Wednesday, June 4, 2008

The Legends of the Aikey Brae Fair & Battle

Less than a year ago, I had seen what is sometimes referred to as the Aikey Brae Stone Circle. I’d also heard about an annual fair that had been held there for several centuries called Aikey Brae Fair.

I’d always had trouble picturing the physical fair grounds around the hillside of the stone circle, and I also couldn’t comprehend why the fair would be held at an ancient pagan site, or how battles were held there without destroying the circle. Now I know why. What I hadn’t known was that they referred to two different areas, although they are linked by a path and were actually referred to the same rather large hill.

In fact, the Aikey Brae Stone Circle is actually on top of what is now called Parkhouse Hill and maybe should be called the Parkhouse Stone Circle, which it is in some references. The stone circle sits on the peak of the hilltop, from where one could see a 360˚ panoramic view of the area, if the small plantation of trees weren’t in the way on one side.

The path leads north from this peak across the slightly lower part of the hill and then meanders down towards the Ugie River. In actuality, it is the hillside that is called Aikey Brae. (Brae means hillside, or hill.) The trail that leads from the stone circle to the Aikey Brae fairground slopes is about a mile in length.

This hillside was also the site of a famous battle that left the area and its people devastated. Bloody Battle, Red Comyn the Earl of Buchan, a direct descendant of Duncan King of Scotland (1034 – 1040) with a valid claim to be King of Scotland was any ally of William Wallace and fought with him against the English. Robert the Bruce killed him on 10th February 1306 paving the way for Bruce to become King. This murder was followed by Bruce’s vicious campaign against the Buchans. At the battle of Aikey Brae near Old Deer it is said that only 12 warriors were left standing! http://www.visitpeterhead.org.uk/history/index.htm

(In the photo to the right is the hillside of Aikey Brae with the small plantation of trees to the extreme right, which hides the stone circle from view on the one side. The larger patch of scrub bush running down the hillside is where the fair was held and was also the battle site, though it encompassed a much larger area.)

Aikey Brae Fair: “A legendary account of its origin is to the effect that a packman of unknown antiquity, Aul’ Aikey by name, in crossing the river Ugie, on stepping stones, a mile west of the ancient "Abbey of Deir," dropped his pack. On fishing it out of the water, then slightly flooded, he proceeded some three hundred yards farther on to what is now known as Aikey Brae, which was then, as it still is, covered with short grass and heath. Here he spread out his goods to dry. The contents of the pack consisted of prints and woollens, some of them being of gaudy colours.

A good many people passed during the day, and being attracted by his stock bought up all the articles in it. Aul’ Aikey was charmed with the success which followed what he had regarded as a calamity—the accidental soaking of his pack. Apologising to his purchasers for the meagreness of his stock he promised to show them something better worth looking at if they would meet him next year at the same time and place. He kept his word, while the report of his gains brought others with goods for sale to the same place, and so traffic gradually increased year by year till Aikey Brae, from its central position, became a general mart for the large and populous district of Buchan.

Another legend says that “The fair dates back to an Act established in 1661 and coincides with the feast day (mid-July) of St. Droston, the patron saint of the parish. But yet another legend has it that the fairs were started by the monks in the Middle Ages. Whatever it’s origins, seventy or eighty years ago Aikey Fair was held yearly on the Wednesday after the 19th of July and it was the largest fair in the North of Scotland. The date changed in 1926 to the Sunday after the 19th, when an actual fairground began showing up. The whole thing ended sometime in the 1950s, although there is talk of starting the animal fair again.

Today a portion of the Aikey Brae Fair site is fenced off and a monument has been put in place in recognition of it by the Scottish Trust. However, the site is considerably smaller than the original 50-60 acres, and roads and rail lines have been strung through the land that once stretched down to the river. Part of the land was also used for a quarry, but this was closed down when it became trust property. Evidence of the quarry can still be seen from a distance. The land itself has gone back to pasture and the hillsides are filling with gorse.

Travellers
As can the camping area beside it is where travelling people often dwell. This is a tradition from many years past. Some of these travelling people were referred to as Romany or Gypsy people, but not all of them are.

A traveller's camp fire at Aikey Brae, New Deer, c1910
Aikey Brae c1910. Wherever the travellers met there was a great sense of community. Education came from the songs and stories told in the twilight hours around the fire.

http://www.nefa.net/archive/peopleandlife/travelling/index.htm

and http://www.mustrad.org.uk/articles/chapman.htm

I’d come in July the previous time and this was a month earlier with all the gorse was still in full-bloom and there was a gentle misting that lent more atmosphere to the legends around the place. (See Parkhouse Stone Cirlce a.k.a. Aikey Brae Stone Circle blog)

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