Country Fairs. 7& 



Seventy or eighty years ago Aikey Fair, which is 

 still held annually on Aikey Brae, in the parish of Old 

 Deer, in Buchan, was the largest fair in the JSTorth of 

 Scotland. A legendary account of its origin is to the 

 effect that a packman of unknown antiquity, Aul' Aikey 

 by name, in crossing the river Ugie, on stepping stones, 

 a mile west of the ancient " Abbey of Deir, " dropped 

 his pack. On fishing it out of the water, then slightly 

 flooded, he proceeded some three hundred yards farther 

 on to what is now known as Aikey Brae, which was 

 then, as it still is, covered with short grass and heath. 

 Here he spread out his goods to dry. The contents of 

 the pack consisted of prints and woollens, some of them 

 being of gaudy colours. A good many people passed 

 during the day, and being attracted by his stock bought 

 up all the articles in it. Aul' Aikey was charmed with 

 the success which followed what he had regarded as a 

 calamity the accidental soaking of his pack. Apolo- 

 gising to his purchasers for the meagerness of his stock 

 he promised to show them something better worth look- 

 ing at if they would meet him next year at the same 

 time and place. He kept his word, while the report of 

 his gains brought others with goods for sale to the same 

 place, and so traffic gradually increased year by year 

 till Aikey Brae, from its central position, became a 

 general mart for the large and populous district of 

 Buchan. 



Doubtless the story of the packman is fully as pic- 

 turesque as credible. But be that as it may, the hill- 

 side called Aikey Brae, where Aikey Fair is held 

 yearly on the Wednesday after the 19th of July, slopes 

 to the north down to the Ugie, while between the 

 market stance and the river runs eastward from New 

 Maud Junction, the Peterhead branch of the Buchan 

 and Formartine Railway. The Brae affords an exten- 

 sive view of the country to the west, north, and east, 

 including the fine grounds of Pitfour, with the moul- 

 dering ruins of the Abbey of Deir nestling amid the 



