View source for Auchterless

{{Short description|Village in Aberdeenshire, Scotland}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2019}}
{{Use British English|date=March 2025}}
{{no footnotes|date=May 2013}}
{{More categories|date=December 2024}}[[File:Auchterless.jpg|right|thumb|250px|Auchterless Kirk]]

'''Auchterless''' ({{langx|gd|Uachdar Leasa}}, meaning the "Upper Part of Less") is a village in [[Aberdeenshire]], Scotland; grid reference NJ 713 416, postcode AB53 8BG. The nearest large settlement is [[Turriff]]. It is traditionally known as "Kirkton of Auchterless".

==History==
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The history of Auchterless dates back to prehistoric times, with prehistoric remains including stone circles, and the remains of earthen huts.

Ruined St [[Drostan]]'s Church retains a birdcage [[bellcote]], a chamfered arch window and bell dated 1644.{{sfnp|McKean|1990|p=71|ps=none}}

Towie-Barclay farm incorporates [[Towie Barclay Castle|Tolly Castle]], once a Barclay stronghold. It is two miles north east of Auchterless. It was built in the 14th century, but the bulk of the remains are from the 16th century.

Auchterless (New Parish) Church was built in 1879 by W & J Smith. Parts of the previous church are built into the tower wall. The Duff of Hamilton [[mausoleum]], 1877, has [[pediment]]ed gables and a marble [[coat-of-arms]].{{sfnp|McKean|1990|p=71|ps=none}}

[[Auchterless railway station|Auchterless station]] served the settlement and was opened in 1857 by the Banff Macduff & Turriff Junction Railway, later part of the [[Great North of Scotland Railway]], then the [[London and North Eastern Railway|LNER]] and finally [[British Railways]], on the branchline from [[Inveramsay]] to [[Macduff, Aberdeenshire|Macduff]]. The station closed to passengers in 1951 and the line closed to goods in 1966. The station lay to the north-east, the main building remaining as a private housing as do the railway cottages.

The highly successful businessman [[Alexander Ellice (fur trader)|Alexander Ellice]], who made his fortune in the [[North American fur trade]], was born here in 1743.<ref name="DCB">{{cite web |title=Biography – Ellice, Alexander – Volume V (1801-1820) |url=http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/ellice_alexander_5E.html |publisher=University of Toronto |work=[[Dictionary of Canadian Biography]] |access-date=29 November 2021}}</ref>

==References==
{{Commons category|Kirkton of Auchterless}}

=== Specific ===
{{reflist}}

=== General ===
* ''AA Touring Guide to Scotland'' (1978)

== Bibliography ==
{{refbegin}}
*{{citation |last=McKean |first=Charles |authorlink=Charles McKean|title=Banff & Buchan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X5ZMAAAAYAAJ |year=1990 |publisher=[[Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland]] |isbn=978-1-85158-231-0}}
{{refend}}

{{Formartine, Aberdeenshire places|state=uncollapsed}}
{{Aberdeenshire places|state=collapsed}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Villages in Aberdeenshire]]
{{Coord|57|27|39|N|2|29|3|W|display=title}}