Ordnance gazetteer of Scotland > Volume 1

ABEEDALGIE
and Kilconquhar. It has an extreme length from NNW
to SSE of If mile, a width of from 1 to If mile, and an
area of 1282 acres, of which 79 are foreshore. Rising
abruptly from a low rocky beach, the surface shows some
diversities, but on the whole is fiat, and nowhere much
exceeds 100 feet of elevation. Deeel Burn traces the
north-eastern boundary, and Inweary or St Monans
Burn 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 fertility. 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-place. 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 16S2 ; and
another family connected with the parish was that of
the Sandilands, Lords Abercrombie from 1647 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 1646, Aber-
crombie is in the presbytery of St Andrews and synod
of Fife ; its minister's income is £271. According to
the legend of St Adrian (given under Isle of May),
Monanus, born 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 224 f ee t> and ' renovated
and improved' in 1772 and 1828, serves as the parish
church, being seated for 528 worshippers. Features of
special interest are the sedilia, a good pointed doorway,
and the reticulated pattern of some of the windows. Of
a public and a General Assembly school, only the former
was open in 1879, having then accommodation for 285
children, an average attendance of 251, and a grant of
£191, lis. Valuation (1881) £6073, 3s. Pop. (1801)
852, (1831) 1110, (1861) 1498, (1871) 1761, (1881) 2054.
—Orel. Sur., sh. 41, 1857.
Aberdalgie (Abirdalgyn in 1150, Gael, abliir-dail-
cliinn, ' confluence at the end of the field '), a parish in
the Strathearn district of Perthshire, whose SW angle
is § mile 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-
donian being respectively 6| and 3J miles SW of its
post-town, Perth. Including, since 1618, the ancient
parish of Dupplin, it is bounded NW and N by Tibber-
more, NE by East-Kirk, Perth, E by a detached portion
of Forteviot, S by Forgandenny, and SW and W by
Forteviot. It has an extreme length from N to S of 3^
miles, a width of 2| miles, and an area of 4220 acres, of
which 55 are water. The Eap.n, here a beautiful sal-
mon river, roughly traces all the southern boundary ;
from it the surface rises to 438 feet near the middle of
the parish, thence sinking again towards the Almond,
but having elevations of 367 and 222 feet on the north-
western, and of 362 feet near the north-eastern boundary.
The rocks belong to the Devonian system, and freestone
is worked in several quarries ; the soil is cold and tilly
in the N, in the S a rich loam or clay. The Earl of
Kinnoull owns most of the property, and his park
around Dupplin Castle occupies the south-western quar-
6
ABERDEEN
ter of the parish, plantations covering much of the re-
mainder. Near the church, but 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 £221. 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 49
children, had (1879) an average attendance of 23, and a
grant of £45, 4s. 2d. Valuation (1881) £4656, 19s. lOd.
Pop. (1831) 434, (1861) 295, (1871) 342, (1881) 297.
— Ord. Sur., sh. 48, 1868.
Aberdargie. See Abeeabgie.
Aberdeen, the 'Granite City,' capital of Aberdeen-
shire, seat of a university, and chief town and seaport in
the North of Scotland, Ires in lat. 57° 9' N, and long. 2°
6' W, on the left bank of the Dee, at its entrance into
the German Ocean. It is both a royal and a parlia-
mentary burgh, the latter comprising all the district
between the rivers Dee and Don for 3 miles inland —
viz. , the whole of St Nicholas or City parish (794 acres),
part of Old Machar parish (5115 acres), and part of Ban-
chory-Devenick parish (33 acres), and thus having a
total area of 5942 acres ; whilst the royal burgh, occupy-
ing the SE angle of the parliamentary, includes, like it,
the whole of St Nicholas, but only 376 acres of Old
Machar, and measuring 1J mile from N to S by 2|
miles from E to W ; has a total area of 1170 acres.
Aberdeen is 98 miles NNE of Edinburgh as the crow
flies, 111 by road, and 115J by rail (via Tay Bridge ; 135J
via Perth and Stirling). By the North British or the
Caledonian it further is 42 miles N by E of Montrose,
73| NNE of Dundee, S9| NE by N of Perth, 152| NE of
Glasgow, 513 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, 47i S of Fraserburgh,
53£ SE of Keith, 80| SE of Elgin, 10SJ ESE of Inver-
ness, and 202 J SE of Thurso. By sea it has regular steam
communication southwards with Dundee, Edinburgh,
Newcastle, Stockton, Hull, and London, northwards with
Wick, Thurso, Orkney, Shetland, the Hebrides, and
Liverpool.
The city proper stands on four eminences — Castle
Hill (80 feet), School Hill (65), Woolman Hill (58),
and Port Hill (100), and the highest points within the
parliamentary burgh are Cairncry (446 feet), Woodhill
(340), and Stocket Hill (320). Naturally bleak and
tame, its environs have little of the picturesqueness
that distinguishes those of 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 tame unfeatured sur-
face 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 is sin-
gularly repulsive, traversing a broad, low, 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 every travelled visitor will
readily say with the author of The Zand We Live
In, that 'it possesses all the stability, cleanli n ess, and
architectural beauties of the London west end streets,
with the gaiety and brilliancy of the Parisian atmosphere. '
Walks, in various directions, through the city, disclose
great diversity of structure and character, and three
walks of 4 or 5 miles each among the environs are
highly interesting. The first of the three goes to Old
Aberdeen, up the Don past Grandholm, and through
Woodside, and returns to the city by the Inverness
road ; the second leads by the Lunatic Asylum to