| Country: | Scotland |
| Official Name: | Rathen |
| Os Grid Reference: | NK000607 |
| Coordinates: | 57.6334°N -2.002°W |
| Post Town: | FRASERBURGH |
| Postcode District: | AB43 |
| Postcode Area: | AB |
| Dial Code: | 01346 |
| Static Image: | File:Cottage and kirk, Rathen (geograph 6597583).jpg |
Rathen is a parish and hamlet near Fraserburgh, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. In Scottish Gaelic, its name means fort on the river.[1]
On the coast is Cairnbulg Point, flanking the eastern side of Fraserburgh Bay.[1] Mormond Hill sits on the borders of Rathen, Strichen and Lonmay.[1] Rathen Burn runs through the parish for three miles.[1]
The old kirk, St Ethernan's,[2] is one of the most ancient in Aberdeenshire. The church was given, by Marjory, Countess of Buchan, to Arbroath Abbey in the 13th century.[1] In 1328, Robert the Bruce, a year before his death, granted it to the college and canons of Old Machar.[1] A sundial was added in the kirkyard in 1625,[2] and the church's nave was erected by the Frasers of Memsie in 1646.[1] While the belfry dates from 1782, its bell has the inscription Peter Jansen, 1643.[1] Also in the kirkyard are the burials of the great great grandparents of the Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg.[2]
The church was replaced in 1868 by a new construction, designed by William Smith,[2] to the east of its predecessor.[1]
There is also a free church, Inverallochy and Rathen East Church,[3] two miles northeast of Rathen.[4]
At the end of the 19th century, the main residence was Mormond House (formerly Cortese House),[2] with House of Memsie being used as a farmhouse.[1]
Rathen railway station formerly existed as part of the now-defunct Formartine and Buchan Railway.