Kinmuck, Friends' Meeting House

Friends' Meeting House, Kinmuck, 1680. On a back road through open country, a modest yet compelling complex complete with simple burial ground. Meeting House a plain harled rectangle with spur stones and skews. Single-storey

harled cottage with wing on north. Mounting step at gateway. Completely reconstructed, 1832; saved from ruin, 1967.

The largest community of Friends in Scotland was once that at Kinmuck, based on land given by Jaffray of Kingswells. The Kinmuck meeting was founded by Patrick Livingstone from Montrose; the first Quaker school in the country opened here in 1681, in the cottage beside the Meeting House, teaching 'the Latin toung and other commendable learning'. The community flourished, with cobblers, tailors, blacksmiths and a wool mill. The school closed in 1807, but annual meetings were held until the Second World War.

Taken from "Aberdeenshire: Donside and Strathbogie - An Illustrated Architectural Guide", by Ian Shepherd, 2006. Published by the Rutland Press http://www.rias.org.uk

NJ81NW 80.00 81596 19895

Burial Ground [NAT] (at NJ 8170 1987)

OS 1:2500 map, 1965.

NJ81NW 80.01 NJ 81586 19884 Friends' Cottage

NJ81NW 80.02 NJ 81588 19895 Friends' Cottage, North Wing

NJ81NW 80.03 NJ 81702 19871 Friends' Burial Ground

(Location cited as NJ 8170 1970). Site of Quakers' school and meeting-house. The first Kinmuck Quaker meeting-house was founded by Patrick Livingstone from Montrose and opened in 1681, the first Quaker school in the country being opened at Kinmuck in 1681 in the cottage beside the meeting-house. The burial-ground close by is a simple walled grass plot with sandstone memorials.

The school closed in 1807 and reconstructed in 1832; the last link with the colony was broken in 1946 when the cottage was sold. A rectangular building with spur stones and skews; the stables and mounting-block are still to be seen.

NMRS, MS/712/77.

The burial-ground noted on the 1965 edition of the OS 1:2500 map at NJ 8170 1987 may be identified with that noted above but the associated buildings cannot be identified among those around on the basis of the available map evidence.

[Newspaper reference cited].

Information from RCAHMS (RJCM), 4 May 1999.