19th December 2024
James Davidson, a local photographer, gave a fascinating talk on the abandoned buildings of Aberdeenshire. Drawing on a range of studies on the subject, he explained the diverse reasons for why there are so many. The general view has been that unlike some other areas of Scotland, there have been no large-scale clearances. In the main, people left these buildings because of changing land use patterns, and the prospect of better social and economic opportunities in towns and cities and overseas. His talk was brought to life by a selection of his own photographs of the buildings. These were very evocative of the lives of the people who had lived in these houses.