Scottish Book Reviews - Old Oldmeldrum

OLD OLDMELDRUM
BY PETER MYERS
(Stenlake Publishing), ISBN 9781840333671, rrp £7.50

A collection of black and white photographs which profile the history of Oldmeldrum, a fifteenth-century settlement north-west of Aberdeen. The district's name is believed to originate from the Gaelic Alt Meeldrium, meaning 'the burn at the ridge of the hill'. The area was well connected to the outside world through a turnpike road and, from 1856, a railway, and locally-grown barley was used to produce whisky in the town. Despite a programme of building in the 1930s, the town has kept its historic core thanks to being designated a conservation area in 1976.
The comprehensively captioned photographs include images of historic buildings, including the Free Church which was demolished in 1977, the Urquhart Road smiddy and the Commercial Hotel on the Little Square, which once housed businessmen visiting the district.