Huntly ( or Hunndaidh) is a town in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, formerly known as Milton of Strathbogie or simply Strathbogie. It had a population of 4,460 in 2004 and is the site of Huntly Castle. Its neighbouring settlements include Keith and Rothiemay. Both Huntly and the surrounding district of Gordon are named for a town and family that originated in the Border country. Huntly is the historic home of the Gordon Highlanders regiment which traditionally recruited throughout the North-East of Scotland. Huntly has a primary school (Gordon Primary) and a secondary school (The Gordon Schools) beside Huntly Castle. It is the home of the Deans bakers, which produce shortbread biscuits. In November 2007, Deans of Huntly opened their new visitor centre. Four of the owls from the local falconry centre starred in the Harry Potter films. History Settlement around the confluence of the Bogie and Deveron rivers dates back to the Neolithic period. Settlement remains and the remains of an Iron Age hillfort have been excavated on Battlehill on the outskirts of the town. During the first millennium CE the area was dominated by the Pictish culture. A very large Pictish settlement and vitrified hillfort was situated locally at Tap o' Noth in Strathbogie. The site represented an important strategic site controlling routes from Moray into Strathdon and Deeside. The first motte-and-bailey castle on this settlement was erected by Donchaid McDuff, the Gaelic speaking 2nd Mormaer of Fife, c.1180. The lands were transferred to the Berwickshire Anglo-Norman family, the Gordons, in 1352 in retaliation for McDuff’s descendant, David of Strathbogie, defecting from Robert I to Edward I’s cause on the eve of the Battle of Bannockburn. The settlement at the confluence of the Bogie and the Deveron was known as Milton of Strathbogie or The Raws of Strathbogie until 1508. Despite the boggy lands in the vicinity at that time, the castle at Strathbogie became a key centre for the Gordons of Moray over the following centuries as the family built power through warfare and dynastic marriage, rising to be the dominant family in the North-East of Scotland – the clan chief acquiring the informal title of Cock o' the North. As a result, a thriving settlement serving the evolving palace complex developed. The settlement became a burgh of barony in 1472. In 1508 the Gordons received a royal charter enabling them to rename Milton of Strathbogie & the castle to