Deer, Old, vil., Aberdeenshire, and par., partly also in detached portion of Banffshire -- par., 27,363 ac., pop. 5104; vil., 1 mile SW. of Mintlaw sta. and 9½ miles W. of Peterhead; P.O.; has remains of St Mary's Abbey of Deer, a Cistercian monastery founded 1218-19; all traces of the previous Columban monastery, founded by Columba and his nephew Drostan (close of the 6th century), have disappeared; according to the Book of Deer, it retained its Columban and Celtic character down to the reign of David I. (1123-1153).

(John Bartholomew, Gazetteer of the British Isles (1887))