Farnell Parish Church dates from 1789 and stands at the centre of village life both metaphorically and physically, overlooking the cross roads, the old school and the Pow Burn.

To the north, within Kinnaird Deer Park, lies Kinnaird Castle, the ancestral home of the Carnegie Earls of Southesk since the early 15th century.

Nearby Farnell Castle, once a residence of the Bishops of Brechin was built in the 16th Century and is said to stand on the site of an earlier building visited by King Edward I of England in 1296. The castle remained a property of the bishops until 1566 when it passed into the possession of the Carnegie family.