March Stones 5 ABD and 6 ABD

There are a total of 67 outer march (boundary) stones, which mark the outer borders of the 'Freedom Lands of Aberdeen'. The Leopard Mag has an excellent article on the histobunk aspects of the now-you-see-it, now-you-don't real estate shenanegans involved in Aberdeen's acquisition of and disbursements to and from these assests. Worth reading. The inner march stones are a different matter - more on this later...

Anyway, outer marches: All but two of the outer march stones are situated in public places, often hidden in plain view in busy spots around the city. The two stones which are not in public places are stones 5 ABD and 6 ABD.

Stone 5 is in Pitmuxton, in someone's garden. For the sake of their privacy, we'll not say where.



Stone 6 is in Mannofield. Again, in someone's garden, so for the sake of their privacy, we'll not say where. However, the stone can be glimpsed if you peer through a fence.



One day recently, we were cycling past, and both he and she householders were working in the garden. A charming couple, they were delighted to chat about the stones - they were very knowledgeable. He beetled off into the house and emerged keen to show us their copy of the very rare and sought after 1929 trainspotter's guide psychogeographical field notes The Freedom Lands and Marches of Aberdeen, 1319-1929 by Cruickshank and Gunn. The book, apparently, came with the house.

They were happy to let us into their garden to photolog the stone properly:


An 'intermediate stone' can be seen behind the 19th century marker. We're not entirely sure what is meant by 'intermediate' - it suggests that this stone was in place between the time of the original saucer-marked stones of the 14th century and the later (mostly 19th c.) stones we see today - - we'll need to do a bit more more research.