Alford, Aberdeenshire
Alford is a large village in Aberdeenshire, north-east Scotland, lying just south of the River Don. It lies within the Howe of Alford which occupies the middle reaches of the River Don. The place-name is thought to come from the Scots auld ford; its original position being on the banks of the Don. The "L" sound in the word has, over time, been dropped, and is silent. Alternatively, the name could be a tautology; a combination of ath and ford, both... Show more meaning 'ford' in Gaelic and Scots respectively. Alford gave its name to a battle of the Battle of Alford. It is also the home of the Aberdeen Angus cattle breed, which is celebrated by a life-sized model of a bull on the edge of the village, which the Queen Mother inaugurated in 2001. It is believed that the original breeding ground of the cattle was Buffal, located between Tough and Craigievar nearby Alford. Another claim to fame for the town...