Huntly

File:Gordon Square, Huntly.jpg

Huntly Town Square

Huntly Castle

For other uses, see Huntly (disambiguation).

Huntly (Scottish Gaelic: Srath Bhalgaidh or Hunndaidh) is a town in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, formerly known as Milton of Strathbogie or simply Strathbogie. It had a population of 4,460 in 2004 and is the site of Huntly Castle. Its neighbouring settlements include Keith and Rothiemay. Both Huntly and the surrounding district of Gordon are named for a town and family that originated in the Border country.

Huntly is the historic home of the Gordon Highlanders regiment which traditionally recruited throughout the North-East of Scotland. Huntly has a primary school (Gordon Primary) and a secondary school (The Gordon Schools) beside Huntly Castle. There is an active cultural centre called Deveron Arts.

It is the home of the Deans bakers, which produce shortbread biscuits. In November 2007, Deans of Huntly opened their new visitor centre.

There is also a falconry centre just outside the town which does flying displays in their visitor centre during the season between April and October.

Sports

There is salmon and trout fishing on the Rivers Deveron and Bogie, which are administered by the River Deveron Salmon Fisheries Board. Its other principal outdoor activities include golf, Nordic Skiing in Clashindarroch Forest, walking, mountain biking and Rugby. The local football team is Huntly F.C.. Nearby is the start point of Scotland's longest horse ride trail, Highland Horseback, which runs 200 miles to the West Coast. The Sansum Black Belt Academy have a kickboxing club in Huntly and currently use the Huntly Hotel on the Square.

Notable people

William Milne (1785–1822), born at Kennethmont near Huntly, was the second British Protestant missionary to China (following Robert Morrison). He was the founding headmaster of the first Anglo-Chinese school, Ying Wa College, in 1818 at Malacca. (This school was subsequently moved to Hong Kong by James Legge in 1843 and still exists.)

James Legge (1815–1897), scholar and missionary to China, was born in Huntly and educated there and at King's College Aberdeen, before leaving to his first mission post in Malacca in 1839. Across the next 43 years he worked in Hong Kong translating all the classic books of the Confucian canon in a huge series of books, a set still considered to be the gold standard of English translations today. He frequently returned to Huntly across his life in China, bringing three young Chinese lads to live there and get "a good Scottish education" in 1845. By the time they returned to China in 1848 they had all been invited to meet Queen Victoria, then a lively young woman. Legge retired from his mission work in Hong Kong in 1873, was named the first Oxford Professor of Chinese in 1876, and lived there until his death. His father Ebenezer Legge had been Mayor of Huntly, and the Legge family home is still in use, on the main square.

John Perie (1831–1874), a recipient of the Victoria Cross, was born in Huntly.

Huntly was the home town of the writer George MacDonald (1824–1905). Some of his novels, especially the Robert Falconer and Alec Forbes of Howglen play partly in Huntly, even if the name of the town is changed, and give an introduction to the life in Huntly in the 19th century.

Huntly was home to the composer Ronald Center (1913–1973), who lived there from 1943 until his death in 1973, teaching first at the Gordon Schools, then privately.

John Henderson (born 1973), a PDC darts player, is from Huntly.

Jo Pitt, para-equestrian (1979-2013), was from Huntly.

Ian Cameron, father of British Prime Minister, David Cameron, was from Glass, Huntly; he was born at Blairmore House.

External links

• Castle Hotel formerly Huntly Lodge, accessed 28 December 2011
• Gazetteer of Scotland (1836) entry for Huntly, accessed 28 December 2011
• Gazetteer of Scotland (1882-5) entry for Huntly, accessed 28 December 2011
• Huntly website.
• Huntly area Portal
• Gordon Primary
• The Gordon Schools
• Falconry Centre
• Sansum Blackbelt Academy