Culsh Monument - New Deer, Aberdeenshire, Scotland - Unique Steeples on Waymarking.com

This eighty foot high steeple stands on the Hill of Culsh in the Buchan countryside of Aberdeenshire in north-east Scotland. It commemorates William Dingwall Fordyce, the Liberal M.P. for east Aberdeenshire, erected after his early death in 1876 by his friends and tenants.

William Dingwall Fordyce was born at Brucklay Castle on March 31st 1836, and would go on to serve as Member of Parliament as well as being a benefactor for his tenants. He would also introduce the railway into this part of Aberdeenshire. He died on November 26th 1875 and the following year this monument was erected to his memory on the high ground a mile to the north of the village of New Deer.

Designed by Aberdeen architect James Matthews, it is an eighty foot tall spire of Georgian style in local granite. A square ground floor leads to a two-stage upper part topped by a spire. A key can be obtained from the shop in New Deer to gain access to a spiral staircase within that leads to the top with a view over the countryside of north-eastern Aberdeenshire.

The monument is reached by a minor road heading up the hill northwards from New Deer, passing the cemetery that lies just south of the prominent spire. A lay-by sits adjacent to the structure which lies in landscaped grounds.