Gardenstown

History

There is evidence of Neolithic or Bronze Age peoples having settled in the vicinity of Gardenstown; notably at Longman Hill and Cairn Lee. Nearby are the remains of the Church of St John the Evangelist which was built in 1513, and celebrates the defeat of the Danes at this site in 1004 in the Battle of the Bloody Pits. Gardenstown and its harbour were founded in 1720 by Alexander Garden. Fishing began in 1812. In 1915 it was decided to remove the defective concrete work of the new west pier and work on the new basin was deferred. Work on the east pier continued. By 1916 the east pier was practically complete. A church was built in 1830, the work of William Robertson, In 1953, heavy flooding washed away two houses in the village. In 1912 it is reported that "line fishing [is] chiefly prosecuted at these creeks. There is a decrease in quantity and value. Three steam drifters added to the fleet." In May 2007, a TV series titled The Baron was filmed in and around the village. The series featured three celebrities — Malcolm McLaren, Mike Reid and Suzanne Shaw — competing to be elected "Baron of Troup". During the filming, McLaren was thrown out of the village for unruly behaviour, leaving Reid and Shaw to contest the final election, which was won by Reid. Between 2008 and 2010, an ethnographic study of the social, religious and economic life of the village was conducted by anthropologist Joseph Webster. This was published by Palgrave in 2013 as a book entitled The Anthropology of Protestantism: Faith and Crisis among Scottish Fishermen. In January and February 2008, the village again made headlines when Aberdeenshire Council refused funding to restore the road which runs along the seafront and is a key part of the village's sea defences. The refusal was…