The Villages

Findon proper, which originally included Seatown of Findon, Western Cookston, Badentoy, Bishopton Cawsey Port and Redmyre, extended to about 1500 acres and belonged to Dr William Nicol of Stonehaven at the end of the eighteenth century. Dr Nicol was active in encouraging the tenants to reclaim and cultivate the many waste lands in the area. Soon after his tenancy the lands were divided into lots and sold to the highest bidders. One of those lots would have been the village of Findon. 

The estate of Portlethen which included the village Seatown of Portlethen was originally about 720 acres in size and was formerly part of the Barony of Findon. In the “Book of Bon-Accord” Portlethen was more properly named “Port Leviathan”, so called, by reason of certain whales that came ashore there. However the date of this event or whether this was a regular occurrence is not known. 

Downies was part of the Estate of Clashfarquhar formerly owned by the Thomson’s of Banchory and in later years owned by Aberdeen University. One of the earliest references to Downies comes from Dr. Morrison’s “Account of the Parish in 1792” when it stated that one yawl fished from the village that year. We can perhaps surmise that Downies was a more recent development on the Kincardineshire coast, perhaps appearing as a village in the 1700’s and after the arrival of the larger and more famous fishing villages of Findon and Portlethen.