Abernethy Places

Hawthornden Castle

Hawthornden Castle, the original occupiers of the Hawthornden area were the Abernethy family. It is situated on the north bank of the River North Esk, around a mile from Roslin (Midlothian).

Abernethy

Abernethy (Scottish Gaelic: Obar Neithich) is a village in Perth and Kinross, Scotland, it is around 8 miles of Perth.The place name is of Pictish origin, meaning ‘mouth of the river Nethy’.

The village was once the “capital” (or at least a major religious and political centre) of the kingdom of the Picts.

Abernethy People

Alexander de Abernethy (after 1271 – c. 1315) was a Scottish baron descended from lay abbots of Abernethy.

Alexander swore fealty to Edward I in 1291. He was appointed a warden of Scotland between 1301 and 1303. Abernethy lost the office in King Edward’s ordinances of 1305 but supported Balliol over Robert the Bruce. He joined John of Brittany to defend Galloway against Robert Bruce.

From 1308 he held several other warden of Scotland positions between the Forth and Orkney and between the Forth and the mountains. He was also contracted to serve in Berwick and Perthshire under the command of Sir John de Segrave.

He was keeper of Dundee around 1311 and led the unsuccessful defence of the town against Edward Bruce in 1312. In 1314 Abernethy was forfeited and attached to the earldom of Angus, so Alexander went to England and died by the end of 1315.

John Abernethy (3 April 1764 – 20 April 1831) was an English surgeon. He is popularly remembered today for having given his name to the Abernethy biscuit, a coarse-meal baked good meant to aid digestion.