Mysterious Britain & Ireland

Country and County: Aberdeenshire

Folklore / Folktales / Scottish Folktales

Linn of Dee

According to an article by W Gregor in Folklore [A Quarterly Review Of Myth, Tradition, Institution & Custom] Vol III (1892). ‘At one time there lived near the Linn of Dee, in Mar Forest, a man named Farquharson-na-cat, i.e., Farquharson of the wand. He got this name from the fact that his trade was that of making baskets, sculls, etc.

Fairies / Folklore / Folktales / Scottish Fairies / Scottish Folktales

Lochan-Nan-Deaan

The following extract is taken from Folklore [A Quarterly Review of Myth, Tradition, Institution & Custom] Vol III (1892). ‘This is a small loch on the side of the old military* road between Gorgarff and Tomintoul. The road passes close by its brink on the west side. On the other side of the road is an almost perpendicular rock, between 400 and 500 feet high.

Ancient Sites / Folklore / Folktales / Scottish Folktales / Wells

Tobar Vacher. (Tobar Mhachar)

The following description is taken from Folklore [A Quarterly Review of Myth, Tradition, Institution & Custom] Vol III (1892). ‘This is a fine well, dedicated to St. Machar, near the present farm of Corriehoul, Corgarff, Strathdon. A Roman Catholic chapel was at one time near it, and the present graveyard occupies the site of the chapel.

Ancient Sites / Fairies / Folklore / Scottish Fairies / Wells

Tobar-Fuar-Mòr (The Big Cold Well)

The following description of The Big Cold Well is taken from Folklore [A Quarterly Review of Myth, Tradition, Institution & Custom] Vol III (1892). ‘This well is situated at the bottom of a steep hill in a fork between two small streams on the estate of Allargue, Corgarff. There are three springs that supply the water, distant from each other about a yard.

Ancient Sites / Wells

Ben Newe Well

According to an article by W Gregor in Folklore [A Quarterly Review Of Myth, Tradition, Institution & Custom] Vol III (1892) ‘There is a big rugged rock on the top of Ben Newe in Strathdon, Aberdeenshire, On the north side of this rock, under a projection, there is a small circular-shaped hollow which always contains water.

Ancient Sites / Fairies / Folklore / Folktales / Scottish Fairies / Scottish Folktales / Wells

Tobar-na-glas a Coille (The Well in the Grey Wood)

‘This well lies near the old military road, near the top of the hill that divides the glen of Corgarff from Glengairn. In a small knoll near it lived a spiteful Spirit that went by the name of Duine-glase-beg, i.e., the Little Grey Man. He was guardian of the well and watched over its water with great care.

Fairies / Folklore / Folktales / Scottish Fairies / Scottish Folktales

The Kelpy of Morphie

In ‘Folklore of Scottish Lochs and Springs’ (1893), James Mackinlay tells the following tale of a captured water horse. ‘A pool in the North Esk, in Forfarshire, called the Ponage or Pontage Pool, was at one time the home of a water-horse. This creature was captured by means of a magical bridle, and kept in captivity for some time.

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Articles / Folklore / Folktales / Scottish Folktales

Earth Dogs

A mythical creature that may be confined to one area of Banffshire in Scotland, according to Walter Grigor in his ‘Notes on the folklore of NE Scotland’ published in 1881, the Yird Swine were a “dreaded ..animal” that lived in graveyards and burrowed through the earth feeding on the dead bodies.