Inverurie, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, United Kingdom

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Inverurie (Inbhir Uraidh or Inbhir Uaraidh) is a town in Aberdeenshire, Scotland at the confluence of the rivers Ury and Don, about 16 miles (26 km) north-west of Aberdeen.

Geography Inverurie is in the valley of the River Don at the centre of Aberdeenshire and is known locally as the Heart of the Garioch. It sits between the River Don and the River Ury and is only 10 miles (16 km) from the imposing hill of Bennachie. The town centre is triangular and is dominated by Inverurie Town Hall built in 1863. In the middle of the 'square' (as it is known locally) is the Inverurie and District War Memorial, capped by a lone Gordon Highlander looking out over the town. The main shopping areas include the Market Place and West High Street which branches off from the centre towards the more residential part of the town. South of the River Don is the village of Port Elphinstone, which is part of the Royal Burgh of Inverurie and is so called due to the proximity of the former Aberdeenshire Canal which ran from Inverurie to Aberdeen.

Prehistory Excavations by archaeologists in the summer of 2018 at the Thainstone Business Park, discovered the remains of: a Scottish Middle Bronze Age (1550–1150 BC) roundhouse and a urned cremation cemetery; Scottish Late Bronze Age (1150–800 BC) cremation practices; and an Iron Age roundhouse and souterrain from the 1st/2nd century AD, indicating human occupation in the area for thousands of years. An excavation in 2002 uncovered the remains of another Iron Age roundhouse.

History The Bass of Inverurie is said to have been founded by David, Earl of Huntingdon, brother of Malcolm IV, in the late 12th century. The religious foundation pre-dates this by five centuries with the establishment of the Kirk of Inverurie now known as St Andrew's Parish Church. However, the town's earliest known charter dates from 1558, with its modern development taking place after the building of the Aberdeenshire Canal linking Port Elphinstone with Aberdeen Harbour in 1806.

On a nearby hillside the Easter Aquhorthies stone circle dates back to the 3rd millennium BC. On the outskirts of the town the Brandsbutt Stone is a class I Pictish symbol stone with an ogham inscription.

There have been three well known battles in the town: The Battle of Inverurie (1308), the Battle of Harlaw (1411) between Donald of Islay, Lord of the Isles (MacDonald) and an army commanded by Alexander Stewart, Earl of Mar; and the Battle of Inverurie (1745) during the Jacobite Rebellion of that year.

The House of Aquahorthies is at Burnhervie on the edge of Inverurie, built around 1797. The house served as a Catholic seminary until 1829 and since then has been a private family home.

During the Second World War, German planes would have been seen several times, due to the bombing of the nearby city of Aberdeen but Inverurie itself was not bombed.

The Inverurie Locomotive Works, which closed in 1969, led to a modest increase in size and prosperity, but much of the growth came from the "Oil boom" in 1970s.

Economy: Industry Inverurie is a market town, now with a monthly Farmer's Market, with many small shops, businesses and services. Its main industries other than service and commerce are agriculture, oil and, until International Paper closed the mill at Thainstone in March 2009, paper manufacture. The Great North of Scotland Railway constructed its locomotive construction and repair works on a 15-acre (61,000 m²) site at Inverurie. Coombes, a small sweet shop, was famed as being the oldest family owned business in Scotland until the death of Colin Coombes in 1957 whereupon the business closed. The bakery chain JG Ross is headquartered here.

Agriculture continues to be a mainstay of Inverurie's economy, as it has done since the town's inception. Thainstone Mart, to the south east of the town, is the biggest livestock market in Scotland, and rents out commercial units to various agricultural support services, oil industry storage yards and vehicle hire companies. Lying beside Thainstone Mart, the paper mill was a big employer until the mill was closed in 2009, and is now the site of an industrial site and storage yards for oilfield equipment.

Following the discovery of North Sea oil in the mid-1970s, several oil service companies appeared in Inverurie. Many residents who work in this sector do so on offshore oil installations in the North Sea on a "two week on- two week off" or "four week on" or "six week on" basis in addition to those who work in the town itself.

In recent years, Inverurie has also seen increasing numbers of Aberdeen commuters going to live there making it "the fastest growing town in Great Britain", and increasing congestion on the A96 trunk road to Aberdeen.

A 98,000 sq ft (9,100 m²) retail park opened in June 2009. The site is located near the town centre and is close to the railway station and has car parking spaces available.

The town is served by Inverurie Hospital.

Language Some Inverurie natives speak the Aberdeenshire Doric dialect of Scots, as well as Scottish English. Other notable ethnicities include English, Polish and American. The council's 2016 population survey estimated a population of 13,480 of which 90.0% spoke primarily English at home, 4.9% Scots and 1.5% Polish. However, 51% of residents reported being proficient in the Scots language.

Historically, Pictish is the ancient language of the area, which can be found in many place names. It appears to have been a Brythonic language, but its classification remains uncertain. Pictish was eventually replaced by Scottish Gaelic in the area, and evidence of the language is found both in words in the Doric and in place names, such as Inverurie itself. The Book of Deer originates from the village of Old Deer, a few miles to the north east.

Religion The oldest church in Inverurie is St Andrew's Parish Church, part of The Church of Scotland which was founded as the "Kirk of Rocharl" by the Culdee monks in the 9th century.

Sport Inverurie Loco Works F.C., who play their matches at Harlaw Park, are the local Highland League football team.

Inverurie Boxing Club, an amateur boxing club located in Kintore. The club was started in 2017 and has since then acquired its own premises and has had multiple Scottish novice and district champions

Colony Park F.C. are the town's juvenile team, founded by Dod Reid MBE in 1978.

Garioch RFC, based at Kellands Park, play Rugby Union.

Transport Inverurie has an hourly internal bus service as well as some out of town services, including to Aberdeen – most (but not all) are provided by Stagecoach Bluebird. The town lies on the A96 road and is served by Inverurie railway station on the Aberdeen to Inverness Line. The nearest airport is Aberdeen Airport at Dyce. Port Elphinstone railway station was a freight depot in Port Elphinstone; it is now disused.

Education Inverurie Academy is the main secondary school in the town.