, formerly known as Huntly Town Hall Settlement around the confluence of the
Bogie and
Deveron rivers dates back to the
Neolithic period. The settlement's remains and the remains of an
Iron Age hillfort have been excavated on Battlehill on the outskirts of the town. During the first millennium CE the area was dominated by the
Pictish culture. A very large Pictish settlement and vitrified hillfort was situated locally at
Tap o' Noth in
Strathbogie. The site was strategically important, allowing for control of the routes from
Moray into
Strathdon and
Deeside. The first
motte-and-bailey castle on this settlement was erected by
Donnchadh II, Earl of Fife, the
Gaelic speaking 2nd
Mormaer of Fife, c.1180. The lands were transferred to the
Berwickshire Anglo-Norman family, the
Gordons, in 1352 in retaliation for MacDuff’s descendant,
David of Strathbogie, defecting from
Robert I to
Edward II’s cause on the eve of the
Battle of Bannockburn. The settlement at the confluence of the Bogie and the Deveron was known as
Milton of Strathbogie or The Raws of Strathbogie until 1508. Despite the
boggy lands in the vicinity at that time, the castle at Strathbogie became a key centre for the Gordons of Moray over the following centuries. As the family built power through warfare and
dynastic marriage, they became the dominant family in the North-East of Scotland, with the
clan chief acquiring the informal title of Cock o' the North. As a result, a thriving settlement serving the evolving palace complex developed. The settlement became a
burgh of barony in 1472. In 1508, the Gordons received a
royal charter enabling them to rename Milton of Strathbogie & the castle to Huntly – the name of their
ancestral seat in Berwickshire. During the
Scottish Reformation, the Gordons were among the leading
Catholic families in the country and heavily embroiled in
Mary, Queen of Scots’ conflict with the
reformed church and the
protestant magnates. Huntly castle was bombarded and sacked in 1562 (by Mary) and in 1594 by
James VI. After the restoration of Gordon titles, the town continued to develop during the 17th and 18th centuries both as a
market town and an adjunct to the Gordons’ palace with a wide range of
merchants and
artisans serving the surrounding countryside – in the mid-17th century the town hosted 4 separate glovers. The adjacent
parishes of
Dunbennan and Kinnoir were consolidated into a single parish of Huntly in 1727, though each of these livings had been in the gift of the
Marquess of Huntly for centuries. During this century, the
Duke of Gordon also commenced redeveloping the town as a
planned-town with
grid-iron streets. The 18th centuries saw the development of the
flax industry and associated cottage industries in
heckling,
spinning,
bleaching and
weaving, though the trade was inhibited in the longer term by poor transport infrastructure to
Banff and
Aberdeen.
Smuggling whisky was also an important trade at this period until the industry was licensed in 1823. In the 19th century, following the
post-Napoleonic slump in the
linen trade, the town experienced another period of growth with the establishment of
rail transport in 1845 coupled with a shift from
peasant farming to capitalist agriculture. Huntly became an important market and shipping centre whilst its surrounding parishes depopulated. In 1836 the town and the Gordon estates passed to the Sussex-based 5th
Duke of Richmond by
inheritance. Ownership of the
feu and much of the land and property remained in the ownership of the Dukes of Richmond and Gordon until August 1936 when all the property and feus in the town along with much surrounding farmland was sold at
auction at
Huntly Town Hall in order to pay
death duties on the
ducal estates. Though the town’s population has varied slightly over the 20th century – with a net outward
migration after the
2nd World War – the town in 2018 had a population of 4,650. This compares with 4,229 in 1911. Significant demographic growth was over the course of the 19th century from 1000 in 1800 to 3,600 in 1861. ==Arts==