Torphins ( ; gd, Tòrr Fionn) is a village in Royal Deeside,

Aberdeenshire Aberdeenshire ( sco, Aiberdeenshire; gd, Siorrachd Obar Dheathain) is one of the 32 Subdivisions of Scotland#council areas of Scotland, council areas of Scotland. It takes its name from the County of Aberdeen which has substantially differe ...

, Scotland which lies about west of Aberdeen. It is situated on the A980, about north-west of Banchory, and was once served by the Great North of Scotland Railway. With a population of around 1,400, it is one of the larger villages in Deeside.

Toponymy

The name ''Torphins'' may come from the Gaelic ''Torr Fionn'', meaning fair/white hill, or as a corruption of ''Tor Feithachan'', meaning hill of the bogs. Another less likely namesake is

Thorfinn Sigurdsson Thorfinn Sigurdsson (1009?– 1065), also known as Thorfinn the Mighty ( Old Norse: ''Þorfinnr inn riki''), was an 11th-century Jarl of Orkney. He was the youngest of five sons of Jarl Sigurd Hlodvirsson and the only one resulting from Sigur ...

, Earl of

Orkney Orkney (; sco, Orkney; on, Orkneyjar; nrn, Orknøjar), also known as the Orkney Islands, is an archipelago in the Northern Isles of Scotland, situated off the north coast of the island of Great Britain. Orkney is 10 miles (16 km) north ...

, who might have passed through the area due to his partnership with

Macbeth ''Macbeth'' (, full title ''The Tragedie of Macbeth'') is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. It is thought to have been first performed in 1606. It dramatises the damaging physical and psychological effects of political ambition on those w ...

. It appeared on maps in 1750 under the name ''Turfins''.

Amenities

The village has many facilities including a primary school (with about 250 pupils attending each year), a large park with play area, a car dealer, a hairdressers, two tennis courts, a bowling green and a doctor's surgery. There are also a variety of shops in Torphins including a charity shop, a Scotmid store, a beauty salon, a Chinese and Thai takeaway and a chemist. There is a Church of Scotland church, which is part of the ''Mid Deeside United Churches'' alongside those in Kincardine O'Neil and Lumphanan. Torphins also has its own Town Hall - the Learney Hall. It also has a public house/ Indian restaurant, the Learney Arms Indian, which was originally part of a hotel. The hotel and pub was closed in 2015 with plans to turn the building into a residential dwelling, despite local objection. The pub was later reopened in 2016 but the hotel remained closed. The pub closed again briefly before being converted into an Indian restaurant and bar. The hotel no longer exists being converted into a private dwelling house and renamed The Gatsby. Torphins was home to a War Memorial Maternity

Hospital A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment with specialized health science and auxiliary healthcare staff and medical equipment. The best-known type of hospital is the general hospital, which typically has an emerge ...

. As a result, many

notable people from Deeside The River Dee ( gd, Uisge Dhè) is a river in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It rises in the Cairngorms and flows through southern Aberdeenshire to reach the North Sea at Aberdeen. The area it passes through is known as Deeside, or Royal Deeside in ...

have been born in Torphins. The building, however, has recently become a GP clinic, and no longer offers maternity facilities. Walkers Shortbread was founded in the village by Joseph Walker in 1898. There is a 9-hole golf course located about a mile outside of Torphins.

Public transport

The

Stagecoach Bluebird Stagecoach Bluebird (also known by its legal operating name Bluebird Buses Ltd, and formerly Northern Scottish Omnibuses Ltd) is a Scottish bus company which operates bus services in the areas of Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire and Moray. It is a su ...

201 and 202 buses provide service to Aberdeen. There are other infrequent connections on the 413, and the

Royal Mail , kw, Postya Riel, ga, An Post Ríoga , logo = Royal Mail.svg , logo_size = 250px , type = Public limited company , traded_as = , foundation = , founder = Henry VIII , location = London, England, UK , key_people = * Keith Williams ...

PB74

postbus A postbus is a public bus service that is operated as part of local mail delivery as a means of providing public transport in rural areas with lower levels of patronage, where a normal bus service would be uneconomic or inefficient. Postbus servi ...

Torphins railway station Torphins railway station served the village of Torphins from 1859 to 1966 on the Deeside Railway that ran from Aberdeen (Joint) to Ballater. History The station was opened in 1859 on the Deeside branch by the Aboyne Extension Railway and at ...

on the Deeside Railway served the village from 1859 to 1966.

Sport

Torphins also has a tennis club, a lawn bowls club and a seasonal curling rink.

References

External links

Torphins Community CouncilTorphins Primary School
{{authority control Villages in Aberdeenshire