Ordnance gazetteer of Scotland

ABERDALGIE
and Kilconquhar. It has an extreme lengtn from NNW
to SSE of 1| mile, a width of from 1 to lj| milo, and an
area of 1282 acres, of which 79 are foreshore. Rising
abruptly from a low rock) beach, the surface shows some
diversities, but on the whole is flat, and nowhere much
exceeds 100 feet of elevation. Drbel Burn traces the
north-eastern boundary, and Inweary or St Monans
Bum follows the south-western, to within 5 furlongs of
its influx to the Firth at the western extremity of St
Monans village. The rocks belong to the Carboniferous
formation, and coal, limestone, and ironstone have all
been worked ; the soil is chiefly a light friable loam,
with very little clay, and of great fertilit}'. Balcaskie
Park extends over the NE corner of the parish, and in
it stands the ruined church of Abercrombie, disused for
upwards of two centuries, but still the Anstruthers'
burying-plaee. On the coast, at the SW angle, is the
ruinous mansion of Newark, where General David Leslie,
first Lord Newark, resided till his death in 1682 ; and
another family connected with the parish was that of
the Sandilands, Lords Abercrombie from 1617 to 16S1.
At present 2 proprietors hold each an annual value of
£500 or upwards, 2 of between £100 and £500, 3 of
from £50 to £100, and 22 of from £20 to £50. In-
cluding the barony of St Monans since 1616, Aber-
crombie is in the presbytery of St Andrews and synod
of Fife; its minister's income is £172. According to
the legend of St Adrian (given under Isle of May),
Monanus, bom in Pannonia, a province of Hungary,
preached the gospel at Inverry or Abercrombie, and
after his martyrdom was there enshrined. Skene, how-
ever, identifying Monanus with Moinenn, Bishop of
Clonfert (d. 571), holds that his relics were brought
about 845 from Ireland to Fife, and deposited in a
church erected to his honour (Celt. Scot., ii. 311-317).
Legend again relates how David II., praying before
St Monans' tomb, was freed miraculously of a barbed
arrow, and for thanks - offering founded about 1362
the statelier cruciform church, which a century later
James III. bestowed on the Dominicans. Standing
at the burn's mouth, and built in the Second Pointed
style, this church was partly destroyed by the English
in 1544, and now retains only its stunted central tower,
crowned by a low octagonal spire, its transept, and its
choir ; the last measures 53 by 22 & feet, and ' renovated
and improved' iu 1772 and 1828, serves as tho parish
church, being seated for 528 worshippers. Feature* of
special interest are the sedilia, a good pointed doorway,
and the reticulated pattern of eome of the windows.
There are a public and a General Assembly school, the
former having accommodation for 430 children, an
average attendance of 325, and a grant of £289, 10s. 8d.
Valuation (1891) £5867, 16s. Pop. (1301) 852, (1831)
1110, (1861) 1498, (1871) 1761, (1S81) 2054, (1891)
1998.— Ord. Sur., sh. 41, 1857.
Aberdalgie (Abirdalgyn in 1150, Gael ahhir-dail-
ehinn, ' confluence at the end of the field '), a parish in
the Strathearn district of Perthshire, whose SW anglo
NE of Forteviot station, while its church
stands H mile NW of Forgandenny station, immedi-
ately beyond its SE border, these stations on the Cale-
i being respectively 6} and 3} miles SW of its
poBt-town, Perth. Including, since 1618, the ancient
paiish of DrrppLW, it is bounded NWand N by Tihber-
more, NE by Ka3t-Kirk, Perth, E by a detached portion
teviot, 8 by Forgandenny, and SW and W by
Forteviot It has an extreme length from N to S of 3}
miles, a width of 2J mile3, and an area of 4220 acres, of
I tre water. The Iahn, he.'o a beautiful sal-
mon river, roughly traces all the southern bou
U',m it the arface rises to 438 feet near tho middle of
arish, thence sinking again towards the Almond,
but having elevations of 367 and 222 feet on tho north-
western, and of 862 tet ' i north-eastern boundary.
The rocks belong to the Devonian system, and freestone
is worked in several quarriee ; the soil is cold and Ully
in the N, in the S a rich loan: or clay. The I. <' i
Kiiinoull owns most of the property, and his park
»r mini Duppliu Castle occupies the south-westeri
6
ABERDEEN
ter of the parish, plantations covering much of the re-
mainder. Near the church, hut on the opposite side of
a rivulet, from whose confluence with the Earn the
parish received its name, is Aberdalgie House, the only
other mansion. This parish is in the presbytery of
Perth and synod of Perth and Stirling; the living
is worth £177. The church was built in 1773, and a
vault at its E end is the burying-place of the Kinnoull
family. The public school, with accommodation for 101
children, had (1891) an average attendance of 85, and a
grant of £44, 15s. 6d. Valuation (1891) £4049, 8s. 3d
Pop. (1831) 434, (1861) 295, (1871) 342, (1881) 297.
(1S91) 230.— Ord. Sur., sh. 48, 1868.
Aberdargie. See Aberakgie.
Aberdeen, the 'Granite City,' capital of Aberdeen-
shire, seat of a university, and chief town and seaport in
the. North of Scotland, lies in lat. 57° 9' N, and long.
2° 6' W, on both banks of the Dee, at its entrance into
the German Ocean. It is both a royal and a parlia-
mentary burgh, comprising all the district between the
rivers Dee and Don for 3 miles inland — the royal burgh,
by a recent Act, having been made co-extensive with the
parliamentary burgh. The municipal burgh as extended
now includes the police burghs of Old Aberdeen and Wood-
side, and the districts of Tony and Ruthrieston. By
this Act the city is made to embrace a portion of the
county of Kincardine and of the parish of Nigg situated
at Tony, and it has been proposed that the city should
be placed wholly in the county of Aberdeen by trans-
ferring to that county the Kincardine portion. Aberdeen
is 98 miles NNE of Edinburgh as the crow flies, 111 by
road, and 130A by rail (via Tay and Forth Bridges; 135J
via Perth and Stirling). By the North British or the
Caledonian it is 42 miles N by E of Montrose, 73f NNE
of Dunde'e, 89| NE by N of Perth, 152£ NE of Glas-
gow, 528 NNW of London; by the Great North of
Scotland it is 43J miles E by N of Ballater, 29J ESE of
Alford, 44J S by W of Peterhead, 47J S of Fraserburgh,
53J SE of Keith, 80| SE of Elgin, 108J ESE of Inver-
ness, and 202-J SE of Thurso. By sea it has regular
steamboat communication southwards with Edinburgh,
Newcastle, Hull, and London, northwards with Wick,
Thurso, Orkney, Shetland, tho Hebrides, Glasgow, and
Liverpool.
The city stands on four eminences — Castle Hill (80
feet), School Hill (65), Woolman Hill (58), and Port
Hill (100), and its highest points are Cairncry (446
feet), Woodhill (340), and Stocket Hill (320). Naturally
bleak and tame, its environs have little of the pietur-
esqueness that distinguishes Inverness, Perth, Stirling,
and Edinburgh; but they contain a few good features
which have been highly improved by art. The approach
by sea lies along a bleak, sandy coast, with low rocks
and long reefs in the foreground, and a tamo imfeatured
surface in the rear, and becomes interesting only at the
point of sudden ingress among the crowded shipping of
the harbour. The land approach from the south ia
singularly repulsive, traversing a broad, moorish out-
skirt of the Grampians, till it bursts at once on a near
view of the Dee and the city. The contrast by either
of these approaches, between the near and distant scenes,
is very striking, and never fails to make a strong im-
pression upon strangers. Both the city and its sur-
roundings, as first beheld, are very beautiful. Nor do
the main thoroughfares, when entered, disappoint the
first impression, but rather confirm and deepen it. Union
Street especially, with its continuation Castle Street,
appears enchanting ; and overy travelled visitor will
readily say with the author of The Land We Lvue
In, that ' it possesses all tho stability, cleanliness, and
architectural beauties of the London west-end streets^
with tho gaiety and brilliancy of tho Parisian atmosphere.'
Walks in various directions through tho city, disclose
■ it diversity of structure and character, and threo
walks of 4 or 5 miles each among the environs are
highly interesting. The first of the three goes to Old
AGeween B p the Don pi b Grandholm, and through
Woodside, and returns to the city by the Inverness
rt)!l <i | id leads by the Lunatic Asylum to