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Aberdeenshire (historic)
Encyclopedia
Aberdeenshire or the County of Aberdeen is a registration county
of Scotland
. This area (excluding Aberdeen
itself) is also a lieutenancy area
.
Until 1975 Aberdeenshire was one of the counties of Scotland
, governed by a county council
from 1890. The boundaries of the county were adjusted by the boundary commissioners appointed under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1889
that established the county council. In 1900, the county town of Aberdeen became a county of a city and was thus removed from the county.
The county bordered Kincardineshire
, Angus
and Perthshire
to the south, Inverness-shire
and Banffshire
to the west, and the North Sea
to the north and east. It had a coast-line of 65 miles (105 km).
The coat of arms of Aberdeenshire County Council was granted in 1890. The four quarters represented the Buchan, Mar, Garioch and Strathbogie areas.
In 1975 the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973
reorganised local administration in Scotland into a two-tier system of regions and districts. Aberdeenshire, along with the City of Aberdeen, Banffshire, Kincardineshire and most of Morayshire were merged to form Grampian Region, with the former county being divided between the districts of City of Aberdeen, Banff and Buchan
, Gordon
and Kincardine and Deeside
.
In 1996 Scottish local government system was reorganised a second time to form a single tier of unitary council areas. The name was revived for the council area of Aberdeenshire
, which has different boundaries.
The area is generally hilly, and from the south-west, near the centre of Scotland
, the Grampians
send out various branches, mostly to the north-east.
of the House of Commons
of the Parliament of Great Britain
from 1708 to 1801 and of the Parliament of the United Kingdom
from 1801 to 1868. This constituency did not include the parliamentary burgh of Aberdeen
, which was represented as a component of Aberdeen District of Burghs
until 1832, when it was enlarged and became the Aberdeen burgh constituency
. The other components of the district of burghs became components of the then new Montrose District of Burghs.
In 1868 the Aberdeenshire constituency was divided to form two new county divisions, or county constituencies, namely Eastern Aberdeenshire
and Western Aberdeenshire
.
In 1885 the Aberdeen burgh constituency
was divided to form the burgh constituencies of Aberdeen North
and Aberdeen South
.
In 1918 Aberdeenshire and Kincardineshire
were treated as if a single county for parliamentary representation purposes, with the area of the Kincardineshire county constituency
and the Aberdeenshire constituencies being divided into three new constituencies, Kincardine and Western Aberdeenshire
, Aberdeen and Kincardine Central
and Aberdeen and Kincardine East
. Kincardine and Western Aberdeenshire included the whole of the former Kincardineshire constituency.
In 1950 the area of the former Kincardinshire constituency (as abolished in 1918) was merged into the then new North Angus and Mearns constituency
, and the Aberdeenshire area was divided into the East Aberdeenshire constituency
and the West Aberdeenshire constituency
, but the boundary between these new eastern and western constituencies differed from that for the constituencies of the 1868 to 1918 period.
Boundary changes in 1955 enlarged the Aberdeenshire West constituency, and reduced the size of the Aberdeenshire East constituency.
In 1983, eight years after the local government county of Aberdeenshire was abolished, the Aberdeenshire constituencies were replaced with new constrituencies.
The mountains provide the most striking of the physical features of the county.
are the principal heights in the division of Mar
Farther north rise the Buck of Cabrach, 722 m (2368 ft) on the Banffshire border, Tap o' Noth
, 558 m (1830 ft), Bennachie
, 518 m (1698 ft), a beautiful peak which from its central position is a landmark visible from many different parts of the county, and which is celebrated in John Imlah
's song, O gin I war faur the Gadie rins, and Foudland, 466 m (1529 ft).
The chief rivers are the Dee
, 90 miles (145 km) long; the Don, 82 miles (132 km); the Ythan, 37 miles (60 km), with mussel-beds at its mouth; the Ugie, 20 miles (32 km), and the Deveron, 62 miles (100 km), partly on the boundary of Banffshire.
The rivers abound with salmon and trout, and the pearl mussel occurs in the Ythan and Don. A valuable pearl in the Scottish crown is said to be from the Ythan. Loch Muick
, the largest of the few lakes in the county, 399 m (1310 ft) above the sea, 2½ miles (4 km) long and 1/3 to ½ miles (500 to 800 m) broad, lies some 8½ miles (14 km) southwest of Ballater
, and has Altnagiuthasach, a royal shooting-box, near its south-western end. Loch Strathbeg
, 6 miles (10 km) southeast of Fraserburgh, is only separated from the sea by a narrow strip of land. There are noted chalybeate
springs at Peterhead, Fraserburgh, and Pannanich near Ballater
.
s belonging to the metamorphic rock
s of the Eastern Highlands.
In the upper parts of the valleys of the Dee and the Don they form well-marked groups, of which the most characteristic are
These divisions are folded on highly inclined or vertical axes trending north-east and south-west, and hence the same zones are repeated over a considerable area. The quartzite is generally regarded as the highest member of the series. Excellent sections showing the component strata occur in Glen Clunie and its tributary valleys above Braemar. Eastwards down the Dee and the Don and northwards across the plain of Buchan towards Rattray Head
and Fraserburgh there is a development of biotite
gneiss
, partly of sedimentary
and perhaps partly of igneous
origin. A belt of slate which has been quarried for roofing purposes runs along the west border of the county from Turriff by Auchterless and the Foudland Hills
towards the Tap o' Noth near Gartly
. The metamorphic rocks have been invaded by igneous materials, some before, and by far the larger series after the folding of the strata.
The basic types of the former are represented by the sills of epidiorite and hornblende
gneiss in Glen Muick and Glen Callater, which have been permeated by granite
and pegmatite
in vein
s and lenticles
, often foliated. The later granites subsequent to the plication of the schists have a wide distribution on the Ben Macdhui and Ben Avon range, and on Lochnagar; they stretch eastwards from Ballater by Tarland to Aberdeen
and north to Bennachie. Isolated masses appear at Peterhead and at Strichen.
Though consisting mainly of biotite granite, these later intrusions pass by intermediate stages into diorite
, as in the area between Balmoral and the head-waters of the Gairn. The granites have been extensively quarried at Rubislaw, Peterhead and Kemnay
.
Serpentinite
and troctolite
, the precise age of which is uncertain, occur at the Black Dog Rock north of Aberdeen
, at Belhelvie and near Old Meldrum. Where the schists of sedimentary origin have been pierced by these igneous intrusions, they are charged with contact minerals such as sillimanite
, cordierite
, kyanite
and andalusite
. Cordierite-bearing rocks occur near Ellon, at the foot of Bennachie, and on the top of the Buck of Cabrach.
A banded and mottled calc
-silicate
hornfels occurring with the limestone
at Derry Falls, west-northwest of Braemar, has yielded malacolite, wollastonite
, brown idocrase, garnet
, sphene and hornblende.
A larger list of minerals has been obtained from an exposure of limestone and associated beds in Glen Gairn, about four miles (6 km) above the point where that river joins the Dee.
Narrow belts of Old Red Sandstone
, resting unconformably on the old platform of slate
s and schists, have been traced from the north coast at Peterhead by Turriff to Fyvie
, and also from Huntly by Gartly to Kildrummy Castle
. The strata consist mainly of conglomerates
and sandstones, which, at Gartly and at Rhynie, are associated with lenticular bands of andesite
indicating contemporaneous volcanic
action. Small outliers of conglomerate and sandstone of this age have recently been found in the course of excavations in Aberdeen.
The glacial deposits, especially in the belt bordering the coast between Aberdeen
and Peterhead, furnish important evidence. The ice moved eastwards off the high ground at the head of the Dee and the Don, while the mass spreading outwards from the Moray Firth invaded the low plateau of Buchan
; but at a certain stage there was a marked defection northwards parallel with the coast, as proved by the deposit of red clay
north of Aberdeen
. At a later date the local glacier
s laid down materials on top of the red clay.
The committee appointed by the British Association proved that the Greensand, which has yielded a large suite of Cretaceous
fossils at Moreseat, in the parish of Cruden
, occurs in glacial drift, resting probably on granite. The strata from which the Moreseat fossils were derived are not now found in place in that part of Scotland
, but Mr Jukes Brown considers that the horizon of the fossils is that of the lower Greensand of the Isle of Wight or the Aptien stage of France
. Chalk flints are widely distributed in the drift between Fyvie and the east coast of Buchan. At Plaidy a patch of clay with Liassic fossils occurs. At several localities between Logie Coldstone and Dinnet a deposit of diatomite (Kieselguhr) occurs beneath the peat
.
, 411 m (1350 ft) above the sea, grow larches, vegetables, currants, laurels, roses, etc. Some ash-trees, 1 to 1.5 m (4 or 5 ft) in girth, grow at 400 m (1300 ft) above the sea. Trees, especially Scotch fir and larch, grow well, and Braemar has plentiful natural timber, said to surpass any in the north of Europe
. Stumps of Scotch fir and oak found in peat sometimes far exceed any now growing in size.
Moles occur at 550 m (1800 ft) above the sea, and squirrels at 450 m (1400 ft). Grouse, partridges and hares abound, and rabbits are often too numerous. Red deer abound in Braemar, which has the most extensive deer forest in Scotland
.
8 °C (46 °F). The mean yearly rainfall varies from about 750 to 950 mm (30 to 37 in). In summer the upper Dee and Don valleys provide the driest and most bracing climate in the British Isles
, and grain grows cultivated up to 500 m (1600 ft) above the sea, or 100 to 150 m (400 to 500 ft) higher than elsewhere in North Britain. Poor, gravelly, clayey and peaty soils prevail, but tile-draining, bones and guano, and the best methods of modern tillage, have greatly increased the produce. Indeed, in no part of Scotland
has a more productive soil developed out of such unpromising material. Farm-houses and steadings have much improved, and the best agricultural implements and machines get widespread use. About two-thirds of the population depend entirely on agriculture. Farms are small compared with those in the south-eastern counties. Oats form the predominant crop, wheat has practically gone out of cultivation, but barley has largely increased. The most distinctive industry is cattle-feeding. Aberdeenshire fattens a great number of the home-bred crosses for the London
and local markets, and imports Irish animals on an extensive scale for the same purpose, while an exceedingly heavy trade in dead meat for London
and the south occurs all over the county. Farmers also raise sheep, horses and pigs in large numbers.
population in villages along the coast engage in the white and herring fishery, fostering the next most important industry to agriculture.
Aberdeenshire fishing developed almost exclusively due to the introduction of steam trawlers. The total value of the annual catch, of which between a half and a third consists of herrings, amounts to £1,000,000.
The industry produces both speldings (salted and rock-dried haddocks) and finnans (smoked haddocks). The ports and creeks belong to the fishery districts of Peterhead, Fraserburgh and Aberdeen, the last of which includes also three Kincardineshire ports. The herring season for Aberdeen
, Peterhead and Fraserburgh lasts from June to September, at which time the ports become crowded with boats from other Scottish districts. Valuable salmon-fishings exist – rod, net and stake-net – on the Dee, Don, Ythan and Ugie.
The average annual despatch of salmon
from Aberdeenshire comprises about 400 long ton.
, but throughout the rural districts one finds much milling of corn, brick and tile making, smith-work, brewing and distilling, cart and farm-implement making, casting and drying of peat, and timber-felling, especially on Deeside and Donside, for pit-props, railway sleepers, laths and barrel staves. A number of paper-making establishments operate, most of them on the Don near Aberdeen
.
The chief mineral wealth comes from the noted durable granite
, quarried at Aberdeen
, Kemnay, Peterhead and elsewhere including for causewaying stones. Sandstone
and other rocks are also quarried at different parts. The shire imports mostly coal, lime, timber, iron, slate, raw materials for the textile manufactures, wheat, cattle-feeding stuffs, bones, guano, sugar, alcoholic liquors, fruits. The exports include granite (rough-dressed and polished), flax, woollen and cotton goods, paper, combs, preserved provisions, oats, barley, and live and dead cattle.
city has rail links with Stonehaven
, Montrose
and Dundee
, and to the north-west a line runs to Inverness
via Huntly, Keith and Elgin
.
Branch lines from various points used to run to several smaller towns, e.g. from Aberdeen
to Ballater by Deeside
, from Aberdeen
to Fraserburgh
(with a branch at Maud for Peterhead
and at Ellon for Cruden Bay
and Boddam), from Kintore to Alford, and from Inverurie to Old Meldrum and also to Macduff. These lines all closed, largely as a result of the Beeching Axe
in the 1960s, they now serve as local pathways or bicycle tracks.
By sea Aberdeenshire has regular communication with the Orkney Islands
and the Shetland Islands
.
The highest of the macadamized roads crossing the eastern Grampians rises to a point 2200 ft (670.6 m) above sea-level.
(population in 1901, 153,503), Bucksburn (2231), Fraserburgh (9105), Huntly (4136), Inverurie (3624), Peterhead (11,794), Turriff (2273).
The Supreme Court of Justiciary sits in Aberdeen
to try cases from the counties of Aberdeen, Banff and Kincardine. The three counties are under a sheriff, and two sheriffs-substitute reside in Aberdeen, who sit also at Fraserburgh, Huntly, Peterhead and Turriff. The sheriff courts occur in Aberdeen
and Peterhead.
The higher branches of education have always been thoroughly taught in the schools throughout the shire, and pupils have long been in the habit of going directly from the schools to the university.
Aberdeenshire people have a quick, sharp, rather angry accent. The local Scots
dialect, affectionally known as the Doric
, appears broad, and rich in diminutives, and is noted for the use of /i/ in bane and stane and muin but /wi/ before /g/ and /k/ in guid and cuit etc., the /f/ realisation of wh, /d/ for medial th /ð/ etc. As recently as 1830 Gaelic provided the fireside language of almost every family in Braemar, but by the start of the 20th century was little used.
and Banff once served as home to the northern Picts, whom Ptolemy called Taixall, dubbing the territory Taixalon. Their town of Devana, once supposed to be the modern Aberdeen
, has been identified by John Stuart
with a site in the parish of Peterculter, where there are remains of an ancient camp at Normandykes
, and by William Forbes Skene
with a station on Loch Davan, west of Aboyne
. Roman Camps have also been discovered on the upper Ythan and Deveron, but evidence of effective Roman occupation is still to seek. Traces of the native inhabitants, however, occur much more frequently. Weem
s or earth-houses occur fairly commonly in the west. Relics of crannog
s or lake-dwellings exist at Loch Ceander, or Kinnord, five miles (8 km) north-east of Ballater, at Loch Goul in the parish of New Machar and elsewhere. Dun
s or forts occur on hills at Dunecht
, where the dun encloses an area of two acres (8,000 m2), Barra near Old Meldrum, Tap o' Noth, Dunnideer near Insch
and other places. Monolith
s, standing stone
s and "druidical" circles of the pagan period
abound, as do many examples of the sculptured stones of the early Christian
epoch.
Efforts to convert the Picts started with Teman in the 5th century, and continued with Columba
(who founded a monastery at Old Deer), Drostan
, Maluog, and Machar
, lasting results emerged only slowly. Indeed, dissensions within the Columban church and the expulsion of the clergy from Pictland by the Pictish king Nectan in the 8th century undid most of the progress that missionaries had made. The Vikings and Danes periodically raided the coast, but after Macbeth
ascended the throne of Scotland
in 1040, the Orkney men, under the guidance of Thorfinn Sigurdsson
, refrained from further trouble in the north-east. Macbeth
was afterwards slain at Lumphanan
(1057), a cairn on Perkhill marking the spot.
The influence of the Norman conquest of England
made itself felt even in Aberdeenshire. Along with numerous Anglo-Saxon exiles, there also settled in the country Flemings who introduced various industries, Saxons
who brought farming, and Scandinavians who taught nautical skill. The Celts revolted more than once, but Malcolm Canmore
and his successors crushed them and confiscated their lands. In the reign of Alexander I
(ruled 1107–1124) mention first appears of Aberdeen
(originally called Abordon and, in the Norse sagas, Apardion), which received its charter from William the Lion
in 1179, by which date its burgesses had already combined with those of Banff, Elgin, Inverness
and other trans-Grampian communities to form a free Hanse, under which they enjoyed exceptional trading privileges. By this time, too, the Church had extended its organisation, establishing the bishopric of Aberdeen
in 1150.
In the 12th and 13th centuries some of the great Aberdeenshire families arose, including the earl of Mar (c. 1122), the Leslies, Freskins (ancestors of the dukes of Sutherland), Durwards, Bysets, Comyns and Cheynes; significantly, in most cases their founders had immigrated to the district.
The Celtic thanes and their retainers slowly fused with the settlers. They declined to take advantage of the disturbed condition of the country during the wars of the Scots independence, and made common cause with the bulk of the nation.
Though John Comyn (d. 1300?), one of the competitors for the throne, had considerable interests in the shire, his claim received locally little support. In 1296 Edward I
made a triumphal march to the north to terrorise the more turbulent nobles. Next year William Wallace
surprised the English
garrison in Aberdeen
, but failed to capture the castle. In 1303 Edward again visited the county, halting at the Castle of Kildrummy, then in the possession of Robert Bruce
, who shortly afterwards became the acknowledged leader of the Scots and made Aberdeen
his headquarters for several months. Despite the seizure of Kildrummy Castle by the English in 1306, Bruce's prospects brightened from 1308, when he defeated John Comyn, earl of Buchan (died 1313?), at Inverurie
.
For a hundred years after Robert Bruce's death (1329) intermittent anarchy occurred in the shire. The English burned Aberdeen
itself in 1336, and the re-settlement of the districts of Buchan
and Strathbogie occasioned constant quarrels on the part of the dispossessed. Moreover, the crown had embroiled itself with some of the Highland chieftains, whose independence it sought to abolish. This policy culminated in the invasion of Aberdeenshire by Donald, Lord of the Isles
, who, however, suffered defeat at Harlaw, near Inverurie, at the hands of the Earl of Mar in 1411.
In the 15th century two further leading county families emerged: Sir Alexander Forbes
becoming Lord Forbes about 1442, and Sir Alexander Seton
, Lord Gordon in 1437 and Earl of Huntly in 1445. Bitter feuds raged between these families for a long period, but the Gordons reached the height of their power in the first half of the 16th century, when their domains, already vast, were enhanced by the acquisition, through marriage, of the Earldom of Sutherland
(1514).
Meanwhile commerce with the Low Countries, Poland
and the Baltic had grown apace, Campvere (Veere in Dutch
), near Flushing (Vlissingen) in the Netherlands
, becoming the emporium of the Scottish traders, while education was fostered by the foundation of King's College, Aberdeen
in 1497 (Marischal College
followed a century later). At the Reformation so little intuition had the clergy of the drift of opinion that at the very time that religious structures were being despoiled in the south, the building and decoration of churches went on in the shire. Protestantism came in without much tumult, though rioting took place in Aberdeen
and St. Machar's Cathedral
in the city suffered damage. The Earl of Huntly
offered some resistance, on behalf of the Catholics, to the influence of James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray
, who was regent
during the reign of James VI
, but was defeated and killed at Corrichie on the Hill of Fare in 1562.
As years passed it became apparent that Presbyterianism gained less generally support than Episcopacy, of which system Aberdeenshire remained for generations the stronghold in Scotland.
Another crisis in ecclesiastical affairs arose in 1638, when the authorities ordered subscription to the National Covenant
. Aberdeenshire responded so grudgingly to this demand that James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose
visited the shire in the following year to enforce acceptance. The Cavaliers, not being disposed to yield, dispersed an armed gathering of Covenanters in the affair called the Trot of Turriff (1639), shedding the first blood of the civil war. The Covenanters obtained the upper hand in a few weeks, when Montrose appeared at the Bridge of Dee
and compelled the surrender of Aberdeen
, which had no choice but to cast in its lot with the victors.
Montrose, however, soon changed sides, and after defeating the Covenanters under Lord Balfour of Burleigh (1644), delivered the city to rapine. He worsted the Covenanters again after a stiff fight on 2 July 1645, at Alford, a village in the beautiful Howe of Alford. Peace was temporarily restored on the "engagement" of the Scots commissioners to assist Charles I.
Aberdeen
welcomed Charles II
on his return from the Netherlands in 1650, but in little more than a year General George Monck entered the city at the head of the Cromwellian regiments. The English garrison remained till 1659, but the following year Aberdeenshire effusively hailed the Restoration
, and prelacy once more went into the ascendant. Most of the Presbyterians conformed, but the Quakers
, more numerous in the shire and the adjoining county of Kincardine
than anywhere else in Scotland
, suffered systematic persecution.
After the Glorious Revolution
(1688) episcopacy passed under a cloud, but the clergy, yielding to force majeure, gradually accepted the inevitable, hoping, as long as Queen Anne lived, that prelacy might yet become the national form of Church government. Her death dissipated these dreams, and as George I
, her successor, was antipathetic to the clergy, it happened that Jacobitism
and episcopalianism
came to be regarded in the shire as identical, though in point of fact the non-jurors as a body never countenanced rebellion.
The Earl of Mar
raised the standard of revolt in Braemar (6 September 1715); a fortnight later James Francis Edward Stuart
was proclaimed at Aberdeen
cross; the Pretender landed at Peterhead on 22 December, and in February 1716 he was back again in France
. The collapse of the first rising ruined many of the lairds, and when the second rebellion occurred thirty years afterwards the county in the main remained apathetic, though the insurgents held Aberdeen
for five months, and Lord Lewis Gordon won a trifling victory for Prince Charles Edward Stuart
at Inverurie
(23 December 1745). The Duke of Cumberland relieved Aberdeen
at the end of February 1746, and by April the Young Pretender
had become a fugitive.
Thereafter the people devoted themselves to agriculture, industry and commerce, which developed by leaps and bounds, and, along with equally remarkable progress in education, transformed the aspect of the shire and made the community as a whole one of the most prosperous in Scotland
.
Registration county
A registration county was, in Great Britain and Ireland, a statistical unit used for the registration of births, deaths and marriages and for the output of census information. In Scotland registration counties are used for land registration purposes....
of Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
. This area (excluding Aberdeen
Aberdeen
Aberdeen is Scotland's third most populous city, one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas and the United Kingdom's 25th most populous city, with an official population estimate of ....
itself) is also a lieutenancy area
Lieutenancy areas of Scotland
The lieutenancy areas of Scotland are the areas used for the ceremonial lord-lieutenants, the monarch's representatives, in Scotland. They are different from the local government council areas, the committee areas, the sheriffdoms, the registration counties, the former regions and districts, the...
.
Until 1975 Aberdeenshire was one of the counties of Scotland
Counties of Scotland
The counties of Scotland were the principal local government divisions of Scotland until 1975. Scotland's current lieutenancy areas and registration counties are largely based on them. They are often referred to as historic counties....
, governed by a county council
County council
A county council is the elected administrative body governing an area known as a county. This term has slightly different meanings in different countries.-United Kingdom:...
from 1890. The boundaries of the county were adjusted by the boundary commissioners appointed under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1889
Local Government (Scotland) Act 1889
The Local Government Act 1889 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which was passed on 26 August 1889. The main effect of the Act was to establish elected county councils in Scotland...
that established the county council. In 1900, the county town of Aberdeen became a county of a city and was thus removed from the county.
The county bordered Kincardineshire
Kincardineshire
The County of Kincardine, also known as Kincardineshire or The Mearns was a local government county on the coast of northeast Scotland...
, Angus
Angus
Angus is one of the 32 local government council areas of Scotland, a registration county and a lieutenancy area. The council area borders Aberdeenshire, Perth and Kinross and Dundee City...
and Perthshire
Perthshire
Perthshire, officially the County of Perth , is a registration county in central Scotland. It extends from Strathmore in the east, to the Pass of Drumochter in the north, Rannoch Moor and Ben Lui in the west, and Aberfoyle in the south...
to the south, Inverness-shire
Inverness-shire
The County of Inverness or Inverness-shire was a general purpose county of Scotland, with the burgh of Inverness as the county town, until 1975, when, under the Local Government Act 1973, the county area was divided between the two-tier Highland region and the unitary Western Isles. The Highland...
and Banffshire
Banffshire
The County of Banff is a registration county for property, and Banffshire is a Lieutenancy area of Scotland.The County of Banff, also known as Banffshire, was a local government county of Scotland with its own county council between 1890 and 1975. The county town was Banff although the largest...
to the west, and the North Sea
North Sea
In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...
to the north and east. It had a coast-line of 65 miles (105 km).
The coat of arms of Aberdeenshire County Council was granted in 1890. The four quarters represented the Buchan, Mar, Garioch and Strathbogie areas.
In 1975 the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973
Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973
The Local Government Act 1973 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, that reformed local government in Scotland, on May 16, 1975....
reorganised local administration in Scotland into a two-tier system of regions and districts. Aberdeenshire, along with the City of Aberdeen, Banffshire, Kincardineshire and most of Morayshire were merged to form Grampian Region, with the former county being divided between the districts of City of Aberdeen, Banff and Buchan
Banff and Buchan
Banff and Buchan is a committee area of the Aberdeenshire Council, Scotland.It has a population of 35,742 . Fishing and agriculture are important industries, together with associated processing and service activity....
, Gordon
Gordon, Scotland
Gordon was formerly was one of five local government districts inthe Grampian region of Scotland.The district was formed by the Local Government Act 1973 from part of the former county of Aberdeenshire, namely:*The burghs of:**Ellon...
and Kincardine and Deeside
Kincardine and Deeside
Kincardine and Deeside was formerly a local government district inthe Grampian Region of Scotland.In 1996 it was included in the Aberdeenshire unitary area.-History:...
.
In 1996 Scottish local government system was reorganised a second time to form a single tier of unitary council areas. The name was revived for the council area of Aberdeenshire
Aberdeenshire
Aberdeenshire is one of the 32 unitary council areas in Scotland and a lieutenancy area.The present day Aberdeenshire council area does not include the City of Aberdeen, now a separate council area, from which its name derives. Together, the modern council area and the city formed historic...
, which has different boundaries.
The area is generally hilly, and from the south-west, near the centre of Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
, the Grampians
Grampian Mountains (Scotland)
The Grampian Mountains or Grampians are one of the three major mountain ranges in Scotland, occupying a considerable portion of the Scottish Highlands in northeast Scotland.-Extent:...
send out various branches, mostly to the north-east.
Towns and villages
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Inverbervie Inverbervie is a small town on the north-east coast of Scotland, south of Stonehaven, in the Aberdeenshire council area.The Inverbervie name derives from Inbhir Beirbhe, meaning Mouth of the River Bervie in Scottish Gaelic.-History:... Inverurie Inverurie is a Royal Burgh and town in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, approximately north west of Aberdeen on the A96 road and is served by Inverurie railway station on the Aberdeen to Inverness Line... Logie Coldstone Logie Coldstone is an Aberdeenshire village north of the River Dee, near Tarland in the Cromar, a basin of land cut out of the Grampian foothills between Aboyne and Ballater.-See also:*Royal Deeside*Blelack... Lonmay Lonmay is a village and parish in the Buchan area of Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It lies along the A90 road, between Peterhead and Fraserburgh, near to the junction with the A952 road at Cortes. The parish, formerly known as St Colms, encompasses the villages of St Combs and Crimond, as well as the... |
Maud, Aberdeenshire Maud is a small town in the Buchan area of the Scottish county of Aberdeenshire. Population 780 . Located 13 miles west of Peterhead on the South Ugie Water, Maud rose to prosperity in the nineteenth century as a railway junction of the Formartine and Buchan Railway that ran through Maud to... Mintlaw Mintlaw is a small town in Aberdeenshire, Scotland lying along the A952 road and is geographically a route centre... Oldmeldrum Oldmeldrum is a village and parish in the Formartine area of Aberdeenshire, not far from Inverurie in North East Scotland. With a growing population of over 2000, Oldmeldrum falls within Scotland's top 300 centres of population. The A947 road from Aberdeen to Banff runs through the centre of the... Peterhead Peterhead is a town in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It is Aberdeenshire's biggest settlement , with a population of 17,947 at the 2001 Census and estimated to have fallen to 17,330 by 2006.... Portlethen Portlethen is a town located approximately 7 miles south of Aberdeen, Scotland along the A90. The estimated population is currently 7,327.To the east of Portlethen lie three fishing villages: Findon, Downies and Portlethen Village .Although Portlethen has been granted official town status, it... |
Portsoy Portsoy is a burgh in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, formerly in the county of Banffshire. The original name of the town was Pert Soaidh, which translates as 'The wooded place of the warriors... Rosehearty Rosehearty , Rizarty in the local dialect, is located on the Moray Firth coast, four miles west of the town Fraserburgh, in the historical county of Aberdeenshire in Scotland.... Stonehaven Stonehaven is a town in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It lies on Scotland's northeast coast and had a population of 9,577 in 2001 census.Stonehaven, county town of Kincardineshire, grew around an Iron Age fishing village, now the "Auld Toon" , and expanded inland from the seaside... Tarland Tarland is a village in Aberdeenshire, Scotland and is located five miles northwest of Aboyne, and 30 miles west of Aberdeen. Population 540 .... Turriff Turriff is a town and civil parish in Aberdeenshire in Scotland. It is approximately above sea level, and has a population of 5,708.Turriff is known locally as Turra in the Doric dialect of Scots... |
Places of interest
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Cairness House Cairness House, south of Fraserburgh in the County of Aberdeenshire, is the largest and finest country house in Buchan and one of the great houses of Scotland. It was built between 1791 and 1797 to designs by architect James Playfair and replaced an earlier house of 1781 by Robert Burn, which was... Duff House Duff House is a Georgian house in Banff, Scotland.Within the Deveron Valley lies Duff House, designed by William Adam, built between 1735 and 1740, and widely thought to be one of Britain's finest Georgian houses. Duff House was built for William Duff of Braco, who became Earl Fife in 1759.The... |
Dunnottar Castle Dunnottar Castle is a ruined medieval fortress located upon a rocky headland on the north-east coast of Scotland, about two miles south of Stonehaven. The surviving buildings are largely of the 15th–16th centuries, but the site is believed to have been an early fortress of the Dark Ages... Findlater Castle Findlater Castle sits in a romantic position on a -high cliff overlooking the Moray Firth on the coast of Banff and Buchan, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It lies about west of Banff, near the village of Sandend, between Cullen and Portsoy... Fyvie Castle Fyvie Castle is a castle in the village of Fyvie, near Turriff in Aberdeenshire, Scotland.The earliest parts of Fyvie Castle date from the 13th century - some sources claim it was built in 1211 by William the Lion. Fyvie was the site of an open-air court held by Robert the Bruce, and Charles I... |
Haddo House Haddo House is a Scottish stately home located near Tarves in Aberdeenshire, approximately 20 miles north of Aberdeen . It has been owned by the National Trust for Scotland since 1979.... Huntly Castle Huntly Castle is a ruined castle in Huntly in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It was the ancestral home of the chief of Clan Gordon, Earl of Huntly.-History:... |
Constituencies
There was an Aberdeenshire constituencyAberdeenshire (UK Parliament constituency)
Aberdeenshire was a Scottish county constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of Great Britain from 1708 to 1800 and of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801 until 1868...
of the House of Commons
British House of Commons
The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 650 members , who are known as Members...
of the Parliament of Great Britain
Parliament of Great Britain
The Parliament of Great Britain was formed in 1707 following the ratification of the Acts of Union by both the Parliament of England and Parliament of Scotland...
from 1708 to 1801 and of the Parliament of the United Kingdom
Parliament of the United Kingdom
The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom, British Crown dependencies and British overseas territories, located in London...
from 1801 to 1868. This constituency did not include the parliamentary burgh of Aberdeen
Aberdeen
Aberdeen is Scotland's third most populous city, one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas and the United Kingdom's 25th most populous city, with an official population estimate of ....
, which was represented as a component of Aberdeen District of Burghs
Aberdeen Burghs (UK Parliament constituency)
Aberdeen Burghs was a district of burghs constituency which was represented from 1708 to 1800 in the House of Commons of the Parliament of Great Britain, and from 1801 to 1832 in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom...
until 1832, when it was enlarged and became the Aberdeen burgh constituency
Aberdeen (UK Parliament constituency)
Aberdeen was a burgh constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1832 until 1885. It was represented by one Member of Parliament , elected by the first past the post voting system.- 1832 to 1868 :...
. The other components of the district of burghs became components of the then new Montrose District of Burghs.
In 1868 the Aberdeenshire constituency was divided to form two new county divisions, or county constituencies, namely Eastern Aberdeenshire
East Aberdeenshire (UK Parliament constituency)
East Aberdeenshire was a Scottish county constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1868 to 1918 and form 1950 to 1983...
and Western Aberdeenshire
West Aberdeenshire (UK Parliament constituency)
West Aberdeenshire was a Scottish county constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1868 to 1918 and form 1950 to 1983...
.
In 1885 the Aberdeen burgh constituency
Burgh constituency
A burgh constituency is a type of parliamentary constituency in Scotland. It is a constituency which is predominantly urban, and on this basis has been designated as a burgh constituency...
was divided to form the burgh constituencies of Aberdeen North
Aberdeen North (UK Parliament constituency)
Aberdeen North is a burgh constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, and it elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election...
and Aberdeen South
Aberdeen South (UK Parliament constituency)
Aberdeen South is a burgh constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, and it elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election...
.
In 1918 Aberdeenshire and Kincardineshire
Kincardineshire
The County of Kincardine, also known as Kincardineshire or The Mearns was a local government county on the coast of northeast Scotland...
were treated as if a single county for parliamentary representation purposes, with the area of the Kincardineshire county constituency
Kincardineshire (UK Parliament constituency)
Kincardineshire was a constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of Great Britain from 1708 to 1801 and of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1918. It was represented by one Member of Parliament ....
and the Aberdeenshire constituencies being divided into three new constituencies, Kincardine and Western Aberdeenshire
Kincardine and Western Aberdeenshire (UK Parliament constituency)
Kincardine and Western Aberdeenshire was a Scottish constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1918 until 1950.-Boundaries:...
, Aberdeen and Kincardine Central
Aberdeen and Kincardine Central (UK Parliament constituency)
Aberdeen and Kincardine Central, also known as Central Aberdeenshire, was a county constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1918 until 1950...
and Aberdeen and Kincardine East
Aberdeen and Kincardine East (UK Parliament constituency)
Aberdeen and Kincardine East was a county constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1918 to 1950. The constituency elected one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election.As created in 1918, the constituency was largely a replacement...
. Kincardine and Western Aberdeenshire included the whole of the former Kincardineshire constituency.
In 1950 the area of the former Kincardinshire constituency (as abolished in 1918) was merged into the then new North Angus and Mearns constituency
North Angus and Mearns (UK Parliament constituency)
Angus North and Mearns, Scotland, was a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1950 to 1983...
, and the Aberdeenshire area was divided into the East Aberdeenshire constituency
East Aberdeenshire (UK Parliament constituency)
East Aberdeenshire was a Scottish county constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1868 to 1918 and form 1950 to 1983...
and the West Aberdeenshire constituency
West Aberdeenshire (UK Parliament constituency)
West Aberdeenshire was a Scottish county constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1868 to 1918 and form 1950 to 1983...
, but the boundary between these new eastern and western constituencies differed from that for the constituencies of the 1868 to 1918 period.
Boundary changes in 1955 enlarged the Aberdeenshire West constituency, and reduced the size of the Aberdeenshire East constituency.
In 1983, eight years after the local government county of Aberdeenshire was abolished, the Aberdeenshire constituencies were replaced with new constrituencies.
Description
Popular geography divides the traditional shire into five districts:- MarMarrMarr is one of six committee areas in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, bordering Atholl, Badenoch, Gowrie, The Mearns, Banff and Buchan. It has a population of 34,038...
, mostly between the Dee and Don, which nearly covers the southern half of the county and contains the city of Aberdeen. It is mountainous, especially BraemarBraemarBraemar is a village in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, around west of Aberdeen in the Highlands. It is the closest significantly-sized settlement to the upper course of the River Dee sitting at an altitude of ....
, which contains the greatest mass of elevated land in the British IslesBritish IslesThe British Isles are a group of islands off the northwest coast of continental Europe that include the islands of Great Britain and Ireland and over six thousand smaller isles. There are two sovereign states located on the islands: the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and...
. The Dee valley has sandy soil, the DonRiver Don, AberdeenshireThe River Don is a river in north-east Scotland. It rises in the Grampians and flows eastwards, through Aberdeenshire, to the North Sea at Aberdeen. The Don passes through Alford, Kemnay, Inverurie, Kintore, and Dyce...
valley loamy. - FormartineFormartineFormartine is a committee area in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. This district has a long history and extends north from the River Don. It has a population of 36,478 ....
, between the lower Don and Ythan, has a sandy coast, which is succeeded inland by a clayey, fertile, tilled tract, and then by low hills, moors, mosses and tilled land. - BuchanBuchanBuchan is one of the six committee areas and administrative areas of Aberdeenshire Council, Scotland. These areas were created by the council in 1996, when the Aberdeenshire unitary council area was created under the Local Government etc Act 1994...
lies north of the Ythan, and comprising the north-east of the county, is next in size to Mar, parts of the coast being bold and rocky, the interior bare, low, flat, undulating and in places peaty. On the coast, six miles (10 km) south of PeterheadPeterheadPeterhead is a town in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It is Aberdeenshire's biggest settlement , with a population of 17,947 at the 2001 Census and estimated to have fallen to 17,330 by 2006....
, are the Bullers of Buchan – a basin in which the sea, entering by a natural arch, boils up violently in stormy weather. Buchan Ness is the most easterly point of Scotland. - GariochGariochGarioch is the name of one of six committee areas in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It has a population of 46,254 .Centred on Inverurie, a traditional rural market town whose foundation dates back to the 9th century with the establishment of Christianity at Polnar, "The Kirk of Rocharl" - now St...
, in the centre of the shire, comprises a beautiful, undulating, loamy, fertile valley, formerly called the granary of Aberdeen. - Strathbogie, occupying a considerable area south of the Deveron, mostly consists of hills, moors and mosses.
The mountains provide the most striking of the physical features of the county.
- Ben MacdhuiBen Macdhui (Scotland)Ben Macdui is the second highest mountain in the United Kingdom after Ben Nevis, and the highest in the Cairngorms. After the defeat of Domnall mac Uilliam in 1187, Donnchad II, Earl of Fife, acquired Strathavon, territory stretching from Ballindalloch to Ben Macdui; because the mountain marked...
, 1309 m (4296 ft), a magnificent mass, the second highest mountain in the United KingdomUnited KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, - BraeriachBraeriachBraeriach is the third highest mountain in Great Britain, surpassed only by Ben Nevis and Ben Macdui. It is the highest point in the western massif of the Cairngorms, separated from the central section by the pass of the Lairig Ghru. The summit has a crescent shape, with several corries...
1295 m (4248 ft), - Cairn ToulCairn ToulCairn Toul is the fourth highest mountain in Scotland, surpassed only by Ben Nevis, Ben Macdui and Braeriach...
, 1293 m (4241 ft), - Beinn a' BhùirdBeinn a' BhùirdBeinn a' Bhùird is a Munro in the Cairngorm mountain range of Scotland.In Watson the author suggests the mountain should be named Beinn Bòrd - table hill saying that local Scottish Gaelic speakers pronounced the mountain Paing Bòrd, with some of the older local folk still using Painna Bòrd.The...
, 1196 m (3924 ft), - Ben AvonBen AvonBen Avon is a mountain in the Cairngorm mountains of Scotland. The highest point of the massif, known as Leabaidh an Dàimh Bhuide is classified as both a Munro and a Marilyn....
, 1171 m (3843 ft), - "Dark" LochnagarLochnagarLochnagar or Beinn Chìochan is a mountain in the Grampians of Scotland, located about five miles south of the River Dee near Balmoral.-Names:...
, 1154 m (3786 ft), the subject of a well-known song by Byron, - Cairn Eas, 1084 m (3556 ft),
- Sgarsoch, 1037 m (3402 ft),
- Culardoch 900 m (2953 ft),
are the principal heights in the division of Mar
Farther north rise the Buck of Cabrach, 722 m (2368 ft) on the Banffshire border, Tap o' Noth
Tap o' Noth
The Tap o' Noth is a hill fort on top of the Hill of Noth, 20 miles west of Inverurie in Aberdeenshire, Scotland at grid reference NJ485293. It is the second highest fort in Scotland and its main feature is its well-preserved vitrified wall which encloses an area of approximately 100 m by 30 m...
, 558 m (1830 ft), Bennachie
Bennachie
Bennachie is a range of hills in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It has several tops, the highest of which, Oxen Craig, has a height of 528 m...
, 518 m (1698 ft), a beautiful peak which from its central position is a landmark visible from many different parts of the county, and which is celebrated in John Imlah
John Imlah
John Imlah , was a Scottish poet.Imlah was the son of an innkeeper. He was born in Aberdeen on 15 November 1799. On completing his education at the grammar school, he was apprenticed as piano-tuner to a local musicseller, and ultimately secured an appointment in the London house of Messrs....
's song, O gin I war faur the Gadie rins, and Foudland, 466 m (1529 ft).
River Dee, Aberdeenshire
The River Dee is a river in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It rises in the Cairngorms and flows through Strathdee to reach the North Sea at Aberdeen...
, 90 miles (145 km) long; the Don, 82 miles (132 km); the Ythan, 37 miles (60 km), with mussel-beds at its mouth; the Ugie, 20 miles (32 km), and the Deveron, 62 miles (100 km), partly on the boundary of Banffshire.
The rivers abound with salmon and trout, and the pearl mussel occurs in the Ythan and Don. A valuable pearl in the Scottish crown is said to be from the Ythan. Loch Muick
Loch Muick
Loch Muick is a 2-mile long freshwater loch in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It is fed from the west by the Allt an dubh Loch, which flows down from Dubh Loch. The outflow is the source of the River Muick. A hiking path around the loch exists and is accessible from a carpark at Spittal of Glen Muick,...
, the largest of the few lakes in the county, 399 m (1310 ft) above the sea, 2½ miles (4 km) long and 1/3 to ½ miles (500 to 800 m) broad, lies some 8½ miles (14 km) southwest of Ballater
Ballater
Ballater is a burgh in Aberdeenshire, Scotland on the River Dee, immediately east of the Cairngorm Mountains. Situated at a height of 123m in elevation, Ballater is a centre for hikers and known for its spring water, once said to cure scrofula.-History:The medieval pattern of development along...
, and has Altnagiuthasach, a royal shooting-box, near its south-western end. Loch Strathbeg
Loch Strathbeg
The Loch of Strathbeg is a designated Special Protection Area for wildlife conservation purposes...
, 6 miles (10 km) southeast of Fraserburgh, is only separated from the sea by a narrow strip of land. There are noted chalybeate
Chalybeate
Chalybeate waters, also known as ferruginous waters, are mineral spring waters containing salts of iron.-Name:The word "chalybeate" is derived from the Latin word for steel, "chalybs", which follows from the Greek word "khalups"...
springs at Peterhead, Fraserburgh, and Pannanich near Ballater
Ballater
Ballater is a burgh in Aberdeenshire, Scotland on the River Dee, immediately east of the Cairngorm Mountains. Situated at a height of 123m in elevation, Ballater is a centre for hikers and known for its spring water, once said to cure scrofula.-History:The medieval pattern of development along...
.
Geology
The greater part of the county is composed of crystalline schistSchist
The schists constitute a group of medium-grade metamorphic rocks, chiefly notable for the preponderance of lamellar minerals such as micas, chlorite, talc, hornblende, graphite, and others. Quartz often occurs in drawn-out grains to such an extent that a particular form called quartz schist is...
s belonging to the metamorphic rock
Metamorphic rock
Metamorphic rock is the transformation of an existing rock type, the protolith, in a process called metamorphism, which means "change in form". The protolith is subjected to heat and pressure causing profound physical and/or chemical change...
s of the Eastern Highlands.
In the upper parts of the valleys of the Dee and the Don they form well-marked groups, of which the most characteristic are
- the black schists and phyllitePhyllitePhyllite is a type of foliated metamorphic rock primarily composed of quartz, sericite mica, and chlorite; the rock represents a gradation in the degree of metamorphism between slate and mica schist. Minute crystals of graphite, sericite, or chlorite impart a silky, sometimes golden sheen to the...
s, with flints, and a thin band of tremoliteTremoliteTremolite is a member of the amphibole group of silicate minerals with composition: Ca2Mg5Si8O222. Tremolite forms by metamorphism of sediments rich in dolomite and quartz. Tremolite forms a series with actinolite and ferro-actinolite. Pure magnesium tremolite is creamy white, but the color grades...
limestoneLimestoneLimestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....
, - the main or Blair AthollBlair AthollBlair Atholl is a small town in Perthshire, Scotland, built about the confluence of the Rivers Tilt and Garry in one of the few areas of flat land in the midst of the Grampian Mountains. The Gaelic place-name Blair, from blàr, 'field, plain', refers to this location...
limestone, - the quartziteQuartziteQuartzite is a hard metamorphic rock which was originally sandstone. Sandstone is converted into quartzite through heating and pressure usually related to tectonic compression within orogenic belts. Pure quartzite is usually white to gray, though quartzites often occur in various shades of pink...
.
These divisions are folded on highly inclined or vertical axes trending north-east and south-west, and hence the same zones are repeated over a considerable area. The quartzite is generally regarded as the highest member of the series. Excellent sections showing the component strata occur in Glen Clunie and its tributary valleys above Braemar. Eastwards down the Dee and the Don and northwards across the plain of Buchan towards Rattray Head
Rattray Head
Rattray Head is a headland in Buchan, Aberdeenshire, on the north east coast Scotland. To north lies Strathbeg Bay and Rattray Bay is to its south...
and Fraserburgh there is a development of biotite
Biotite
Biotite is a common phyllosilicate mineral within the mica group, with the approximate chemical formula . More generally, it refers to the dark mica series, primarily a solid-solution series between the iron-endmember annite, and the magnesium-endmember phlogopite; more aluminous endmembers...
gneiss
Gneiss
Gneiss is a common and widely distributed type of rock formed by high-grade regional metamorphic processes from pre-existing formations that were originally either igneous or sedimentary rocks.-Etymology:...
, partly of sedimentary
Sedimentary rock
Sedimentary rock are types of rock that are formed by the deposition of material at the Earth's surface and within bodies of water. Sedimentation is the collective name for processes that cause mineral and/or organic particles to settle and accumulate or minerals to precipitate from a solution....
and perhaps partly of igneous
Igneous rock
Igneous rock is one of the three main rock types, the others being sedimentary and metamorphic rock. Igneous rock is formed through the cooling and solidification of magma or lava...
origin. A belt of slate which has been quarried for roofing purposes runs along the west border of the county from Turriff by Auchterless and the Foudland Hills
Foudland Hills
The Foudland Hills is a mountainous landform in the northeast of Aberdeenshire, Scotland and northwest of Morayshire. The Foudland Hills are a prominent feature along the northern coastal region of Aberdeenshire, and are visible from somewhat distant points such as Longman Hill to the...
towards the Tap o' Noth near Gartly
Gartly
Gartly is an inland hamlet in Aberdeenshire, Scotland that is several miles south of the town of Huntly, and is situated on the River Bogie, a tributary of the River Deveron.-Sources:* in the Gazetteer for Scotland....
. The metamorphic rocks have been invaded by igneous materials, some before, and by far the larger series after the folding of the strata.
The basic types of the former are represented by the sills of epidiorite and hornblende
Hornblende
Hornblende is a complex inosilicate series of minerals .It is not a recognized mineral in its own right, but the name is used as a general or field term, to refer to a dark amphibole....
gneiss in Glen Muick and Glen Callater, which have been permeated by granite
Granite
Granite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite usually has a medium- to coarse-grained texture. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic...
and pegmatite
Pegmatite
A pegmatite is a very crystalline, intrusive igneous rock composed of interlocking crystals usually larger than 2.5 cm in size; such rocks are referred to as pegmatitic....
in vein
Vein
In the circulatory system, veins are blood vessels that carry blood towards the heart. Most veins carry deoxygenated blood from the tissues back to the heart; exceptions are the pulmonary and umbilical veins, both of which carry oxygenated blood to the heart...
s and lenticles
Lens (geology)
In geology a lens is a body of ore or rock or a deposit that is thick in the middle and thin at the edges, resembling a convex lens in cross-section. Adjective: "lenticular"....
, often foliated. The later granites subsequent to the plication of the schists have a wide distribution on the Ben Macdhui and Ben Avon range, and on Lochnagar; they stretch eastwards from Ballater by Tarland to Aberdeen
Aberdeen
Aberdeen is Scotland's third most populous city, one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas and the United Kingdom's 25th most populous city, with an official population estimate of ....
and north to Bennachie. Isolated masses appear at Peterhead and at Strichen.
Though consisting mainly of biotite granite, these later intrusions pass by intermediate stages into diorite
Diorite
Diorite is a grey to dark grey intermediate intrusive igneous rock composed principally of plagioclase feldspar , biotite, hornblende, and/or pyroxene. It may contain small amounts of quartz, microcline and olivine. Zircon, apatite, sphene, magnetite, ilmenite and sulfides occur as accessory...
, as in the area between Balmoral and the head-waters of the Gairn. The granites have been extensively quarried at Rubislaw, Peterhead and Kemnay
Kemnay
Kemnay is a town west of Aberdeen in Scotland. It has a population of about 4,500 .- History :The villagename Kemnay is believed to originate from the Celtic words that mean bend and river due to...
.
Serpentinite
Serpentinite
Serpentinite is a rock composed of one or more serpentine group minerals. Minerals in this group are formed by serpentinization, a hydration and metamorphic transformation of ultramafic rock from the Earth's mantle...
and troctolite
Troctolite
Troctolite is a mafic intrusive rock type. It consists essentially of major but variable amounts of olivine and calcic plagioclase along with variable minor pyroxene. It is an olivine-rich, pyroxene-depleted relative of gabbro. However, unlike gabbro, no troctolite corresponds in composition to a...
, the precise age of which is uncertain, occur at the Black Dog Rock north of Aberdeen
Aberdeen
Aberdeen is Scotland's third most populous city, one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas and the United Kingdom's 25th most populous city, with an official population estimate of ....
, at Belhelvie and near Old Meldrum. Where the schists of sedimentary origin have been pierced by these igneous intrusions, they are charged with contact minerals such as sillimanite
Sillimanite
Sillimanite is an alumino-silicate mineral with the chemical formula Al2SiO5. Sillimanite is named after the American chemist Benjamin Silliman . It was first described in 1824 for an occurrence in Chester, Middlesex County, Connecticut, USA....
, cordierite
Cordierite
Cordierite or iolite is a magnesium iron aluminium cyclosilicate. Iron is almost always present and a solid solution exists between Mg-rich cordierite and Fe-rich sekaninaite with a series formula: 2 to 2...
, kyanite
Kyanite
Kyanite, whose name derives from the Greek word kuanos sometimes referred to as "kyanos", meaning deep blue, is a typically blue silicate mineral, commonly found in aluminium-rich metamorphic pegmatites and/or sedimentary rock. Kyanite in metamorphic rocks generally indicates pressures higher than...
and andalusite
Andalusite
Andalusite is an aluminium nesosilicate mineral with the chemical formula Al2SiO5.The variety chiastolite commonly contains dark inclusions of carbon or clay which form a checker-board pattern when shown in cross-section....
. Cordierite-bearing rocks occur near Ellon, at the foot of Bennachie, and on the top of the Buck of Cabrach.
A banded and mottled calc
Calcium
Calcium is the chemical element with the symbol Ca and atomic number 20. It has an atomic mass of 40.078 amu. Calcium is a soft gray alkaline earth metal, and is the fifth-most-abundant element by mass in the Earth's crust...
-silicate
Silicate
A silicate is a compound containing a silicon bearing anion. The great majority of silicates are oxides, but hexafluorosilicate and other anions are also included. This article focuses mainly on the Si-O anions. Silicates comprise the majority of the earth's crust, as well as the other...
hornfels occurring with the limestone
Limestone
Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....
at Derry Falls, west-northwest of Braemar, has yielded malacolite, wollastonite
Wollastonite
Wollastonite is a calcium inosilicate mineral that may contain small amounts of iron, magnesium, and manganese substituting for calcium. It is usually white. It forms when impure limestone or dolostone is subjected to high temperature and pressure sometimes in the presence of silica-bearing fluids...
, brown idocrase, garnet
Garnet
The garnet group includes a group of minerals that have been used since the Bronze Age as gemstones and abrasives. The name "garnet" may come from either the Middle English word gernet meaning 'dark red', or the Latin granatus , possibly a reference to the Punica granatum , a plant with red seeds...
, sphene and hornblende.
A larger list of minerals has been obtained from an exposure of limestone and associated beds in Glen Gairn, about four miles (6 km) above the point where that river joins the Dee.
Narrow belts of Old Red Sandstone
Sandstone
Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...
, resting unconformably on the old platform of slate
Slate
Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. The result is a foliated rock in which the foliation may not correspond to the original sedimentary layering...
s and schists, have been traced from the north coast at Peterhead by Turriff to Fyvie
Fyvie
Fyvie is a village in the Formartine area of Aberdeenshire, Scotland.-Fyvie Castle:Fyvie Castle is reputed to have been built by King William the Lyon in the early thirteenth century...
, and also from Huntly by Gartly to Kildrummy Castle
Kildrummy Castle
Kildrummy Castle is a ruined castle near Kildrummy, in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, United Kingdom. Though ruined, it is one of the most extensive castles of 13th century date to survive in eastern Scotland, and was the seat of the Earls of Mar....
. The strata consist mainly of conglomerates
Conglomerate (geology)
A conglomerate is a rock consisting of individual clasts within a finer-grained matrix that have become cemented together. Conglomerates are sedimentary rocks consisting of rounded fragments and are thus differentiated from breccias, which consist of angular clasts...
and sandstones, which, at Gartly and at Rhynie, are associated with lenticular bands of andesite
Andesite
Andesite is an extrusive igneous, volcanic rock, of intermediate composition, with aphanitic to porphyritic texture. In a general sense, it is the intermediate type between basalt and dacite. The mineral assemblage is typically dominated by plagioclase plus pyroxene and/or hornblende. Magnetite,...
indicating contemporaneous volcanic
Volcano
2. Bedrock3. Conduit 4. Base5. Sill6. Dike7. Layers of ash emitted by the volcano8. Flank| 9. Layers of lava emitted by the volcano10. Throat11. Parasitic cone12. Lava flow13. Vent14. Crater15...
action. Small outliers of conglomerate and sandstone of this age have recently been found in the course of excavations in Aberdeen.
The glacial deposits, especially in the belt bordering the coast between Aberdeen
Aberdeen
Aberdeen is Scotland's third most populous city, one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas and the United Kingdom's 25th most populous city, with an official population estimate of ....
and Peterhead, furnish important evidence. The ice moved eastwards off the high ground at the head of the Dee and the Don, while the mass spreading outwards from the Moray Firth invaded the low plateau of Buchan
Buchan
Buchan is one of the six committee areas and administrative areas of Aberdeenshire Council, Scotland. These areas were created by the council in 1996, when the Aberdeenshire unitary council area was created under the Local Government etc Act 1994...
; but at a certain stage there was a marked defection northwards parallel with the coast, as proved by the deposit of red clay
Clay
Clay is a general term including many combinations of one or more clay minerals with traces of metal oxides and organic matter. Geologic clay deposits are mostly composed of phyllosilicate minerals containing variable amounts of water trapped in the mineral structure.- Formation :Clay minerals...
north of Aberdeen
Aberdeen
Aberdeen is Scotland's third most populous city, one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas and the United Kingdom's 25th most populous city, with an official population estimate of ....
. At a later date the local glacier
Glacier
A glacier is a large persistent body of ice that forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. At least 0.1 km² in area and 50 m thick, but often much larger, a glacier slowly deforms and flows due to stresses induced by its weight...
s laid down materials on top of the red clay.
The committee appointed by the British Association proved that the Greensand, which has yielded a large suite of Cretaceous
Cretaceous
The Cretaceous , derived from the Latin "creta" , usually abbreviated K for its German translation Kreide , is a geologic period and system from circa to million years ago. In the geologic timescale, the Cretaceous follows the Jurassic period and is followed by the Paleogene period of the...
fossils at Moreseat, in the parish of Cruden
Cruden Bay
Cruden Bay is a small village in Scotland, on the north coast of the Bay of Cruden in Aberdeenshire, 26 miles north of Aberdeen.Just south of Slains Castle, Cruden Bay was the site of a battle between Danes and Scots under King Malcolm II in 1012...
, occurs in glacial drift, resting probably on granite. The strata from which the Moreseat fossils were derived are not now found in place in that part of Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
, but Mr Jukes Brown considers that the horizon of the fossils is that of the lower Greensand of the Isle of Wight or the Aptien stage of France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
. Chalk flints are widely distributed in the drift between Fyvie and the east coast of Buchan. At Plaidy a patch of clay with Liassic fossils occurs. At several localities between Logie Coldstone and Dinnet a deposit of diatomite (Kieselguhr) occurs beneath the peat
Peat
Peat is an accumulation of partially decayed vegetation matter or histosol. Peat forms in wetland bogs, moors, muskegs, pocosins, mires, and peat swamp forests. Peat is harvested as an important source of fuel in certain parts of the world...
.
Flora and fauna
The tops of the highest mountains have an Arctic flora. At the royal lodge on Loch MuickLoch Muick
Loch Muick is a 2-mile long freshwater loch in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It is fed from the west by the Allt an dubh Loch, which flows down from Dubh Loch. The outflow is the source of the River Muick. A hiking path around the loch exists and is accessible from a carpark at Spittal of Glen Muick,...
, 411 m (1350 ft) above the sea, grow larches, vegetables, currants, laurels, roses, etc. Some ash-trees, 1 to 1.5 m (4 or 5 ft) in girth, grow at 400 m (1300 ft) above the sea. Trees, especially Scotch fir and larch, grow well, and Braemar has plentiful natural timber, said to surpass any in the north of Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
. Stumps of Scotch fir and oak found in peat sometimes far exceed any now growing in size.
Moles occur at 550 m (1800 ft) above the sea, and squirrels at 450 m (1400 ft). Grouse, partridges and hares abound, and rabbits are often too numerous. Red deer abound in Braemar, which has the most extensive deer forest in Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
.
Climate and agriculture
Except in the mountainous districts, Aberdeenshire has a comparatively mild climate, owing to the proximity of much of the shire to the sea. The mean annual temperature at Braemar reaches 6 °C (44 °F), and that at AberdeenAberdeen
Aberdeen is Scotland's third most populous city, one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas and the United Kingdom's 25th most populous city, with an official population estimate of ....
8 °C (46 °F). The mean yearly rainfall varies from about 750 to 950 mm (30 to 37 in). In summer the upper Dee and Don valleys provide the driest and most bracing climate in the British Isles
British Isles
The British Isles are a group of islands off the northwest coast of continental Europe that include the islands of Great Britain and Ireland and over six thousand smaller isles. There are two sovereign states located on the islands: the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and...
, and grain grows cultivated up to 500 m (1600 ft) above the sea, or 100 to 150 m (400 to 500 ft) higher than elsewhere in North Britain. Poor, gravelly, clayey and peaty soils prevail, but tile-draining, bones and guano, and the best methods of modern tillage, have greatly increased the produce. Indeed, in no part of Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
has a more productive soil developed out of such unpromising material. Farm-houses and steadings have much improved, and the best agricultural implements and machines get widespread use. About two-thirds of the population depend entirely on agriculture. Farms are small compared with those in the south-eastern counties. Oats form the predominant crop, wheat has practically gone out of cultivation, but barley has largely increased. The most distinctive industry is cattle-feeding. Aberdeenshire fattens a great number of the home-bred crosses for the London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
and local markets, and imports Irish animals on an extensive scale for the same purpose, while an exceedingly heavy trade in dead meat for London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
and the south occurs all over the county. Farmers also raise sheep, horses and pigs in large numbers.
Fisheries
A large fishingFishing
Fishing is the activity of trying to catch wild fish. Fish are normally caught in the wild. Techniques for catching fish include hand gathering, spearing, netting, angling and trapping....
population in villages along the coast engage in the white and herring fishery, fostering the next most important industry to agriculture.
Aberdeenshire fishing developed almost exclusively due to the introduction of steam trawlers. The total value of the annual catch, of which between a half and a third consists of herrings, amounts to £1,000,000.
The industry produces both speldings (salted and rock-dried haddocks) and finnans (smoked haddocks). The ports and creeks belong to the fishery districts of Peterhead, Fraserburgh and Aberdeen, the last of which includes also three Kincardineshire ports. The herring season for Aberdeen
Aberdeen
Aberdeen is Scotland's third most populous city, one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas and the United Kingdom's 25th most populous city, with an official population estimate of ....
, Peterhead and Fraserburgh lasts from June to September, at which time the ports become crowded with boats from other Scottish districts. Valuable salmon-fishings exist – rod, net and stake-net – on the Dee, Don, Ythan and Ugie.
The average annual despatch of salmon
Salmon
Salmon is the common name for several species of fish in the family Salmonidae. Several other fish in the same family are called trout; the difference is often said to be that salmon migrate and trout are resident, but this distinction does not strictly hold true...
from Aberdeenshire comprises about 400 long ton.
Other industries
Manufactures mainly cluster in or near the city of AberdeenAberdeen
Aberdeen is Scotland's third most populous city, one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas and the United Kingdom's 25th most populous city, with an official population estimate of ....
, but throughout the rural districts one finds much milling of corn, brick and tile making, smith-work, brewing and distilling, cart and farm-implement making, casting and drying of peat, and timber-felling, especially on Deeside and Donside, for pit-props, railway sleepers, laths and barrel staves. A number of paper-making establishments operate, most of them on the Don near Aberdeen
Aberdeen
Aberdeen is Scotland's third most populous city, one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas and the United Kingdom's 25th most populous city, with an official population estimate of ....
.
The chief mineral wealth comes from the noted durable granite
Granite
Granite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite usually has a medium- to coarse-grained texture. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic...
, quarried at Aberdeen
Aberdeen
Aberdeen is Scotland's third most populous city, one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas and the United Kingdom's 25th most populous city, with an official population estimate of ....
, Kemnay, Peterhead and elsewhere including for causewaying stones. Sandstone
Sandstone
Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...
and other rocks are also quarried at different parts. The shire imports mostly coal, lime, timber, iron, slate, raw materials for the textile manufactures, wheat, cattle-feeding stuffs, bones, guano, sugar, alcoholic liquors, fruits. The exports include granite (rough-dressed and polished), flax, woollen and cotton goods, paper, combs, preserved provisions, oats, barley, and live and dead cattle.
Communications
On the south AberdeenAberdeen
Aberdeen is Scotland's third most populous city, one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas and the United Kingdom's 25th most populous city, with an official population estimate of ....
city has rail links with Stonehaven
Stonehaven
Stonehaven is a town in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It lies on Scotland's northeast coast and had a population of 9,577 in 2001 census.Stonehaven, county town of Kincardineshire, grew around an Iron Age fishing village, now the "Auld Toon" , and expanded inland from the seaside...
, Montrose
Montrose, Angus
Montrose is a coastal resort town and former royal burgh in Angus, Scotland. It is situated 38 miles north of Dundee between the mouths of the North and South Esk rivers...
and Dundee
Dundee
Dundee is the fourth-largest city in Scotland and the 39th most populous settlement in the United Kingdom. It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firth of Tay, which feeds into the North Sea...
, and to the north-west a line runs to Inverness
Inverness
Inverness is a city in the Scottish Highlands. It is the administrative centre for the Highland council area, and is regarded as the capital of the Highlands of Scotland...
via Huntly, Keith and Elgin
Elgin, Moray
Elgin is a former cathedral city and Royal Burgh in Moray, Scotland. It is the administrative and commercial centre for Moray. The town originated to the south of the River Lossie on the higher ground above the flood plain. Elgin is first documented in the Cartulary of Moray in 1190...
.
Branch lines from various points used to run to several smaller towns, e.g. from Aberdeen
Aberdeen
Aberdeen is Scotland's third most populous city, one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas and the United Kingdom's 25th most populous city, with an official population estimate of ....
to Ballater by Deeside
Deeside
For Strathdee in Scotland see River Dee, AberdeenshireDeeside is the name given to the predominantly industrial conurbation of towns and villages that lie on, or near the River Dee in Chester. These include, Connah's Quay, Mancot, Pentre, Shotton, Queensferry, Sealand, Broughton, Hawarden,...
, from Aberdeen
Aberdeen
Aberdeen is Scotland's third most populous city, one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas and the United Kingdom's 25th most populous city, with an official population estimate of ....
to Fraserburgh
Fraserburgh
Fraserburgh is a town in Aberdeenshire, Scotland with a population recorded in the 2001 Census at 12,454 and estimated at 12,630 in 2006. It lies at the extreme northeast corner of Aberdeenshire, around north of Aberdeen, and north of Peterhead...
(with a branch at Maud for Peterhead
Peterhead
Peterhead is a town in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It is Aberdeenshire's biggest settlement , with a population of 17,947 at the 2001 Census and estimated to have fallen to 17,330 by 2006....
and at Ellon for Cruden Bay
Cruden Bay
Cruden Bay is a small village in Scotland, on the north coast of the Bay of Cruden in Aberdeenshire, 26 miles north of Aberdeen.Just south of Slains Castle, Cruden Bay was the site of a battle between Danes and Scots under King Malcolm II in 1012...
and Boddam), from Kintore to Alford, and from Inverurie to Old Meldrum and also to Macduff. These lines all closed, largely as a result of the Beeching Axe
Beeching Axe
The Beeching Axe or the Beeching Cuts are informal names for the British Government's attempt in the 1960s to reduce the cost of running British Railways, the nationalised railway system in the United Kingdom. The name is that of the main author of The Reshaping of British Railways, Dr Richard...
in the 1960s, they now serve as local pathways or bicycle tracks.
By sea Aberdeenshire has regular communication with the Orkney Islands
Orkney Islands
Orkney also known as the Orkney Islands , is an archipelago in northern Scotland, situated north of the coast of Caithness...
and the Shetland Islands
Shetland Islands
Shetland is a subarctic archipelago of Scotland that lies north and east of mainland Great Britain. The islands lie some to the northeast of Orkney and southeast of the Faroe Islands and form part of the division between the Atlantic Ocean to the west and the North Sea to the east. The total...
.
The highest of the macadamized roads crossing the eastern Grampians rises to a point 2200 ft (670.6 m) above sea-level.
Population and government
In 1801 the population numbered 284,036 and in 1901 304,439 (of whom 159,603 were females), or 154 persons to the square mile (59/km²). In 1901 Aberdeenshire had 8 persons who spoke Gaelic only, and 1333 who spoke Gaelic and English. The chief towns include AberdeenAberdeen
Aberdeen is Scotland's third most populous city, one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas and the United Kingdom's 25th most populous city, with an official population estimate of ....
(population in 1901, 153,503), Bucksburn (2231), Fraserburgh (9105), Huntly (4136), Inverurie (3624), Peterhead (11,794), Turriff (2273).
The Supreme Court of Justiciary sits in Aberdeen
Aberdeen
Aberdeen is Scotland's third most populous city, one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas and the United Kingdom's 25th most populous city, with an official population estimate of ....
to try cases from the counties of Aberdeen, Banff and Kincardine. The three counties are under a sheriff, and two sheriffs-substitute reside in Aberdeen, who sit also at Fraserburgh, Huntly, Peterhead and Turriff. The sheriff courts occur in Aberdeen
Aberdeen
Aberdeen is Scotland's third most populous city, one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas and the United Kingdom's 25th most populous city, with an official population estimate of ....
and Peterhead.
The higher branches of education have always been thoroughly taught in the schools throughout the shire, and pupils have long been in the habit of going directly from the schools to the university.
Aberdeenshire people have a quick, sharp, rather angry accent. The local Scots
Scots language
Scots is the Germanic language variety spoken in Lowland Scotland and parts of Ulster . It is sometimes called Lowland Scots to distinguish it from Scottish Gaelic, the Celtic language variety spoken in most of the western Highlands and in the Hebrides.Since there are no universally accepted...
dialect, affectionally known as the Doric
Doric dialect (Scotland)
Doric, the popular name for Mid Northern Scots or Northeast Scots, refers to the dialects of Scots spoken in the northeast of Scotland.-Nomenclature:...
, appears broad, and rich in diminutives, and is noted for the use of /i/ in bane and stane and muin but /wi/ before /g/ and /k/ in guid and cuit etc., the /f/ realisation of wh, /d/ for medial th /ð/ etc. As recently as 1830 Gaelic provided the fireside language of almost every family in Braemar, but by the start of the 20th century was little used.
History
The country later forming the shires of AberdeenAberdeen
Aberdeen is Scotland's third most populous city, one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas and the United Kingdom's 25th most populous city, with an official population estimate of ....
and Banff once served as home to the northern Picts, whom Ptolemy called Taixall, dubbing the territory Taixalon. Their town of Devana, once supposed to be the modern Aberdeen
Aberdeen
Aberdeen is Scotland's third most populous city, one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas and the United Kingdom's 25th most populous city, with an official population estimate of ....
, has been identified by John Stuart
John Stuart
John Stuart may refer to:*Sir John Stuart, 4th Baronet , MP for Kincardineshire*John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute , Prime Minister of Great Britain from 1762–1763...
with a site in the parish of Peterculter, where there are remains of an ancient camp at Normandykes
Normandykes
Normandykes is the site of a Roman marching camp to the southwest of Peterculter, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. The near-rectangular site, measuring approximately , covers about of the summit and eastern slopes of a hill overlooking the River Dee and the B9077 road further south. Aerial photographs...
, and by William Forbes Skene
William Forbes Skene
William Forbes Skene , Scottish historian and antiquary, was the second son of Sir Walter Scott's friend, James Skene , of Rubislaw, near Aberdeen....
with a station on Loch Davan, west of Aboyne
Aboyne
Aboyne is a village on the edge of the Highlands in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, on the River Dee, approximately west of Aberdeen. It has a rugby club, which plays on The Green and also has a swimming pool, a golf course with 18 holes, all-weather tennis courts, and a bowling green...
. Roman Camps have also been discovered on the upper Ythan and Deveron, but evidence of effective Roman occupation is still to seek. Traces of the native inhabitants, however, occur much more frequently. Weem
Weem
Weem is a village on the B846 near Aberfeldy in Perthshire, Scotland.The name Weem is derived from the Gaelic uaimh, meaning 'cave'....
s or earth-houses occur fairly commonly in the west. Relics of crannog
Crannog
A crannog is typically a partially or entirely artificial island, usually built in lakes, rivers and estuarine waters of Scotland and Ireland. Crannogs were used as dwellings over five millennia from the European Neolithic Period, to as late as the 17th/early 18th century although in Scotland,...
s or lake-dwellings exist at Loch Ceander, or Kinnord, five miles (8 km) north-east of Ballater, at Loch Goul in the parish of New Machar and elsewhere. Dun
Dun
Dun is now used both as a generic term for a fort and also for a specific variety of Atlantic roundhouse...
s or forts occur on hills at Dunecht
Dunecht
Dunecht is a slightly linear village on the A944 road in north-east Aberdeenshire in Scotland. It is not to be confused with Echt.Dunecht is located 12 miles west of the city of Aberdeen and is situated by the confluence of the Kinnernie and Bervie burns.Formerly known as Waterton, it was renamed...
, where the dun encloses an area of two acres (8,000 m2), Barra near Old Meldrum, Tap o' Noth, Dunnideer near Insch
Insch
Insch is a village in Garioch, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It is located approximately from the city of Aberdeen.-Etymology:The name of the village may have come from the Scottish Gaelic innis, meaning an island, or, as in this context, a piece of terra firma in a marsh...
and other places. Monolith
Monolith
A monolith is a geological feature such as a mountain, consisting of a single massive stone or rock, or a single piece of rock placed as, or within, a monument...
s, standing stone
Standing stone
Standing stones, orthostats, liths, or more commonly megaliths are solitary stones set vertically in the ground and come in many different varieties....
s and "druidical" circles of the pagan period
Stone circle
A stone circle is a monument of standing stones arranged in a circle. Such monuments have been constructed across the world throughout history for many different reasons....
abound, as do many examples of the sculptured stones of the early Christian
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
epoch.
Efforts to convert the Picts started with Teman in the 5th century, and continued with Columba
Columba
Saint Columba —also known as Colum Cille , Colm Cille , Calum Cille and Kolban or Kolbjørn —was a Gaelic Irish missionary monk who propagated Christianity among the Picts during the Early Medieval Period...
(who founded a monastery at Old Deer), Drostan
Drostan
Saint Drostan , also Drustan, Dustan, and Throstan, was the founder and abbot of the monastery of Old Deer in Aberdeenshire. His relics were translated to the church at New Aberdour and his holy well lies nearby. Saint Drostan's day is July 11.-Biography:A Scottish abbot who flourished about A.D....
, Maluog, and Machar
Machar
Machar may refer to:* Agnes Maule Machar , Canadian author* Josef Svatopluk Machar , Czech poet and essayist* Machair, a type of fertile low-lying raised beach* machar, a transliteration of the Hebrew word meaning "tomorrow"...
, lasting results emerged only slowly. Indeed, dissensions within the Columban church and the expulsion of the clergy from Pictland by the Pictish king Nectan in the 8th century undid most of the progress that missionaries had made. The Vikings and Danes periodically raided the coast, but after Macbeth
Macbeth
The Tragedy of Macbeth is a play by William Shakespeare about a regicide and its aftermath. It is Shakespeare's shortest tragedy and is believed to have been written sometime between 1603 and 1607...
ascended the throne of Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
in 1040, the Orkney men, under the guidance of Thorfinn Sigurdsson
Thorfinn Sigurdsson, Earl of Orkney
Thorfinn Sigurdsson , called Thorfinn the Mighty, was an 11th-century Earl of Orkney. One of five brothers , sons of Earl Sigurd Hlodvirsson by his marriage to the daughter of Malcolm II of Scotland...
, refrained from further trouble in the north-east. Macbeth
Macbeth
The Tragedy of Macbeth is a play by William Shakespeare about a regicide and its aftermath. It is Shakespeare's shortest tragedy and is believed to have been written sometime between 1603 and 1607...
was afterwards slain at Lumphanan
Lumphanan
Lumphanan is a village in Aberdeenshire, Scotland located 25 miles from Aberdeen and 10 miles from Banchory. There is one pub in the village called "The MacBeth Arms", there is another bar located three miles from the village centre named "The Crossroads Hotel"...
(1057), a cairn on Perkhill marking the spot.
The influence of the Norman conquest of England
Norman conquest of England
The Norman conquest of England began on 28 September 1066 with the invasion of England by William, Duke of Normandy. William became known as William the Conqueror after his victory at the Battle of Hastings on 14 October 1066, defeating King Harold II of England...
made itself felt even in Aberdeenshire. Along with numerous Anglo-Saxon exiles, there also settled in the country Flemings who introduced various industries, Saxons
Saxons
The Saxons were a confederation of Germanic tribes originating on the North German plain. The Saxons earliest known area of settlement is Northern Albingia, an area approximately that of modern Holstein...
who brought farming, and Scandinavians who taught nautical skill. The Celts revolted more than once, but Malcolm Canmore
Malcolm III of Scotland
Máel Coluim mac Donnchada , was King of Scots...
and his successors crushed them and confiscated their lands. In the reign of Alexander I
Alexander I of Scotland
Alexander I , also called Alaxandair mac Maíl Coluim and nicknamed "The Fierce", was King of the Scots from 1107 to his death.-Life:...
(ruled 1107–1124) mention first appears of Aberdeen
Aberdeen
Aberdeen is Scotland's third most populous city, one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas and the United Kingdom's 25th most populous city, with an official population estimate of ....
(originally called Abordon and, in the Norse sagas, Apardion), which received its charter from William the Lion
William I of Scotland
William the Lion , sometimes styled William I, also known by the nickname Garbh, "the Rough", reigned as King of the Scots from 1165 to 1214...
in 1179, by which date its burgesses had already combined with those of Banff, Elgin, Inverness
Inverness
Inverness is a city in the Scottish Highlands. It is the administrative centre for the Highland council area, and is regarded as the capital of the Highlands of Scotland...
and other trans-Grampian communities to form a free Hanse, under which they enjoyed exceptional trading privileges. By this time, too, the Church had extended its organisation, establishing the bishopric of Aberdeen
Aberdeen
Aberdeen is Scotland's third most populous city, one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas and the United Kingdom's 25th most populous city, with an official population estimate of ....
in 1150.
In the 12th and 13th centuries some of the great Aberdeenshire families arose, including the earl of Mar (c. 1122), the Leslies, Freskins (ancestors of the dukes of Sutherland), Durwards, Bysets, Comyns and Cheynes; significantly, in most cases their founders had immigrated to the district.
The Celtic thanes and their retainers slowly fused with the settlers. They declined to take advantage of the disturbed condition of the country during the wars of the Scots independence, and made common cause with the bulk of the nation.
Though John Comyn (d. 1300?), one of the competitors for the throne, had considerable interests in the shire, his claim received locally little support. In 1296 Edward I
Edward I of England
Edward I , also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots, was King of England from 1272 to 1307. The first son of Henry III, Edward was involved early in the political intrigues of his father's reign, which included an outright rebellion by the English barons...
made a triumphal march to the north to terrorise the more turbulent nobles. Next year William Wallace
William Wallace
Sir William Wallace was a Scottish knight and landowner who became one of the main leaders during the Wars of Scottish Independence....
surprised the English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
garrison in Aberdeen
Aberdeen
Aberdeen is Scotland's third most populous city, one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas and the United Kingdom's 25th most populous city, with an official population estimate of ....
, but failed to capture the castle. In 1303 Edward again visited the county, halting at the Castle of Kildrummy, then in the possession of Robert Bruce
Robert I of Scotland
Robert I , popularly known as Robert the Bruce , was King of Scots from March 25, 1306, until his death in 1329.His paternal ancestors were of Scoto-Norman heritage , and...
, who shortly afterwards became the acknowledged leader of the Scots and made Aberdeen
Aberdeen
Aberdeen is Scotland's third most populous city, one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas and the United Kingdom's 25th most populous city, with an official population estimate of ....
his headquarters for several months. Despite the seizure of Kildrummy Castle by the English in 1306, Bruce's prospects brightened from 1308, when he defeated John Comyn, earl of Buchan (died 1313?), at Inverurie
Inverurie
Inverurie is a Royal Burgh and town in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, approximately north west of Aberdeen on the A96 road and is served by Inverurie railway station on the Aberdeen to Inverness Line...
.
For a hundred years after Robert Bruce's death (1329) intermittent anarchy occurred in the shire. The English burned Aberdeen
Aberdeen
Aberdeen is Scotland's third most populous city, one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas and the United Kingdom's 25th most populous city, with an official population estimate of ....
itself in 1336, and the re-settlement of the districts of Buchan
Buchan
Buchan is one of the six committee areas and administrative areas of Aberdeenshire Council, Scotland. These areas were created by the council in 1996, when the Aberdeenshire unitary council area was created under the Local Government etc Act 1994...
and Strathbogie occasioned constant quarrels on the part of the dispossessed. Moreover, the crown had embroiled itself with some of the Highland chieftains, whose independence it sought to abolish. This policy culminated in the invasion of Aberdeenshire by Donald, Lord of the Isles
Domhnall of Islay, Lord of the Isles
Donald, or properly, Dómhnall Íle , was the son and successor of John of Islay, Lord of the Isles and chief of Clan Donald. The Lordship of the Isles was based in and around the Scottish west-coast island of Islay, but under Domhnall's father had come to include many of the other islands off the...
, who, however, suffered defeat at Harlaw, near Inverurie, at the hands of the Earl of Mar in 1411.
In the 15th century two further leading county families emerged: Sir Alexander Forbes
Alexander Forbes, 1st Lord Forbes
Alexander de Forbes , 1st Lord Forbes , also feudal baron of Forbes, was a Scottish nobleman.-Life:He was the eldest son of Sir Alexander de Forbes Alexander de Forbes , 1st Lord Forbes (c. 1380-1448), also feudal baron of Forbes, was a Scottish nobleman.-Life:He was the eldest son of Sir Alexander...
becoming Lord Forbes about 1442, and Sir Alexander Seton
Alexander Gordon, 1st Earl of Huntly
Alexander Seton , 1st Earl of Huntly was a powerful 15th century Scottish magnate. He was knighted in 1439/40 and was Lord of Badenoch, & Cluny....
, Lord Gordon in 1437 and Earl of Huntly in 1445. Bitter feuds raged between these families for a long period, but the Gordons reached the height of their power in the first half of the 16th century, when their domains, already vast, were enhanced by the acquisition, through marriage, of the Earldom of Sutherland
Earl of Sutherland
Earl of Sutherland is a title in the Peerage of Scotland. It was created circa 1230 for William de Moravia. The Earl of Sutherland is also the Chief of Clan Sutherland...
(1514).
Meanwhile commerce with the Low Countries, Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
and the Baltic had grown apace, Campvere (Veere in Dutch
Dutch language
Dutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...
), near Flushing (Vlissingen) in the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
, becoming the emporium of the Scottish traders, while education was fostered by the foundation of King's College, Aberdeen
King's College, Aberdeen
King's College in Old Aberdeen, Scotland is a formerly independent university founded in 1495 and an integral part of the University of Aberdeen...
in 1497 (Marischal College
Marischal College
Marischal College is a building and former university in the centre of the city of Aberdeen in north-east Scotland. The building is owned by the University of Aberdeen and used for ceremonial events...
followed a century later). At the Reformation so little intuition had the clergy of the drift of opinion that at the very time that religious structures were being despoiled in the south, the building and decoration of churches went on in the shire. Protestantism came in without much tumult, though rioting took place in Aberdeen
Aberdeen
Aberdeen is Scotland's third most populous city, one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas and the United Kingdom's 25th most populous city, with an official population estimate of ....
and St. Machar's Cathedral
St. Machar's Cathedral
St Machar's Cathedral is a Church of Scotland church in Aberdeen, Scotland. It is located to the north of the city centre, in the former burgh of Old Aberdeen...
in the city suffered damage. The Earl of Huntly
George Gordon, 4th Earl of Huntly
George Gordon, 4th Earl of Huntly was a Scottish nobleman.-Biography:He was the son of John Gordon, Lord Gordon, and Margaret Stewart, daughter of James IV. George Gordon inherited his earldom and estates in 1524 at age 10...
offered some resistance, on behalf of the Catholics, to the influence of James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray
James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray
James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray , a member of the House of Stewart as the illegitimate son of King James V, was Regent of Scotland for his nephew, the infant King James VI of Scotland, from 1567 until his assassination in 1570...
, who was regent
Regent
A regent, from the Latin regens "one who reigns", is a person selected to act as head of state because the ruler is a minor, not present, or debilitated. Currently there are only two ruling Regencies in the world, sovereign Liechtenstein and the Malaysian constitutive state of Terengganu...
during the reign of James VI
James I of England
James VI and I was King of Scots as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the English and Scottish crowns on 24 March 1603...
, but was defeated and killed at Corrichie on the Hill of Fare in 1562.
As years passed it became apparent that Presbyterianism gained less generally support than Episcopacy, of which system Aberdeenshire remained for generations the stronghold in Scotland.
Another crisis in ecclesiastical affairs arose in 1638, when the authorities ordered subscription to the National Covenant
Solemn League and Covenant
The Solemn League and Covenant was an agreement between the Scottish Covenanters and the leaders of the English Parliamentarians. It was agreed to in 1643, during the First English Civil War....
. Aberdeenshire responded so grudgingly to this demand that James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose
James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose
James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose was a Scottish nobleman and soldier, who initially joined the Covenanters in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, but subsequently supported King Charles I as the English Civil War developed...
visited the shire in the following year to enforce acceptance. The Cavaliers, not being disposed to yield, dispersed an armed gathering of Covenanters in the affair called the Trot of Turriff (1639), shedding the first blood of the civil war. The Covenanters obtained the upper hand in a few weeks, when Montrose appeared at the Bridge of Dee
Bridge of Dee
The Bridge of Dee or Brig o' Dee is a road bridge over the River Dee in Aberdeen, Scotland. The term is also used for the surrounding area of the city. Dating from 1527, the bridge crosses at what was once the City of Aberdeen's southern boundary...
and compelled the surrender of Aberdeen
Aberdeen
Aberdeen is Scotland's third most populous city, one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas and the United Kingdom's 25th most populous city, with an official population estimate of ....
, which had no choice but to cast in its lot with the victors.
Montrose, however, soon changed sides, and after defeating the Covenanters under Lord Balfour of Burleigh (1644), delivered the city to rapine. He worsted the Covenanters again after a stiff fight on 2 July 1645, at Alford, a village in the beautiful Howe of Alford. Peace was temporarily restored on the "engagement" of the Scots commissioners to assist Charles I.
Aberdeen
Aberdeen
Aberdeen is Scotland's third most populous city, one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas and the United Kingdom's 25th most populous city, with an official population estimate of ....
welcomed Charles II
Charles II of England
Charles II was monarch of the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland.Charles II's father, King Charles I, was executed at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War...
on his return from the Netherlands in 1650, but in little more than a year General George Monck entered the city at the head of the Cromwellian regiments. The English garrison remained till 1659, but the following year Aberdeenshire effusively hailed the Restoration
English Restoration
The Restoration of the English monarchy began in 1660 when the English, Scottish and Irish monarchies were all restored under Charles II after the Interregnum that followed the Wars of the Three Kingdoms...
, and prelacy once more went into the ascendant. Most of the Presbyterians conformed, but the Quakers
Religious Society of Friends
The Religious Society of Friends, or Friends Church, is a Christian movement which stresses the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers. Members are known as Friends, or popularly as Quakers. It is made of independent organisations, which have split from one another due to doctrinal differences...
, more numerous in the shire and the adjoining county of Kincardine
Kincardine
Kincardine or Kincardine-on-Forth is a small town located on the north shore of the Firth of Forth, in Fife, Scotland. The town was given the status of a Burgh of barony in 1663. It was at one time a reasonably prosperous minor port...
than anywhere else in Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
, suffered systematic persecution.
After the Glorious Revolution
Glorious Revolution
The Glorious Revolution, also called the Revolution of 1688, is the overthrow of King James II of England by a union of English Parliamentarians with the Dutch stadtholder William III of Orange-Nassau...
(1688) episcopacy passed under a cloud, but the clergy, yielding to force majeure, gradually accepted the inevitable, hoping, as long as Queen Anne lived, that prelacy might yet become the national form of Church government. Her death dissipated these dreams, and as George I
George I of Great Britain
George I was King of Great Britain and Ireland from 1 August 1714 until his death, and ruler of the Duchy and Electorate of Brunswick-Lüneburg in the Holy Roman Empire from 1698....
, her successor, was antipathetic to the clergy, it happened that Jacobitism
Jacobitism
Jacobitism was the political movement in Britain dedicated to the restoration of the Stuart kings to the thrones of England, Scotland, later the Kingdom of Great Britain, and the Kingdom of Ireland...
and episcopalianism
Scottish Episcopal Church
The Scottish Episcopal Church is a Christian church in Scotland, consisting of seven dioceses. Since the 17th century, it has had an identity distinct from the presbyterian Church of Scotland....
came to be regarded in the shire as identical, though in point of fact the non-jurors as a body never countenanced rebellion.
The Earl of Mar
John Erskine, 22nd Earl of Mar
John Erskine, 22nd and de jure 6th Earl of Mar, KT , Scottish Jacobite, was the eldest son of the 21st Earl of Mar , from whom he inherited estates that were heavily loaded with debt. By modern reckoning he was 22nd Earl of Mar of the first creation and de jure 6th Earl of Mar of the seventh...
raised the standard of revolt in Braemar (6 September 1715); a fortnight later James Francis Edward Stuart
James Francis Edward Stuart
James Francis Edward, Prince of Wales was the son of the deposed James II of England...
was proclaimed at Aberdeen
Aberdeen
Aberdeen is Scotland's third most populous city, one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas and the United Kingdom's 25th most populous city, with an official population estimate of ....
cross; the Pretender landed at Peterhead on 22 December, and in February 1716 he was back again in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
. The collapse of the first rising ruined many of the lairds, and when the second rebellion occurred thirty years afterwards the county in the main remained apathetic, though the insurgents held Aberdeen
Aberdeen
Aberdeen is Scotland's third most populous city, one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas and the United Kingdom's 25th most populous city, with an official population estimate of ....
for five months, and Lord Lewis Gordon won a trifling victory for Prince Charles Edward Stuart
Charles Edward Stuart
Prince Charles Edward Louis John Casimir Sylvester Severino Maria Stuart commonly known as Bonnie Prince Charlie or The Young Pretender was the second Jacobite pretender to the thrones of Great Britain , and Ireland...
at Inverurie
Inverurie
Inverurie is a Royal Burgh and town in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, approximately north west of Aberdeen on the A96 road and is served by Inverurie railway station on the Aberdeen to Inverness Line...
(23 December 1745). The Duke of Cumberland relieved Aberdeen
Aberdeen
Aberdeen is Scotland's third most populous city, one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas and the United Kingdom's 25th most populous city, with an official population estimate of ....
at the end of February 1746, and by April the Young Pretender
Charles Edward Stuart
Prince Charles Edward Louis John Casimir Sylvester Severino Maria Stuart commonly known as Bonnie Prince Charlie or The Young Pretender was the second Jacobite pretender to the thrones of Great Britain , and Ireland...
had become a fugitive.
Thereafter the people devoted themselves to agriculture, industry and commerce, which developed by leaps and bounds, and, along with equally remarkable progress in education, transformed the aspect of the shire and made the community as a whole one of the most prosperous in Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
.