Mintlaw

Coordinates: 57°31′30″N 2°00′04″W / 57.525°N 2.001°W / 57.525; -2.001

Mintlaw (literally meaning a smooth, flat place) is a large village in Aberdeenshire, Scotland lying along the A952 road and is geographically a route centre. The 2001 UK census records a population of 2,647 people.

As the largest settlement within 11 miles it supports a number of shops and local amenities such as a police station, library, dental surgery and group doctors' practice.

Aberdeenshire Museums Service is based in a new purpose-built museum building housing Aberdeenshire's large reserve collections, a conservation laboratory and the Discovery Centre. The service also runs another three museums: the nearby Aberdeenshire Farming Museum at Aden Country Park, home to the service's nationally recognised agricultural collection, Arbuthnot Museum in Peterhead and Banchory Museum. Aden Country Park also contains a ruined mansion house, forest walks and a theme park.

History

The local area is rich with prehistory and historical features. Somewhat to the south of Mintlaw are a number of prehistoric monuments including Catto Long Barrow, Silver Cairn and many tumuli. In that same vicinity of the Laeca Burn watershed is the point d'appui of historic battles between invading Danes and indigenous Picts.