Drumoak
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Drumoak (Scottish Gaelic: Druim M'Aodhaig, the ridge of St Aodhag) is a village situated between Peterculter and Banchory in North Deeside, Aberdeenshire, Scotland.[1] Drumoak is proximate to the River Dee, with Park Bridge, named for a the local Park Estate, being a local crossing; Park Estate,[2] was formerly owned by the railway engineer Sir Robert Williams;[3] Sir Robert is interred at Drumoak.
There is a church, small shop, bowling green and the Irvine Arms restaurant (after the family that owned 13 century Drum Castle). Drum Castle is run by the National Trust and is open to visitors. Relics and portraits of the Irvine family are kept here, and it was conferred by Robert the Bruce onto William de Irvine. There are a number of housing developments progressing; a small primary school with about 100 pupils serves Drumoak. The Dee River gravels also attract gravel extraction on both sides of the river.
Drumoak was the birthplace of James Gregory (astronomer and mathematician), discoverer of diffraction gratings a year after Newton's prism experiments, and inventor of the Gregorian telescope in 1663. The design is still used today in telescopes such as the Arecibo Radio Telescope upgraded to a Gregorian design in 1997 giving Arecibo a flexibility it had not previously possessed.
[edit] History
Nearby prehistoric sites are recognised at Crathes, but near Drumoak is the site of a Roman encampment Normandykes. Local Roman troops were under the command of Lollius Urbicus, a lieutenant of the Emperor Antoninus. Antonius died in AD 161[4]. Roman legions marched from Raedykes to Normandykes as they sought higher ground evading the bogs of Red Moss and other low-lying mosses associated with the Burn of Muchalls. That march used the Elsick Mounth, one of the ancient trackways crossing the Grampian Mountains,[5] lying west of Netherley. To the north the Romans proceeded to the next camp at Ythan Wells.[6] The Roman Camps north of Perthshire have only been known since 1793.[7][8][9]
A history of Drumoak was commissioned by the Kirk Session of Drumoak Parish Church in 2000 in order to commemorate the second millennium. It was entitled The Parish of Drumoak and was written by Robin Jackson. Copies of the book can be obtained from the Aberdeen and North East of Scotland Family History Society, 164 King Street, Aberdeen, AB24 5BD. http://www.anesfhs.org.uk
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ AA Touring Guide to Scotland (1978)
- ^ "http://www.scottishcastles-info.co.uk/parkhouse/"
- ^ Robert Clarke Hutchinson, George MartelliRobert's People: The Life of Sir Robert Williams, Chatto and Windus, 1971
- ^ Culter.net History of Peterculter: Early Years
- ^ C. Michael Hogan, Elsick Mounth, Megalithic Portal, ed A. Burnham
- ^ Temporary Roman Marching Camps: Ythan Wells Roman Camp
- ^ William Roy, Military Antiquities of the Romans in Britain, London (1793)
- ^ The Camps at Ardoch, Stracathro and Ythan Wells: Recent Excavations, J. K. St. Joseph, Britannia, Vol. 1, 1970 (1970), pp. 163-178
- ^ Stracathro type Roman Camps
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