Old Photograph Hotel Potarch Scotland

Old photograph of the hotel in Potarch located between Aboyne and Banchory, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. For many years The Dinnie Stones were located outside the hotel. In the 1830’s huge iron rings were attached to the stones so that they could act as counterweights; for scaffolding; during the pointing of Potarch Bridge. Donald Dinnie, the son of a stonemason, carried the two stones, with a combined weight of 775 pounds, for a distance of about 5 yards, across the Potarch Bridge and back. Donald, born in 1837 at Balnacraig, Birse, near Aboyne, Aberdeenshire. He has been recognized as " The Nineteenth Century's Greatest Athlete ". Dinnie's athletic career spanned over 50 years, and over 11,000 successful competitions. Donald and his family eventually lived in Glasgow, where they owned a fish and chip restaurant and tea room in the Govan area. They then lived for a few years in Newcastle, England, before finally settling in London where Dinnie died in 1916, aged 78 years. In the United States, The New York Times paid tribute in the paper's obituary column.



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