Oral History

Oral History involves the recording of people’s memories of the past. This can be memories of their own lives, family memories passed down to present generations, or stories, songs and poems about the past of local areas. These memories and stories are interesting because they can give a voice to people who are often left out of written history. As they are only present in oral form, it is often the case that these wonderful resources for historians are easily lost. It is our hope to create an archive of local personal histories in order to both preserve this rich and ‘at risk’ resource and allow further research into the history of the area.

A Mason's Journey to Work

In 1885 Andrew G Fordyce was a Mason who with his friend Frank would walk from Oyne to Monymusk to work. A poem, entitled "Bennachie" written by Andrew Galloway Fordyce is about their journey over Bennachie.

Childhood Memories

Avril Patterson (nee Simpson) visited her Aunt and Uncle who lived by Bennachie when she was a child and recorded her memories of those visits in the documents below.

The Gouk Stane

This Gouk Stane can be found on Bennachie you can find about it and the legends around it in these documents.

For more information see our Projects and Bennachie Landscapes Project pages.

Oral History