CRIMOND

'Crimond' (Gaelic: ''Crith Mhonadh'' or ''Crioch Mhonadh'') is a village in the northeast of Scotland, located seven miles northwest of the port of Peterhead and approximately two miles from the coast.
The 2001 UK census records Crimond's population as 793 people, and it is located in the Aberdeenshire council area, Banff and Buchan.

Contents

Local area

History

Stockcars

Aerodrome

Religion

Famous residents

External links

References

Local area

The main A90 road runs through Crimond itself and is lined by Crimond Church with village hall, Crimond Primary School ^[3], Crimond Medical Practice, Crimond Shop and Post Office, Crimond Care Home for the elderly and Crimond Motors garage ^[4]. The oldest houses in the village run alongside the main road with a modern estate to the west side.
When standing with a clear view of the surrounding countryside you can easily see the masts at the nearby Crimond Aerodrome to the east and the telecommunications satellites on the top of Mormond Hill to the North West.
The nearby Loch of Strathbeg is a RSPB owned and protected nature reserve. Around the loch there are 3 hides from which you can watch the birds and other wildlife. They are accessible through the airfield and there is a car park. There is also the Starnafin Center where you can watch the birds from and find out more information about which birds and animals are locally present.
There is a shelter belt wood that runs parallel to the main A90 about 200 metres to the east which used to belong to the Crimonmogate estates. It is mainly beech wood and is used as a walk by the locals.
There is a large grain dryer owned by Allied Grain to the east of the village.
There are the remains of an old camp where the workers who built the St. Fergus Gas Plant lived whilst it was being constructed to the east of the village.

History

In 1324, Sir Archibald Douglas was recorded as being granted the lands of Crimond.
In the summer of 1297 after capturing Aberdeen, William Wallace and his army travelled through Crimond as they marched to meet another rebel commander Andrew de Moray at a stronghold on the banks of the river Spey.^[5]

Stockcars

Main articles: Crimond Raceway

Crimond is home to the famous Crimond Raceway stock car track ^[6] which is the most northerly in the United Kingdom. It is here that former Formula 1 world champion driver Jim Clark began his career.
The stock cars began in the 1950's with the original tracks on the runways on the nearby Crimond Aerodrome. However the Ministry of Defence reclaimed the land to build radio masts and so the track was moved three times before settling for its current situation in 1973/1974.
The track is an oval with two stands and a large tire wall around the outside to protect the spectators.
Today the track hosts Scottish Hot Rod, Saloonstox, Formula Two and other local formula championships.

Aerodrome

During World War II, a Royal Navy Air Station, RNAS Merganser about a mile to the east of the village, close to Rattray. The site of the base is about a mile from the village itself and remains in Ministry of Defence.
There is an airfield with three runways which are now in some state of disrepair and during the war the 714 Naval Air Squadron was based there.
The remnants of the World War Two camp can still be seen around the aerodrome and west of the airfield, over the A90, on Mosstown Road there is the ruins of a further camp from the war.

Religion

Main articles: Crimond Church

Crimond Church is the sole official religious building in the village and is part of the Christian Church of Scotland.
Richard de Potton was a 13th Century Bishop of Aberdeen, who was credited with making the parish church of Crimond into Aberdeen's fourteenth prebend.
The 23rd Psalm ("The Lord is my Shepherd") is traditionally sung to the tune 'Crimond' ^[7] written by a 19th century ministers daughter, Jessie Irvine in 1871.
Crimond Church has an extra minute between the eleven and twelve making for 61 minutes in the hour. The clock is electric but the original movement is kept in the church as a display in memory of the late councillor Norman Cowie OBE who raised the funds for the new electric clock.
The church has a wind vane in the shape of a fish that was lost around the time of World War Two and only found in the 1990's when it was placed back on top of the spire. The wind vane has been the target of vandalism and sports bullet holes from an air rifle.

Famous residents

★ Baron Robert John Graham Boothby (1900-1986). Conservative MP for the former Aberdeen Eastern constituency.

★ Robert Burnet, Lord Crimond (1592-1661). Judge of the Court of Session and owner of the Crimond Estate.

External links

★ Official Tourism Web Site

★ Web Historian's site for Rattray

★ British History Article on Crimond

★

References

1. Scottish Census Results Online
2. UK Phone Info

3. Crimond Primary School
4. Crimond Motors
5. Rebel Commander
6. Crimond Raceway
7. Score for 'Crimond' by Jessie Irvine