Tarves

Apart from the original Preston tower this is not a building with serious defensive intent, more a stylish country palace. As with the tomb for the same client and the other castles he was involved in the design of, Leper has combined what was then modern style with older traditions to create a fusion that is peculiarly Scottish. He has an approach that resonates with C. R. Mackintosh in a much later era.

A bit of an ugly and intimidating monument to the hereditary principle and the divine right of the aristocracy/rich to rule the rest of us for their own advantage, however it is worth the climb up both the hill and the stairs for the view toward Bennachie. Erected to the memory of the Prime Minister the Fourth Earl of Aberdeen. A square tower of coursed red granite with dressed quoins and a corbelled and crenellated parapet. The lower stage is steeply battered. SMR

It is in the form of a celtic cross, with interlacing decoration, surmounting a squat angled rectangular base which bears the names of the dead from World War I. It sits on a two-step base, the upper step of which bears the names of the dead from World War II.

The Tolquhon Monument, built by Thomas Leper in 1589, of a chocolate- coloured sandstone, to commemorate William Forbes of
Tolquhon (perhaps to Forbes' design) and his wife Elizabeth Gordon, is supposed to be the relic of the S. aisle of the old kirk. Rich arched altar tomb mixed gothic and Renaissance motifs inspired by Dunbar tomb at St. Machar's, Cathedral.
It is somehow very Scottish in style.
Present pedimented setting probably of 1798. The monument is housed in a classical surround believed to be of 1798 in date, though a large porch has been erected by Historic Scotland consisting of sheets of perspex with bronze structural supports. The tombstone is remarkably well preserved with its representative figures, though the structure preserving it rather resembles a domestic green house.

Coats of arms as shown for William is 'Forbes quartered with Preston' and shown for his wife is 'Forbes impaled with Gordon'.
The charges on the shields show, heads of boars, unicorns and muzzled bears. The unicorns appear again at the top of the arch either side of the crown flanked by hounds hunting on the right a deer and on the left another animal I cannot definitely identify (perhaps a fox or martin).

W A & S Higgins Agricultural Engineers; an unusual sign, an old farming implement (a wheel driven potato or turnip lifter), painted welded to a frame with a new sheet metal sign on the top.