Ordnance gazetteer of Scotland > Volume 1

BAMFF HOUSE
to the Earl of Melville from 1690 to 1713, and since
to the Earl of Leven and Melville.
Bamff House. See Altth.
Banavie, a village in Eilmallie parish, Argyllshire,
near the Inverness-shire border, and on the W bank of
the Caledonian Canal, 1J mile E by N of Corpach pier
on Loch Eil, and 3J miles NNE of Fort William ; 7
furlongs to the N rises Meall Bhanabhie (Gael. ' hill of
the clear water ') to a height of 1071 feet. The landing-
place for passengers by the canal, Banavie communicates
by omnibus with Corpach ; it has a post and telegraph
office under Fort William, and an excellent hotel, the
Locheil Arms, which commands an imposing view of Ben
Nevis. A public school, erected in 1876 at a cost of
£1400, with accommodation for 96 children, had (1879)
an average attendance of 61, and a grant of £56, 16s. 4d.
Banchory-Devenick, a Deeside parish of Kin cardine
and Aberdeen shires, bounded N by Newhills, NE by
Old Machar, E by Nigg and the German Ocean, SW
by Fetteresso, W by Maryculter and Peterculter. Its
Aberdeenshire section, curtailed in 1867 by the annexa-
tion of the lands of Bieldside to Peterculter, is traversed
by 2| miles of the Deeside branch of the Great North of
Scotland, with Cults station thereon, 4 miles SW of
Aberdeen ; and its Kincardineshire section by 3f miles
of the Caledonian, with Portlethen station, 8 miles S
by W of Aberdeen. From NNW to SSE it has an ex-
treme length of 6§ miles ; its breadth from E to W
varies between 1 § and 3| miles ; and its area is 10,040
acres, of which 2-301 belong to Aberdeenshire, and in-
clude 33 acres of Aberdeen's parliamentary burgh. The
Dee, which divides the two shires, has a course here of
fully 4 miles, and is some 250 feet wide, being spanned
near Cults station by a suspension bridge (1838), and in
the furthest east by the ancient Bridge of Dee. (See
Aberdeen, p. 12. ) The coast line, i miles long, is rocky
and indented, rapidly rising to 200 feet ; along it stand
the three small fishing hamlets of Findon, Portlethen,
and Downies, the first of which gave name to ' Finnan
haddocks.' Inland the surface, though generally stony
and rugged, at no point much exceeds 400 feet above
sea-level, Sunnyside (545 feet) falling just within the
Maryculter border. The prevailing rock is a granite so
hard as to be little quarried ; and the soils are of all
kinds, from pure alluvium to hard till, and from rich
loam to deep moss. Antiquities are four stone circles
in the S, and in the NW three large cairns, near which
two stone coffins were found in 1850. The Deeside
portion of the parish has been divided into many small
suburban estates, with handsome residences and fine
plantations ; among larger mansions are Ards and Ban-
chory House (where Prince Albert lodged, 14 Sept.
1859) to the S, and Murtle, Cults, Woodland, Craigie-
buckler, and Norwood, to the N of the river. Thirteen
proprietors hold each an annual value of £500 and up-
wards, 21 of between £100 and £500, 20 of from £50 to
£100, and 19 of from £20 to £50. In the presbytery
and synod of Aberdeen, this parish is divided into the
quoad sacra parishes of Banchory Devenick (living,
£240) and Portlethen ; the latter, constituted in 1S56,
having 1610 inhabitants in 1881. Its church (460 sit-
tings) is close to Portlethen station, whilst the church
of Banchory (rebuilt 1822 ; 900 sittings) stands on the
Dee's right bank, 7 furlongs ESE of Cults. There are
also an Established mission church (1873) at Craigie-
1 mckler in the N, and the Free churches of Cults and
Banchory-Devenick. Cults endowed school and the 4
public schools of Badentoy (female), Banchory-Devenick,
Findon, and Portlethen, with respective accommodation
for 154, 32, 170, 160, and 171 children, had (1879) an
average attendance of 90, 23, 106, 73, and 135, and
grants of £80, 9s., £10, 6s., £91, 15s., £75, 9s., and
£90, 12s. Valuation (1881) of Kincardineshire section,
£14,411, 12s. 6d. , including £1745 for railway ; of Aber-
deenshire section, £10,722. Pop. (1801) 1557, (1821)
2232, (1841) 2736, (1861) 2846, (1871) 3052, (1881)
3322, of whom 1712 were in the q. s. parish of Banchory-
Devenick. —Ord Sur., shs. 67, 77, 1871-73.
Banehory-Ternan, a parish partly in Aberdeenshire,
120
BANCHORY-TERNAN
but chiefly in Kincardineshire, containing the village of
Banchory, Upper Banchory, or Arbeadie, which stands
at 166 feet above sea-level, on the northern bank of the
Dee, here crossed by an iron-truss bridge (1798-1829) of
175 feet span with three smaller stone arches, and which
has a station on the Deeside railway, 17 miles WSW of
Aberdeen, and 26J E of Ballater. Founded in 1805, it
is a pleasant, straggling-looking place, with many taste-
ful villas, favourite resorts of Aberdonians ; it is governed
by a provost, 3 bailies, 4 councillors, and others ; and it
possesses a post office under Aberdeen, with money order
and savings' bank departments, a railway telegraph
office, branches of the Union, North of Scotland, and
Aberdeen Town and County banks, 10 insurance agencies,
3 hotels, a coffee-house, a gas company, Masonic and
Oddfellows' lodges, a cricket club, a Useful Knowledge
Society, with a library, and a neat Town-hall (1873).
The parish church (1824) is a Gothic building, with a
tower and 1250 sittings ; a new Free church (1880 ; 700
sittings ; cost, £3000) is Early English in style, and of
pink and white granite, with spire 100 feet high ; and
St Ternan's Episcopal church (1851) is also an Early
English granite edifice, with nave and chancel, 4 stained-
glass windows, and very high-pitched open timber roof.
Cattle, sheep, and horse fairs are held on the last Mon-
day of January and February, the last Thursday of
March, the Monday before 26 May (also feeing), tha
third Tuesday of June, the Tuesday of Paldy Fair week
in July, the second Tuesday of August, the Monday
before the first Tuesday of September, old style, and the
second Monday of November (also feeing) and Decem-
ber. Pop. (1861) 681, (1871) 865, (1881) 983.
The parish is bounded N by Midmar, NE by Echt,
E by Drumoak, SE by Durris, SW by Strachan and
Birse, and W by Kincardine O'Neil. With very irregu-
lar outline, its length from E to W varies between 1J
and 8J miles, its breadth from N to S between 3| and 7
miles ; and its land area is 20,079 acres, of which 1058
belong to Aberdeenshire. The Dee "has an eastward
course here of 10 J miles — first 5 on the Birse and Strachan
boundary, next 3J through the interior, and lastly 2
on the Durris border. It falls in this course from 249
feet above sea-level at Haugh of Sluie to 117 at Mills of
Drum ; at Cairnton supplies the Aberdeen Waterworks ;
and opposite the village receives from the SSW the
Water of Feugh, whose last 1J mile either separates
Banehory-Ternan from Strachan or traverses its interior.
The chief elevations are to the N of the Dee, Blacky-
duds (1422 feet), Craigratk (1429), and Berry Hill (765),
all three summits of the Hill of Fare ; to the S, Hill of
Maryfield (482), Craig of Affrusk (S03), and, on the SW
border, Garrol Hill (627). Loch Leys, a large sheet of
water towards the middle of the northern section, was
drained not long before 1865 ; its interesting ' crannoge '
or lake-dwelling is described in vol. vi. of Proceedings
of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. Granite is
the prevailing rock, but limestone also has been largely
worked ; the soils are either alluvial or chiefly composed
of disintegrated granite, and about 6500 acres are arable,
5000 under wood, and 1000 capable of reclamation, the
rest being moorish pasture or waste. Four stone circles,
some cairns, and a camp (perhaps Roman) at Cairnton,
make up, with Crathes and Tilquhillie Castles, the
antiquities ; the chief historical event connected with
the parish was the battle of Corrichie (1562). Man-
sions, with owners' names and the extent and yearly
value of their estates within Kincardineshire, are Crathes
Castle (Sir Rt. Burnett of Leys, eleventh Bart, since
1626; 12,025 acres; £5007), Raemoir House (Al. Innes;
4750 acres ; £2847), Inchmarlo (Duncan Davidson ;
9S5 acres; £896), Banchory Lodge (Mrs Ramsay of
Arbeadie ; 1800 acres ; £1843), Invery House (Jn. AV.
E. J. Douglass of Tilquhillie; 1808 acres; £1015),
etc. ; in all, 8 proprietors hold each an annual value of
£500 and upwards, 1 holds between £100 and £500,
and 9 hold each between £50 and £100, 36 between
£20 and £50. The saint, from whom this parish takes
its distinctive suffix, Terrananus, Torannan, or Ternan,
is thought by Skene to have been a disciple of Pal-