Ordnance gazetteer of Scotland > Volume 5

MACHANY WATER
and has accommodation for 100, whilst the public
school accommodates 700. By the Reform Bill, Macduff
was, for parliamentary purposes, included within the
boundaries of the burgh of Banff, but its municipality
remained distinct, and municipal matters are managed
by a provost, 2 bailies, a dean of guild , a treasurer, and
4 councillors ; while police matters are attended to by
a board of six commissioners of police. The weekly
market is on Tuesday. "Water was introduced in 1883.
There is a post office, with money order, savings'
bank, and telegraph departments, branches of the
Union and North of Scotland Banks, a branch of
the National Security Savings' Bank, and agencies
of 11 insurance companies. There are also a town-
house, meal and saw mills, baths, a hall, a gas
company, a masonic lodge (St James, No. 653), a
lodge of Oddfellows, a club, two ladies' schools, and a
number of the usual charitable, etc. institutions. The
bridge across the Deveron to the W, on the road to Banff,
was designed by Smeaton. The quoad sacra parish,
which extends beyond the town, is in the presbytery of
Turriff and synod of Aberdeen. Pop. of parish (1871)
3912, (1881) 4104 ; of burgh (1831) 1819, (1861) 3067,
(1871) 3410, (1881) 3650, of whom 1992 were females.
Houses (1881) 728 inhabited, 25 vacant, 4 building. —
Ord. Sur., sh. 96, 1876.
Machany Water, a troutful stream of Muthill and
Blackford parishes, Perthshire, flowing 13 J miles east-
ward till it falls into the Earn at a point 2| miles NNW
of Auchterarder.— Or(Z. Sur., sh. 47, 1869.
Machar, New, a parish of SE Aberdeenshire, to the
N containing Summerhill village, which stands, 310
feet above sea-level, 5 furlongs SSW of New Machar
station on the Formartine and Buchan section of the
Great North of Scotland railway, this being 5J miles N
of Dyce Junction and 11 J NNW of Aberdeen. Summer-
hill has a post office under Aberdeen, with money order
and savings' bank departments ; and close to the station
is New Machar Inn, where cattle and horse fairs are
held on the third Thursday of January, March, May,
and November, and the second Thursday of July.
Containing also Parkhill station. 4 miles S of that of
New Machar, the parish is bounded NW and NE by
Udny, E by Belhelvie, SE and S by Old Machar, SW
by Dyce, and W by Fintray. Till 1621 it formed part
of Old Machar parish, and, after being disjoined, was
known successively as the Upper Parochine of St
Machar, Upper Machar, and, finally. New Machar. Its
utmost length, from N by W to S by E, is 5J miles ;
its utmost breadth, from E to W, is 3J miles ; and its
area is 9047 acres, of which 45 are water, and 2088J
belong to the Straloch or north-western detached
portion (2| x IJ mile), separated from the main body by
a strip of Udny, 300 yards wide at the narrowest, and
also bounded by Kinkell and Fintray. This Straloch
portion belongs politically to Banffshire (detached), but
ecclesiastically ranks as part of New Machar, and for
rating and other purposes is treated as part of Aberdeen-
shire. The Don flows IJ mile south-south-eastward
along all the Dyce border ; and Elrick Burn, rising in
the Straloch section, runs 7 J miles south-south-eastward,
partly along the Fintray border, but mainly through
the interior, till it falls into the Don at a point 2§ fur-
longs SW of ParkhOl station. Corby Loch (2S x 2 furl. ;
251 feet) lies mostly beyond the south-eastern boundary,
near which are Lily Loch (1 x | furl. ) and Bishop's
Loch (2 x f furl.). At the Bridge of Dyce the surface
declines to 128 feet above sea-level ; and thence it rises
gently to 299 feet at Highlands, 400 at Eosemount, 600
at Upper Rannieshill, 620 at Changehill, and 543 at the
Hill of Clyne. Granite abounds in the southern dis-
trict, and limestone is found on the estate of North
Kinmundy. The soil of the southern district, near the
Don, is a gravelly loam ; of the middle district, is a
good loam ; and of the northern district, is very various,
and much of it poor. About two-thirds of the entire
area are in tillage ; nearly one-tenth is under wood ;
and the rest is either pastoral or waste. Antiquities,
other than those noticed under Bishop's Loch, are
2
MACHABS
remains of three pre-Eeformation chapels — St Colm's at
Monykebbock, St Mary's at Clubsgoval, and St Mary's
at Straloch — the first of which is mentioned as early as
1256, and still is represented by a fine old burying,
ground. At Parkhill, in 1864, was found a silver chain
of double rings, 17^ inches in length and 44 oz. in
weight, with a penannular terminal ring, engraved
with one of the symbols of the sculptured stones. It is
now in the Edinburgh Antiquarian Museum. A moor
within the parish was the scene, in 1647, of a defeat of
the Royalists by the Covenanters. Robert Gordon of
Straloch (1580-1661), the distinguished geographer and
antiquary, was born at Kinmundy ; and Dr Thomas
Reid (1710-96), the eminent moral philosopher, was
minister from 1737 till 1752. Mansions, noticed sepa-
rately, are Elrick, Pakkhill, and Stkaloch ; and 6
proprietors hold each an annual value of £500 and
upwards, 2 of between £100 and £500, and 3 of from
£20 to £50. New Machar is in the presbytery and
synod of Aberdeen ; the living is worth £335. The
parish church at Summerhill was buUt in 1791, and
contains 650 sittings. There is also a Free church ; and
three public schools— Parkhill girls', Summerhill boys',
and Whiterashes — with respective accommodation for
95, 205, and 90 children, had (1883) an average attend-
ance of 51, 146, and 76, and grants of £47, 5s, 6d.,
£115, 10s., and £71, 13s. Valuation (I860) £6963,
(1884) £10,752, of which £1928 was for the Straloch
portion, and £1227 for the railway. Pop. (1801) 925,
(1831) 1246, (1861) 1511, (1871) 1483, (1881) 1505, of
whom 238 were in the Straloch or Banffshire section. —
Ord. Sur., sh. 77, 1873.
Machar, Old, a parish of SE Aberdeenshire, contain-
ing great part of Aberdeen city, with all Old Aber-
deen, Woodside, and other suburbs. Down to the 17th
century it comprehended the present parishes of New
Machar and Newhills ; and now it is bounded NAV by
New Machar, N by Belhelvie, E by the German Ocean,
S by St Nicholas and Nigg, SW by Banchory-Devenick,
and W by Newhills and Dyce. Its utmost length, from
N by W to S by E, is 7J miles ; its utmost breadth is
4| miles ; and its area is 12,595J acres, of which 285
are foreshore and 1674 water, whilst 5283J fall within
the parliamentary burgh of Aberdeen. The Don, after
flowing 3J miles south-south-eastward along the Dyce
and Newhills boundary, winds 3J miles eastward across
the interior to the sea ; and the Dee, in a run of ly'x
mile, traces the southern boundary. The district
between the two rivers, comprising two-fifths of the
entire area, is described in our article on Aberdeen ;
and, as to the district N of the Don, it need only be
said that the surface rises gradually from the shore to a
summit altitude of 318 feet at Perwinnes Hill, ^ mile
N of which, at the New Machar boundary, is Corby
Loch (2| x 2 furl. ; 251 feet). The predominant rock is
granite ; and the soil ranges from fertile loam to barren
peat-earth. In the presbytery and synod of Aberdeen,
this parish is divided ecclesiastically into Old Machar,
Ferry HUl, Gilcomston, Holburn, Eosemount, Rubislaw,
and Woodside, with part of John Knox. Old Machar
itself is a collegiate charge, the stipend of the first
minister being £386, of the second £340. Eight schools,
all public but one, with total accommodation for 2220
children, had (1883) an average attendance of 2224, and
grants amounting to £2002, 19s. 2d. Landward valua-
tion (1873) £12,099, Os. 6d., (1884) £14,352, 2s. Pop.
ofentire parish (1801) 9911, (1831) 25,107, (1861)33,236,
(1871) 42,477, (1881) 56,002, of whom 8388 were in the
ecclesiastical parish of Old Machar, and 1451 in the
landward portion of the parish. — Ord. Sur., sh. 77, 1873.
Machars (Celt, macliair, ' a plain '), one of the three
districts of Wigtownshire, being the broad-based, tri-
angular peninsula between Wigtown and Luce Bays. It
has ill-defined boundaries, but it may be viewed either
as comprehending the parishes of Whithorn, Glasserton,
Sorbie, Kirkinner, and most of Mochrum, amounting to
100 square miles, or as comprehending also the rest of
Mochrum and parts of Old Luce, Kirkcowan, and Pen-
ninghame, amounting, with these additions, to nearly