Broadmuir Farms in the Parishes of Slains and Cruden, Aberdeenshire, Scotland

Date: [unknown] [unknown]
Location: Parishes of Cruden and Slains, Aberdeenshire, Scotland
Surnames/tags: Aberdeenshire Slains Cruden

Composite image created from detail from Ordnance Survey map, Six-inch Series, 2nd edition, Scotland, Aberdeenshire, Sheet XXXIX.NE, revised 1899, published 1901, with the location of East Broadmuir added from the 1st edition map. Image centred around DMS coordinates 57°23'26"N, 1°54'11"W. Reproduced with permission of the National Library of Scotland.

There were a total of seven farms with the name "Broadmuir" split either side of the border between the parishes of Slains and Cruden in Aberdeenshire:

• Broadmuir (of Cruden)
• Broadmuir (of Slains)
• East Broadmuir
• Nether Broadmuir
• North Broadmuir
• South Broadmuir
• West Broadmuir

The farms have been identified in a range of maps and documents from the Ordnance Survey (OS), as follows:

• OS 6-inches-to-the-mile maps, first edition, Scotland, Aberdeenshire, sheet XXXIX (surveyed in 1867 and published in 1871);
• OS 6-inches-to-the-mile maps, second edition, Scotland, Aberdeenshire, sheet XXXIX.NE (revised 1899 and published in 1901);
• OS Name Book (1865-1871) Aberdeenshire, volume 22 (Parish of Cruden);
• OS Name Book (1865-1871) Aberdeenshire, volume 80 (Parish of Slains).

The table, below, provides the name of each farm, the parish in which it was located, and information about where their locations can be found on early and present-day maps:

Farm name	Parish name	Description in OS Name Book	Appearance on OS 6-inch maps	Apparent condition (*)	Link to map coordinates
Broadmuir (Cruden)	Cruden	OS1/1/22/175	1st and 2nd edition maps	Extant	57°23'37"N, 1°53'49"W
Nether Broadmuir	Cruden	OS1/1/22/176	1st and 2nd edition maps	Extant	57°23'14"N, 1°53'44"W
North Broadmuir	Cruden	Not included	2nd edition map only	Derelict	57°23'37"N, 1°53'24"W
South Broadmuir	Cruden	Not included	2nd edition map only	Extant	57°23'24"N, 1°53'19"W
Broadmuir (Slains)	Slains	OS1/1/80/16	1st and 2nd edition maps	Extant	57°23'27"N, 1°54'45"W
East Broadmuir	Slains	OS1/1/80/16	1st edition map only	Demolished	57°23'24"N, 1°54'16"W
West Broadmuir	Slains	OS1/1/80/13	1st and 2nd edition maps	Demolished	57°23'26"N, 1°55'07"W

(*) The apparent condition of each location given in the table is based on a review of public domain satellite images in June 2020. The author would be pleased to hear from people with local knowledge about the farms of their history.

East Broadmuir only appears on the 1st edition map, so had presumably been abandoned (and possibly demolished) before the maps were revised for the 2nd edition in 1899.

In the OS Name Books, Nether Broadmuir was described as "three small farm houses, each having garden offices &c attached". On the 1st edition map the name "Nether Broadmuir" spreads across three separate groups of buildings. On the 2nd edition map, the same buildings are labelled separately as "North Broadmuir", "South Broadmuir" and "Nether Broadmuir"