Westhill, Aberdeenshire

Date: [unknown] [unknown]
Location: [unknown]

Westhill

Westhill is the fourth largest town in Aberdeenshire, with a population of 11,220. It is approximately 7 miles west of the city of Aberdeen.

The creation of Westhill was the idea of local solicitor Ronald Fraser Dean in 1963. The new settlement of Westhill was created on the old farming land. Since construction of the first houses in 1968, Westhill has undergone a gradual expansion, much of which is tied to the NorthEast's oil and gas economy. In 2007/8 a major expansion of the industrial estate brought several thousand workers to the area. Most of these are in specialist sub-sea engineering oil service companies, making Westhill a world centre in sub-sea engineering.

The name Westhill was created in 1859 when John Anderson from Strichen bought the adjoining small estates of Wester Kinmundy and Blackhills. Both of these names were very old, dating back to at least the 16th Century, but Anderson seems not to have liked them. He therefore created the name Westhill from the other two names. This is recorded in the Register of Sasines December 2, 1859.

Wester Kinmundy and Blackhills were established either side of a geographical area known as 'The Clash', a marshy bog, historically listed as being between Brodiach/Borrow(ed)stone and (Now Kirkton of)Skene. It is commonly thought the remnants of this area are still apparent, but now named Denman Park. [[1]]