Heritage

In 1676, Charles Gordon, 1st Earl of Aboyne, who resided in the nearby castle, was granted a charter creating ‘Charlestown of Aboyne’ a Burgh of Barony that conferred the right to hold weekly markets and four annual fairs on the village green. Most of the early buildings, like the mercat (market) cross, the tolbooth and courthouse, no longer exist. Until the mid-19th Century all but five of the buildings were thatched.

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The Boat Inn, at a drover’s ferry crossing of the River Dee, dates from 1720. In 1827, with the river in spate, the ferry capsized, drowning a woman and daughter. Prompted by the tragedy, the first bridge was built in 1828. Unfortunately, this lasted only a year, being swept away in the infamous "Muckle Spate" of August 1829. It was replaced in 1830 by a suspension bridge, and again in 1879. The current concrete one, opened in 1940, but was shut to vehicles in November 2023.

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It was the arrival of the railway in 1859 and concerted Victorian enterprise that saw a marked expansion of the village and establishment of a wide range of businesses serving the growing community.

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The growth of Victorian Aboyne was driven by key personalities supported by the wealth of Sir Cunliffe Brooks, an English Barrister, banker, and conservative MP for East Cheshire. He leased Glen Tanar estate from 1865, and then bought it from his son-in-law, Charles Gordon, 11th Marquis of Huntly. Other important figures in the life of Aboyne at this time, included the Sandison's, proprietors and later owners of the Huntly Arms Hotel,  and Rev. Andrew Gray, the school master for 44 years from 1855-1899!