{{Use Scottish English|date=September 2019}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2019}} {{Infobox UK place | country = Scotland | official_name = Fordoun | population = | population_ref = | os_grid_reference = NO750758 | coordinates = {{coord|56.872920|-2.411751|display=inline,title}} | gaelic_name = Fordun | unitary_scotland = Aberdeenshire | lieutenancy_scotland = Kincardineshire | constituency_westminster = | constituency_scottish_parliament = | post_town = LAURENCEKIRK | postcode_district = AB30 | postcode_area = AB | dial_code = 01561 | static_image = | static_image_caption = | london_distance = | edinburgh_distance = }} thumb|right|300px|St Palladius Fordoun '''Fordoun''' ({{langx|gd|Fordun}}) (Pronounced "For-Dun") is a parish and village in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. '''Fothirdun''' (possibly "the lower place"), as it was historically known,{{cn|reason=Citation(s) needed for both the earlier name and for its possible meaning|date=July 2021}} was an important area in the Howe of the Mearns. Fordoun and Auchenblae, together with their immediate districts form the Parish of Fordoun with the Parish Church<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.mearns.org.uk/stonehaven/fordoun.htm| title=Fordoun and Auchenblae| access-date=2007-04-29| url-status=dead| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070809004142/http://www.mearns.org.uk/stonehaven/fordoun.htm| archive-date=2007-08-09}}</ref> in the vicinity of the original settlement, now absorbed by Auchenblae.
In the 19th Century Fordoun railway station was opened approximately 3 miles to the South East of Fordoun Church and the original settlement. A village grew at the site of the station (opened in November 1849 and closed in June 1956),{{cn|date=May 2022|reason=WP:UGC/WP:SPS source removed}} where there was also a number of shops, but only a seasonal farm shop remains.<ref name=mearns>{{cite web| url=http://www.mearns.org/blae.htm| title=Fordoun and Auchenblae| author=Mearn Community website| access-date=2007-04-29}}</ref> In the time since the founding of the railway station the village formerly known as Fordoun Station has come to be known simply as Fordoun and the site of the original settlement has been absorbed by Auchenblae.
==People from Fordoun==
* John of Fordun (d. c. 1384), Scottish Chronicler was born in the Parish of Fordoun.<ref>{{Cite EB1911|wstitle= Fordun, John of | volume= 10 | pages = 643–644 |short= 1}}</ref> * George Wishart (ca.1513 – 1546) a Scottish Protestant Reformer and one of the early Protestant martyrs burned at the stake as a heretic.<ref>{{Cite EB1911|wstitle= Wishart, George | volume= 28 |last1= Pollard |first1= Albert Frederick |author1-link= Albert Pollard | page = 753 |short=1}}</ref> * John Wishart of Pitarrow (died 1576), a son of John Wishart of Cairnbeg in Fordoun parish, and comptroller of the Scottish exchequer. * James Burnett, Lord Monboddo (1714–99), judge on the Court of Session lived at Monboddo House. He was author of ''The Origin and Progress of Man and Language'', a study of evolution that predated the work of Charles Darwin.<ref>{{Cite EB1911|wstitle= Monboddo, James Burnett, Lord | volume= 18 | pages = 692–693 |short= 1}}</ref> * James Beattie (1735–1803), Scottish scholar and writer was born in Laurencekirk and first worked as schoolmaster in Fordoun. He became Professor of Moral Philosophy and Logic at Marischal College and is noted for his ''Essay on the Nature and Immutability of Truth'' (1770) and poem The Minstrel.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.brycchancarey.com/abolition/beattie.htm| title=James Beattie Biography| author=Julie Watt| access-date=2007-04-29}}</ref><ref>{{Cite EB1911|wstitle= Beattie, James | volume= 3 | pages = 583–584 |short= 1}}</ref> * Alexander Hamilton (1739-1802) co-founder of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, one of the first doctors to recognise the infectious nature of puerperal fever.<ref>{{cite book|title=Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002|date=July 2006|publisher=The Royal Society of Edinburgh|isbn=0-902-198-84-X|url=https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp1.pdf|access-date=1 September 2016|archive-date=24 January 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130124115814/http://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp1.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref> *Donald II of Scotland King of the Picts or King of Alba in the late 9th century.
==History== thumb|right|200px|Pictish stone at Fordoun. There is a Pictish symbol stone, the Fordoun Stone (also known as St. Palladius' Stone), in the parish church on the outskirts of Auchenblae at NO726784<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.aberdeenshire.gov.uk/archaeology/sites/pictish/fordoun.asp| title=Fourdoun Stone| access-date=2007-04-29| url-status=dead| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927030738/http://www.aberdeenshire.gov.uk/archaeology/sites/pictish/fordoun.asp| archive-date=2007-09-27}}</ref>
In his 1819 ''Geography'', James Playfair notes that<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Playfair |first=James |year=1819 |title=A Geographical and Statistical Description of Scotland |volume=II |publisher=Archibald Constable and Co. |publication-date=1819 |publication-place=Edinburgh |page=37 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Fw0vAAAAMAAJ |access-date=2008-08-03 }}</ref> <blockquote>Fordoun is a mean town, and the seat of a presbytery, noted for being the birthplace or temporary residence of John Fordoun, author of the ''Scotichronicon''; and of Palladius, who was sent by Pope Celestine into Scotland, in the 5th century, to oppose the Pelagian heresy. The chapel of Palladius, adjacent to the church, is 40 by 18 feet; at the corner of the minister's garden there is a well still called Paldy's well; and an Annual fair in the neighbourhood is styled Paldy-fair. </blockquote>
=== 20th century to present === As part of the national war effort, a number of men from the Parish of Fordoun (consisting of both Fordoun and Auchenblae) volunteered or were conscripted to fight in World War I and II. A war memorial was erected on Gilbert's Hill overlooking Auchenblae in 1920 which records the names of the 29 servicemen from the parish who were killed in World War I and 13 servicemen and one civilian who were killed in World War II.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Fordoun - Obelisk |url=https://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/8676 |access-date=2024-02-17 |website=Imperial War Museums |language=en}}</ref> A memorial in Fordoun Memorial Hall (located in Fordoun) lists the names of an additional 14 men (43 in total) from the parish who were killed in World War I.<ref name=":0" /> Many of the killed had joined the Gordon Highlanders. The death toll from the village would likely have been higher if the parish's principal source of employment was not farming which was protected as a reserved occupation.
Also in the parish, on the B966, is a disused airfield that was active during World War II. A two-runway satellite for Peterhead airfield, Fordoun Aerodrome operated from 1942 to 1944.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.geocities.com/Pentagon/Barracks/6344/fordoun.htm| title=Disused WWII Airfields in N.E. Scotland| access-date=2007-04-29|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050211103007/http://www.geocities.com/Pentagon/Barracks/6344/fordoun.htm|archive-date=2005-02-11}}</ref>
== Notes == {{reflist}}
{{Commons category|Fordoun}}
{{Kincardine and Mearns, Aberdeenshire places|state=uncollapsed}} {{Aberdeenshire places|state=collapsed}}
{{authority control}}
Category:Villages in Aberdeenshire Category:Parishes in Kincardineshire