Old Deer

Old Deer (Scots: Auld Deer,Scottish Gaelic: Dèir) a parish and village in the district of Buchan, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. The population in 1901 was 4,313. The village lies on the Deer or South Ugie Water, 10.1 miles west of Peterhead, and two miles from Mintlaw station on the Great North of Scotland Railway Company's branch line from Aberdeen to Peterhead.

Industries include distilling, brewing, and the manufacture of woollens, and there are quarries of granite and limestone.

The village is the birthplace of David B. Henderson, one of only two foreign born Speakers of the United States House of Representatives.

The thriving village of New Deer (formerly called Auchreddie) lies about seven miles west of the older village; to the north of New Deer is the ruined Fedderate Castle.

Monastery

Columba and his nephew Drostan founded a monastery here in the 6th century, of which no trace remains. The Book of Deer is a most interesting relic of the monks, which was discovered in 1857 in the Cambridge University library by Henry Bradshaw. It was probably stolen during the Wars of Scottish Independence by English troops. It is a small manuscript of the Gospels in the Vulgate, fragments of the liturgy of the Celtic church, and notes, in the Gaelic script of the 12th century, referring to the charters of the ancient monastery, including a summary of that granted by David I of Scotland. These are among the oldest examples of Scottish Gaelic. The manuscript is also adorned with Gaelic designs. It had belonged to the monks of Deer and been in the possession of the University Library since 1715. It was edited by John Stuart for the Spalding Club, by whom it was published in 1869 under the title The Book of Deer (Leabhar Dhèir in Gaelic).