[4] The shaft of the old 16th century Kincardine Mercat cross stands in the square,[5] and is notched to show the measurements of a Scottish ell.

Nearby the ruins of the long since abandoned county town and royal castle of Kincardine (Gaelic: Cinn Chàrdainn meaning "The head of the copse", including the Pictish word carden, "copse" ) similarly Fettercairn (Gaelic: Fothair Chàrdainn meaning "Shelving or terraced slope at the copse", containing Pictish carden) Kincardine stood about 2 miles (3 km) northeast of Fettercairn, and by the end of the 16th century had declined to a mere hamlet, being represented now only by xv.

A memorial archway erected in 1864 commemorates the 1861 visit by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, while staying at Balmoral.

"The evening being bright and moonlight and very still, we all went, and walked through the whole village, where not a creature moved:- through the principal little square, in the middle of which was a sort of pillar or Town Cross on steps, and Louis read, by the light of the moon, a proclamation for collections of charities which was stuck on it".

In 1504 Fettercairn was granted the status of a free burgh of barony, with the right to hold a weekly market and an annual fair that was dedicated to St Mark.

[7] Five years later, in 1650, Montrose would pass through Fettercairn, bound hand and foot on horseback, on his way to his execution in Edinburgh after being betrayed by Neil Macleod of Assynt.

[9] Although his charisma made him popular with the congregation, his antinomianist leanings resulted in Barclay being ostracised by the church hierarchy.