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

shire, but chiefly in Aberdeenshire. It lies almost
in the centre of the district of Buchan, and is strictly
compact, its Banffshire section being a detached
pendicle of a quondam great barony, whose main
body constitutes the parish of St. Fergus. Deer par-
ish contains the villages of Deer, Biffy, and Stewart-
field, and the post-office Tillage of Fetterangus ; and
also approaches close on its east side to the post-
office village of Mintlaw. It is bounded by the
parishes of Strichen, Longside, Cruden, Ellon, and
New Deer. Its length south-eastward is 1 1 miles,
and its breadth 5£ miles. It is watered by two
rivulets, — the Deer and the Strichen, — which after-
wards form the Ugie. The surface consists of
irregular ridges of rising ground, running in various
directions, and forming a number of valleys of un-
equal extent. The tops of some of these ridges are
covered with heath, some with plantations, and
many of them are cultivated. Bound the village of
Deer is a plain of considerable extent, ornamented
with the woods and pleasure-grounds of Fitfour.
The soil of the parish is very diversified. Granite
is quarried. A coarse limestone was formerly
worked. White quartzy blocks of stone are numer-
ous, and pieces of the purest rock-crystal have oc-
casionally been found. The principal landowners,
Ferguson of Pitfour, Ferguson of Kinmundy, and
Russell of Aden, are resident ; but there is a num-
ber of others. Beeent improvements on the Pitfour
estate, chiefly in the home-grounds, together with
the mansion, cost nearly £80,000. There were
formerly within the parish several interesting Dru-
idical remains. There are two woollen mills at
Millbrake and Aden. There are also in the parish
eight meal mills. A number of the parishioners are
linen weavers. The parish is traversed by the road
from Aberdeen to Fraserburgh, by the road from
Banff to Peterhead, and by the branch line of railway
to Peterhead, and has a railway station. Popula-
tion in 1831, 4,110 ; in 1861, 5,174. Houses, 1,057.
Population of the Aberdeenshire section in 1831,
3,643 ; in 1861, 4,561. Houses, 908. Assessed pro-
perty, in 1860, £16,610.
This parish is the seat of a presbytery in the synod
of Aberdeen. It formerly was a prebend of the cathe-
dral of Aberdeen; but then wanted its present Banff-
shire section, and comprised the present parish of
New Deer. Patron, the Crown. Stipend, £219 2s.
8d. ; glebe, from £70 to £75. Unappropriated teiuds,
£67 14s. There are three parochial schools, at re-
pectively Deer, Clochcan, and Shannas. Salary of
the first schoolmaster, £35 13s. 4d., with £24 10s.
fees; of each of the other schoolmasters, £22 3s. 4d.,
with £20 fees. The schoolmasters have also a share
in the Dick bequest. There are several private
schools. The parish church was built in 1788, and
contains 1,200 sittings. There is a Free church for
the parish, with an attendance of from 400 to 500,
whose receipts in 1865 amounted to £180 9s. 4M.
There is likewise a Free church at Clola, which
formerly belonged to the synod of United Original
Seceders. There is an United Presbyterian church
at Stewartfield, which was built in 1822, contains
440 sittings, and has an attendance of about 300.
There is a Congregational chapel at Stewartfield,
which was built in 1801, contains 300 sittings, and
has an attendance of about 100. A commodious
Scotch Episcopalian chapel in the parish was built
in 1766, and rebuilt in 1852. There is also a small
English Episcopalian chapel.
The Village of Deer or Old Deer is pleasantly
situated on the south bank of the Deer rivulet, and on
the road from Peterhead to Banff, 6 miles east of New
Deer, 10J west by north of Peterhead, and 27 north
of Aberdeen. Here are an office of the North of
Scotland Banking Company, a savings' bank, a
friendly society, a small library, and the seat of an
agricultural association. Fairs for cattle and horses
are held on the Wednesday after the 19th of July,
and on the Wednesday after the 19th of December ;
and fairs of inferior consequence are held on the
Thursday after the 25th of January, on the Thurs-
day after the 18th of February, on the Thursday
after the 18th of March, on the Monday after the
17th of September, and on the Thursday after the
25th of October. Not far from the village stand the
remains of the abbey of Deer, built in the beginning
of the 13th century by Cummyn, Earl of Buchan,
for some monks of the Cistertian order. It has been
an extensive building, but is now very much in ruins.
The revenues of this place at the Reformation were
in money £805 8s. 6d. ; wheat 14 bolls; bear 13
chaldrons, 10 bolls ; meal 65 chaldrons, 7 bolls, 1
firlot, 3 pecks. In 1587, the lands belonging to it
were erected into a temporal lordship in favour oi
Robert, son of William, 6th Earl Marischal, by the
style and title of Lord Altrie.
DEER (New), a parish, containing a post-office
village of its own name, in the district of Buchan,
Aberdeenshire. It is bounded by Tyrie, Strichen,
Old Deer, Ellon,Tarves, Methlick, Fyvie, Monquhit-
ter, King Edward, and Aberdour. Its greatest
length north and south is upwards of 14 miles ; and
its greatest breadth is 8J miles. An elevation called
the hill of Culsh, in the vicinity of the village, com-
mands a very extensive view ; yet the highest
ground is not more than 300 feet above sea-level.
The surface is flat, there being scarcely a hill or
even a spot that may be called an eminence. To-
wards the north-east and south-east the appearance,
for 7 or 8 miles, is almost one continued corn-field,
interspersed with pieces of sown grass and turnip,
and terminated by a gently rising ground, in the
form of an amphitheatre. Towards the west the
soil is shallow, and was formerly covered with heath.
The public road from Aberdeen, by Udny and Tarves,
divides the parish from south-east to north-west.
Limestone abounds. About 2 miles from the church
stands an old castle called Fedderatt, which ap-
pears to have been a place of considerable strength.
It was surrounded partly by a morass, and partly by
a fosse ; and could be approached only on one side,
along a causeway and a drawbridge. Water was
conveyed to it by means of pipes, pieces of which have
at different times been torn up by the plough. There
are a few remains of Druidical temples, and several
tumuli, which have been opened and found to con-
tain urns enclosed in stone-coffins. About a mile
west of the village is an extensive piece of ground,
called Bruce Hill, where Robert the Bruce is said to
have encamped after the battle of Inverury. The
landowners are Fordyee of Brucklaw and Gordon
of Nethermoor, who have residences in the parish,
the Earl of Aberdeen, Ferguson of Pitfour, and five
others. The yearly value of raw produce was esti-
mated in 1840 at £37,084 12s. 8d. Assessed pro-
perty in 1860, £12,995. The village of New Deer
stands nearly in tbe centre of the parish, 6 miles
west of Old Deer, 16J west of Peterhead, and about
the same distance south-east of Banff. Its site is
the backbone of a sort of ridge, with declination of
the fields to the east and the west of the street. Here
are an office of the North of Scotland Bank, and a
library. Fairs are held on the third Wednesday of
January, on the Wednesday after the 12th of April,
on the Wednesday after the 19th of June, on the
day in August after Turriff, and on the Wednesday
after the 19th of October. Population of the village
in 1861, 475. Population of the parish in 1831,
3,525; in 1861, 4,385. Houses, 811.