Huntly

History

Settlement around the confluence of the Bogie and Deveron rivers dates back to the Neolithic period. The settlement's remains and the remains of an Iron Age hillfort have been excavated on Battlehill on the outskirts of the town. During the first millennium CE the area was dominated by the Pictish culture. A very large Pictish settlement and vitrified hillfort was situated locally at Tap o' Noth in Strathbogie. The site was strategically important, allowing for control of the routes from Moray into Strathdon and Deeside. The first motte-and-bailey castle on this settlement was erected by Donnchadh II, Earl of Fife, the Gaelic speaking 2nd Mormaer of Fife, c.1180. The lands were transferred to the Berwickshire Anglo-Norman family, the Gordons, in 1352 in retaliation for MacDuff’s descendant, David of Strathbogie, defecting from Robert I to Edward II’s cause on the eve of the Battle of Bannockburn. The settlement at the confluence of the Bogie and the Deveron was known as Milton of Strathbogie or The Raws of Strathbogie until 1508. Despite the boggy lands in the vicinity at that time, the castle at Strathbogie became a key centre for the Gordons of Moray over the following centuries. As the family built power through warfare and dynastic marriage, they became the dominant family in the North-East of Scotland, with the clan chief acquiring the informal title of Cock o' the North. As a result, a thriving settlement serving the evolving palace complex developed. The settlement became a burgh of barony in 1472. In 1508, the Gordons received a royal charter enabling them to rename Milton of Strathbogie & the castle to Huntly – the name of their ancestral seat in Berwickshire. During the Scottish Reformation, the Gordons were among the leading Catholic families in the…

Geography

Brown Hill is located in Huntly parish.

Most-observed species

• Eurasian red squirrel

  Sciurus vulgaris Linnaeus, 1758 · Mammalia
  358
• Common Wood-Pigeon

  Columba palumbus Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  356
• Eurasian Blackbird

  Turdus merula Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  277
• Barn Swallow

  Hirundo rustica Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  260
• Heather

  Calluna vulgaris (L.) Hull · Magnoliopsida
  211
• White Wagtail

  Motacilla alba Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  208
• European Robin

  Erithacus rubecula (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  197
• Eurasian Magpie

  Pica pica (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  174