Ordnance gazetteer of Scotland > Volume 3

F0RD7CE
and Tipperty — mth respective accommodation for 208,
60, and 49 children, had (1881) an average attendance
of 131,33, and 33, and grants of £130, 4s. 6d., £24, 17s.,
and £43, 15s. Vahiation(lS56) £15,949, (1882) £21,610,
10s. 8d., 2jZi(s £1821 for railway. Pop. (1801) 2203,
(1831) 2238, (1861) 2297, (1871) 2113, (1881) lS92.—Ord.
Sur., sh. 66, 1871.
The presbytery of Fordoun, now meeting at Laurence-
kirk, comprises the qzwad civilia parishes of Arbuthnott,
Benholm, Bervie, Dunnottar, Fettercairn, Fetteresso,
Fordoun, Garvock, Glenbervie, Kinnelf and Caterline,
Laurencekirk, Marykirk, and St Cyrus, with the quoad
sacra parishes of Cockney and Rickarton. Pop. (1871)
23,895, (ISSl) 23,830, of whom 7479 were communicants
of the Chm'ch of Scotland in 1878.— The Free Church
also has a presbytery of Fordoun, with churches at Ben-
holm, Bervie, Fettercairn, Fordoun, Glenbervie, Kinneff,
Laurencekirk, Marykirk, St Cyi'us, and Stonehaven,
which together had 1572 communicants in 1881.
Fordyce, a village and a coast parish of Banffshire.
The village, standing on the right bank of the Burn of
Fordyce, 2J miles SW of Portsoy and 4 ESE of CuUen,
is a burgh of barony under the Earl of Seaiield, having
received its first charter in 1499, and another in 1592.
It has a post office under Bantf, and a fair on the second
AVednesday of November.
The parish contains also the town of PoRTSOT, with
the villages of Sandend and Newmills, and prior to the
Reformation comprehended likewise the present parishes
of Cullen, Deskford, and OrdiquhiU. It is bounded N
by the Moray Firth, E by Boyndie, SE by Ordiquhill,
SW by Grange, and W by Deskford and Cullen. Its
utmost length, from NNE to SSW, is 7g miles ; its
utmost breadth, from E to W, is 5§ miles ; and its area
is 17,430 acres, of which 197| are foreshore, and 34|
water. The Burn of Botne, rising on the northern
slope of Knock Hill, runs first aci'oss the southern
interior, then 7 miles north-north-eastward along all
the BojTidie border to the sea ; Duen Burn runs 6
miles through the middle of the parish to the sea at
Portsoy ; and Fordyce Burn, rising at the boundary
with Deskford, runs 3J miles across the north-western
district to the sea at Sandend Bay. The coast, which,
measured along its sinuosities, is 8| miles long, is some-
what bold and rocky, with bays at Portsoy and Sand-
end, and headlands called East Head, Redhythe Point,
Crathie Point, and Logic Head (189 feet). It is pierced
with several caves, the principal Dove, Kitty, Bow,
Cloutty, and Findlater Caves, none of them of any great
extent. The interior is partly a fine flat, with frequent
inequalities or rising-grounds, and partly a series of
hUls, with intervening and flanking vales and dales.
Chief elevations, from N to S, are Cowhythe (257 feet),
Crannoch Hill (300), Duen HiU (651), Fordyce Hill
(580), the Hill of Inverkindling (923), and Knock HUl
(1409), the last of which, culminating at the meeting-
point with Grange and Ordiquhill, presents a majestic
appearance, and serves as a landmark to mariners
throughout a considerable sweep of the Moray Firth.
The rocks exhibit great diversity, at once of character
and of interconnection ; and, from the time of Hutton
do^vnward, have strongly attracted the attention of
geologists. A beautiful serpentine forms two masses,
respectively 73 and 1500 feet wide, in the vicinity of
Portsoy, and is associated with syenite, hornblende,
quartzite, clay slate, limestone, and talc or mica slate,
whilst containing asbestos, amianthus, mountain cork,
steatite, schiller-spar, magnetic iron, chromate of iron,
and other minerals. Mostly greenish and reddish in
hue, sometimes yellowish and greyish-wdiite, it has
often been called Portsoy marble, and is highly valued
as a material for ornamental objects, having been
exported in some quantity to France for adorning
Versailles Palace. Yeius of graphite granite, compris-
ing quartz and felspar crystals in such arrangement,
that a polished section resembles rudely formed letters,
occur iu the same neighbourhood ; and a beautiful
quartzite, suitable for use in potteries, has been quarried
on the northern side of Durn Hill, and exported to
FOEFAR
England. Limestone has been worked in three quarries
near Fordyce village, near Sandend, and at the mouth
of the Burn of Boyne ; and trap rocks, comprising com-
mon greenstone, syenitic greenstone, hypersthenic
greenstone, and augitic greenstone, occupy most of the
interior. The soil is variously a light or a clay loam,
and a strong clay, very productive along the seaboard,
but cold and wet towards the S. One-half of the
entire area is regularly or occasionally in tillage ; one-
fifteenth is under wood ; and the rest is either pastoral
or waste. Glassaugh House is a chief mansion, and
Findlater Castle a chief antiquity, both being separately
noticed. Other antiquities are remains of an ancient
camp on Durn Hill, and cairns, tumuli, and remains of
ancient Caledonian stone circles in various places. Four
proprietors hold each an annual value of £500 and
upwards, 6 of from £50 to £100, and 18 of from £20 to
£50. The seat of a presbytery in the synod of Aber-
deen, this parish is divided ecclesiastically into Fordyce
proper and the quoad sacra parish of Portsoy, the former
a living worth £418. Its parish church, at the village,
was built in 1804, and contains 1100 sittings. At the
vUlage, too, is a Free church ; and five other places of
worship are noticed under Portsoy. Fordyce Academy,
an institution for the education and board of nine boys
of the name of Smith, natives of the parish, was founded
and endowed in 1790 by Mr George Smith of Bombay.
Besides three schools at Portsoy, the five public schools
of Bogmuchals, Brodiesord, Fordyce, Fordyce female,
and Sandend, with respective accommodation for 49, 70,
124, 72, and 64 children, had (1881) an average attend-
ance of 35, 39, 136, 66, and 42, and grants of £31, 8s.
6d., £32, 10s. 6d., £121, 12s., £57, 15s,, and £37, 5s.
Valuation (1843) £8712, 3s. 5d., (1882) £19,216, 4s.
Pop. (1801) 2747, (1831) 3364, (1861) 4145, (1871)
4153, (1881)4289, of whom 1976 were in the ecclesiastical
parish and the registration district of Fordyce. — Urd,
Sur., sh. 96, 1876.
The presbytery of Fordyce comprises the quoad civilia
parishes of Banff, Boyndie, Cullen, Deskford, Fordyce,
Ordiquhill, and Rathven, the quoad sacra parishes of
Buckie, Enzie, Ord, and Portsoy, and the chapelry of
Seafield. Pop. (1871) 25,776, (1881) 26,345, of whom
4507 were communicants of the Church of Scotland in
1878. — The Free Church also has a presbytery of For-
dyce, whose ten churches of Banff, Boyndie, Buckie,
CuUen, Deskford, Enzie, Fordyce, Ordiquhill, Port-
knockie, and Portsoy, together had 2514 communicants
in 1881.
Forebank. See Dundee, p. 418.
Foreholm, a small island of Sandsting parish, Shet-
land, J mile E of the nearest pioint of the mainland, and
5 miles S by W of the southern extremity of Yell.
Foreman or Fourmau Hill, an eminence at the meet-
ing-point of Forgue, Huntly, aud Kothiemay parishes,
on the mutual border of Aberdeen and Banft' shires, above
the right bank of the river Deveron, 5 mUes NE by jST of
Huntly town. It rises to a height of 1127 feet above
sea-level ; has a beautiful form, somewhat conical ; is
finely wooded for a good way up ; and commands an ex-
tensive and diversified view. Queen Mary, when on her
way to Rothiemay House, passed over it by what is still
called the Queen's Road. — Ord. Sur., sh. 86, 1876.
Foreness, a small peninsxda in Sandsting parish,
Shetland, opposite Foreholm, and between Sand Voe
and Sand Sound Voe.
Forestfield. See Foeeestfield.
Forestmill, a hamlet, with a public school, in Clack-
mannan parish, Clackmannanshire, on the left bank of
the Black Devon, 3^ miles ENE of Clackmannan toivn.
The poet Michael Bruce (1746-67) taught a school here
in 1766.
Forewood. See Murieston.
Forfar, a royal and parliamentary burgh, the seat of
a presbytery, and the capital of Forfarshire or Angus,
is situated in the centre of the southern portion of the
county. By road it is 12J miles SW of Brechin, 14
NNE of Dundee, and 54 NNE of Edinburgh ; whilst,
as the junction of the Dundee and Forfar branch (1870)
3S