement over whether the minister should be chosen by the laird or by the congregation. Soon congregations all over Scotland followed Marnoch's example.