Imperial gazeteer of Scotland, or, Dictionary of Scottish topography > Volume 1

ABERDEENSHIRE.
1G
ABERDEENSHIRE.
delay, and cost an amount of money far exceeding
the original estimate. But the work was opened,
over all its length and with favourable prospects,
on the 30th of March 1850, and cost a good deal less
per mile than either the Scottish Central, the Edin-
burgh, Perth, and Dundee, the North British, or the
Caledonian. It commences at Guild-street, adjacent
to the upper dock and to the foot of Market-street,
700 yards west of the terminus of the Great North
of Scotland railway ; and lias connexion with that
terminus, and with the intermediate wharves, hy
rails along the quays, worked by horse-traction. It
crosses the Dee at Polmuir by an elegant viaduct,
noticed in our account of the city; and it proceeds
by the stations of Cove, Portlethen, Newtonhill, and
Muchalls, to Stonehaven ; and thence goes through
the fertile district of the Mearns, by the stations of
Drumlithie, Fordoun, Laurencekirk, Marykirk, and
Craigo, to the north border of Forfarshire; and there,
at Dubton and at Bridge of Dun, it sends off two
branches, the one 3 miles and 160 yards eastward
to Montrose, the other 3 miles and 862 yards west-
ward to Brechin. It thence proceeds by tiie station
of Farnell Road, sends off a branch of 1 mile and
1,547 yards in length to Guthrie, and forms a junc-
tion with the Arbroath and Forfar railway at Friock-
heim. That railway, which had previously been
formed, was leased to it in 1848, and became ulti-
mately incorporated with it. The Aberdeen itself
and the Scottish Midland Junction were amalga-
mated with each other in 1856, under the name of
the Scottish North-eastern. The length of the Aber-
deen, from its northern terminus to Friockheim, ex-
clusive of branches, is 49 miles; and the aggregate
length of the Scottish North-eastern system'is 138
miles. The total consolidated capital of the com-
pany, at 31 July 1865, was £2.826.192.
ABERDEENSHIRE, an extensive county on the
north-east coast of Scotland ; hounded on the north
and east by the German ocean; on the south by the
counties of Kincardine, Forfar, and Perth; and on
the west by Inverness-shire and Banffshire. Its
outline is very irregular. It extends about 86 miles
in length, from Cairneilar, or Scarscoch, the south
west point of Braemar, where the counties of Inver-
ness, Perth, and Aberdeen meet, to Cairnbulg, a
promontory forming the eastern point of the bay of
Fraserburgh on the north-east ; and about 47 miles
in breadth, from the mouth of the Dee on the east,
to the head-springs of the Don, on the skirts of
Banffshire, on, the west. It is the fifth Scottish
county in point of area, and the third as respects
population. The extent of sea-coast is about 70
miles. The circumference is about 280 miles. The
area has been estimated at 1,970 square miles, or
1,260,625 acres. The county comprehends the dis-
tricts of Aberdeen, Afford, the greater part of Deer
or Buchan, Ellon, Garioch, Kincardine O'Neil,
Strathbogie, and Turriff. In ancient times its re-
cognised divisions were Buchan on the north; Mar
on the south-west; and Formartin, Garioch, and
Strathbogie in the middle. The Farquharsons, For-
tieses, and Gordons, are the principal septs of this
district of country. The Taixai or Taezali were the
possessors of the soil in Roman times.
The south-western parts of this county are ex-
tremely rugged and mountainous ; towards the east
and north-east the country is mere level. About
two-thirdB of the entire surface are covered with
mountains, hills, moors, and mosses. The princi-
pal mountains are Ben Macdhu, 4,390 feet; Cairn-
toul, 4,245; Ben-Aven, 3,967; Loch-nagar, 3,777;
Ben-Uarn, 3,589; and Scarscoch, 3,402. The gene-
ral scenery of the county is cheerless and bleak; yet
many picturesque groups of landscape, variously
beautiful and romantic and grand, occur around
some of the larger towns and along the courses of
the large rivers. The shores are generally hold and
ragged, occasionally rising into lofty precipices, and
scooped out into extensive caverns. Immediately
to the north of Aberdeen, however, there are exten-
sive sand-flats.
Large forests of natural wood occur in some of
the interior districts, especially in Braemar, Glen-
tanner, and Mortlach. In these regions " the
mountains seem to be divided by a dark sea of firs,
whose uniformity of hue and appearance affords in-
expressible solemnity to the scene, and carries back
the mind to those primeval ages when the axe had
not yet invaded the boundless region of the forest."
The Scotch fir is very generally distributed, and
reaches an elevation in this county of 2,000 to
2,300 feet. At Invercauld there is a tree of this
species measuring 23 feet in girth at the soil; ano-
ther in Mar forest measures 22 feet 4 inches : and
other two in the same locality 19 feet. The best
specimens in the eyes of a timber merchant occur
at Aboyne. The larch is also a general tree in this
county, rising from sea-level to 1,800 feet.
The climate is on the whole mild, considering its
northern situation; the winters are not so cold, noi
the summers so warm or so long, as in the southern
counties. The mean temperature at Aberdeen,
from nineteen years' observation by the late Mr.
Innes, is 47° 1 ; at Buchanness, from registers for
1834-5-6, 47° 3'; at Afford, 26 miles inland, and
420 feet above sea-level, 40°°03. Generally tho
mean of the three summer months is about 10'
higher than that of the whole year; and the mean
of winter as much below.
With regard to mineralogy, this county is not
peculiarly rich. The granite quarries are its most
valuable mineral treasures. The ordinary granite
of Aberdeenshire is a small grained stone of the
common ternary compound of quartz, felspar, and
mica, Sometimes it passes into greenstone of the
trap family, and sometimes into basalt. It forms
the great mass of the Grampian chain. All the
quarries around Aberdeen are of white granite with
a bluish tint, The granite quarried near Peterhead
is of a red colour, and of much larger grain than
that of Aberdeen. There are several quarries in the
parish of Aberdour which yield excellent millstones ;
a quarry of blue slate is wrought in the parish of
Culsalmond; and a vein of grey manganese exists
in the neighbourhood of Old Aberdeen. In the
parish of Huntly there are indications of metallic
ores ; and plumbago, or black lead, has been disco-
vered here. Aberdeenshire abounds with limestone;
but, owing to the scarcity of coal, it cannot be
wrought to much advantage, except near a seaport.
Small pieces of amber have been found on the
Buchan coast ; and Camden has an apociyphal story
of a piece the size of a horse having been found on
that coast! In the parish of Leslie, a beautiful
green amianthus, with white and grey spots, is
found in considerable quantities. It is easily
wrought into snuff-boxes and other ornaments.
Amethysts, beryls, emeralds, and other precious
stones, particularly that species of rock-crystal
called Cairngorm stone, are found in the Crathie
mountains; and abates of a fine polish and beautiful
variety, on the shore near Peterhead. From Ben-
y-bourd, on the estate of Invercauld, large speci-
mens of rock-crystals have been obtained; and one
of these, in the possession of the proprietor of In-
vercauld, is nearly two feet in length. Besides
these, asbestos, talc, cyanite, and mica occur.
The mineral waters of Peterhead in the north,
and Pannanich in the south, are celebrated. About