Where in the World...

...is Ordachoy?

A Brief Geography Lesson

Having lived for so long outside of Scotland, I've come to realize it's really quite arrogant to assume that, no matter from what part of the globe a person may originate, everybody knows where Scotland is in relation to the United Kingdom, that it is actually a part of the United Kingdom, and that Aberdeen is on the East Coast, north of Edinburgh. So, for those visitors to the web site from far flung places, following is a very potted account of Scotland's place on the world scene. Many, many books are available in any bookstore to fill in the huge holes left here.

For those who want to skip the introduction, here are the links to the maps:

Aberdeenshire
Corgarff, 1:250,000 scale
Ordachoy, 1:500,000 scale
More Photos of Ordachoy
Braemar, 1:250,000 scale, window width 22 km
Auchallater, 1:250,000 scale, window width 11 km
Photos of Auchallater

The British Isles

Off to the west of continental Europe lie a collection of islands known as the British Isles. The island of Ireland holds both the Republic of Ireland, which obtained its independence in 1922, and Northern Ireland, which remains a part of the larger political entity known as the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Scotland is also a part of the United Kingdom, along with England and Wales.

Scotland's union with England began with the union of the monarchies of the two countries when, on the death of Queen Elizabeth I, King James VI of Scotland took the English throne to become King James I of England. Parliamentary union took place in 1707 with a treaty between the two countries in which each country maintained its own laws and its own Church but gave up its independent
parliament. Although Scotland regained some of its parliamentary independence in 1999, it remains a part of the Union of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Scotland's capital city is Edinburgh, pronounced E-din-bu-ru, where all the vowels are short: e as in egg, i as in igloo, and u as in umbrella.

Aberdeenshire

Located in the North East of Scotland, Aberdeenshire is an area replete with castles, stone circles, and incised Pictish stones, all testament to the millennia of migratory peoples. Neolithic people left us the stone circles, vitrified forts, and cists. Romans left behind remains of the forts and temporary encampments they built in their campaign to subdue the Picts. The Picts in turn peppered the landscape with their carved stones and artifacts and place names. The ruined foundations of motte and bailey castles are our inheritance from the Normans. And although the Gaels left their bequest in the Gaelic place names that abound in Strathdon and Deeside, Gaelic is no longer spoken in the area, being confined now mostly to the West Coast of Scotland. The Scots dialect spoken in Aberdeenshire today seems to owe its flavour to all these past influences. It is a dialect unique enough to be given its own name, Doric.

Corgarff and Ordachoy

"Ordachoy is a house and steading on about 100 acres of land on the estate of Edinglassie located along the upper reaches of the Don river at Corgarff , in Aberdeenshire. The estate is presently owned by Lord Cowdry. There are many large estates in the Highland areas of Scotland. There, estates usually consist of an estate house and home farm managed directly by the estate, a number of tenanted farms (or smaller properties) and in some cases, areas of common grazing. Tenure is quite secure in the case of agricultural land in Britain, hence rented property such as Ordachoy is often retained in one family for several generations. Corgarff parish records show Ordachoy continually farmed by the McHardy family from 1787 until Major MacHardy relinquished tenure in 1987."
                        —Fenton MacHardy

In trying to decipher the meaning of the name “Ordachoy,” all I've discovered is that “Ord” means a hammer-shaped hill. Anyone who knows what the rest means, please contact me.