PORTLETHEN

'Portlethen' (Formally Port Leviathan (Port of The Whales)) is a town situated seven miles south of Aberdeen, Scotland along the A90. It has expanded rapidly over the last thirty years. Portlethen has a population of about seven thousand and more than eight hundred houses are currently being built on nearby farmland. To the east of Portlethen lie three fishing villages - Findon, Old Portlethen (now often referred to as 'Portlethen Village') and Downies. Although Portlethen is a town in terms of population (and it has been granted official town status), it resembles a large suburb as there is no 'town centre' or focal point to the settlement.

Contents

History

Community facilities

Education

Portlethen Golf Club

References

See also

History

Portlethen lies about two kilometers east of the ancient Causey Mounth road, which was built on high ground to make passable this only available medieval route from coastal points south to Aberdeen. This ancient passage specifically connected the Bridge of Dee to Muchalls Castle and Stonehaven to the south^[1]. The route was that taken by the William Keith, 7th Earl Marischal and James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose when they led a Covenanter army of 9000 men in the first battle of the Civil War in 1639^[2].
The Webb chicken was first bred on a farm to the west of Portlethen in the 1920's. The Webb and its related breeds are popular choices with free range farmers due to their natural disinclination to roost in trees and shrubs.
Much of Modern Day Portlethen has been built over the Portlethen Moss Nature Reserve, formerly home to the Great Crested Newt and the Red-spotted newt. The remainder of Portlethen Moss is approximately one quarter of the size it was twenty years ago.

Community facilities

Portlethen has two all-weather concrete tennis courts, a bowling green with public and private sessions, a swimming pool, a community centre (within Portlethen Academy), an internet cafe, a public library and a private members golf club. A new Youth Drop-In Centre is now open, and there are plans for it to be opened for longer hours. The drop-in-centre had been planned for over five years and is was built in late 2007, in the old library.
There are four pubs in Portlethen. The Lethan Arms, The Paddock, Brewers Fayre and The Nuek (in Portlethen Village). There are four main shopping areas, Portlethen Retail Park, The Green, Muirend Retail Court and Rowanbank Court.
There are two parks in Portlethen: Bourtree Park and Nicol Park. Nicol Park has a toddlers park, a skate park and two basketball courts. Bourtree Park has a football pitch and a few swings and climbing frames. Their are currently plans to create a new "green area"/park in the north end of Portlethen.

Education

There are two primary schools and one secondary school in Portlethen. Portlethen Primary School, the larger of the two primaries and Fishermoss Primary School. Both primary schools have nursery units, and are too small for the current population, which has resulted in the adding of Portacabins to both schools. Portlethen Primary is in a very bad state of repair, which has had much local press coverage. A campaign has been set up to build a brand new school on the current site, rather than the council's controversial plan to build a new school across the A90, at the new housing developments, and move all current pupils of Portlethen Primary there.
Portlethen Academy caters for Portlethen, the surrounding villages and Newtonhill, a village to the south of Portlethen. The new Portlethen Academy opened in August 2006, next to the site of the original building which was demolished less than twenty years after being constructed. The new building was built as part of the government's controversial PPI scheme, and purports to be one of the most technologically advanced schools in Scotland. Portlethen Academy celebrated its 20th anniversary on April 20th 2007.

Portlethen Golf Club

Portlethen Golf Club is a private members club founded in 1981,designed by Donald Steel. The Club Professional is Muriel Thomson who, when she was appointed in 1990, was the first female golf professional in Scotland.

References

1. C.Michael Hogan, ''History of Muchalls Castle'', Lumina Press, Aberdeen (2005)
2. Archibald Watt, ''Highways and Biways around Kincardineshire'', Stonehaven Heritage Society (1985)

See also

★ Bishops' Wars

★ Mounth

★ Portlethen Moss