Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland .. - National Library of Scotland

;PETERCULTERPETERHEADBreadalbane a bailiary or separate jurisdiction of its In the E the soil is sandy or gravelly, with a mixtureearls, Strathearn a stewartry, Methven a separate of vegetable earth ; whilst in the arable parts of theregality, and AthoU a regality of very large extent. other districts it is variously a red earth or clay, aSince the abolition of hereditary jurisdictions in 1747, thin sandy soil on gravel and rock, and a mixture ofthe sheriff, with his two substitutes, has exercised black earth or reclaimed moss and clay. Nearly onesixthjurisdiction over the county, and in 1795 the presentof the entire area is under wood, plantationsten divisions, already referred to, were defined by Act chiefly of larch and Scotch firs ; and about two-thirdsof Parliament.are in tillage, a good deal of swampy and moorish landLiterary Associations.—The romantic character of having been reclaimed in the course of the last halfPerthshire scenery has attracted much attention from century. Employment, other than agriculture, ispoets and novelists. Shakespeare's play of Macbeth has furnished by the Culter Paper Mill (1751) and by aimmortalised Birnam and Dunsinane. Sir Walter Scott flock factory (1831). Noemakdykes, the chief antiquity,lays the scene of The Lady of the Lake at Loch Katrineis noticed separately, as also are the mansionsand the Trossachs ; and much of Rol Roy is transacted of BiNGHILL, COUNTESSWELLS, CtTLTBE, and MUETLB.in the same SW corner of the shire. Many of the Five proprietors hold each an annual value of £500 andscenes of Waverley are also laid in Perthshire ; and upwards, and five ofbetween£100and£500. PeterculterCraighall claims to be the chief prototype of 'Tullyveolanis in the presbytery and synod of Aberdeen ; the living is' in that novel. Some of Bums's most beautiful worth £241, lis. The parish church, originally dedicatedlyrics have had a Perthshire inspiration ; and the Birks to St Peter, stands close to the Dee's left bank, nearo' Aberfeldy, The Eumble Petitio7i of Bruar Water, Culter station. It was built in 1779, and contains 550Allan Water, On Scaring some Waterfowl in Loch sittings. Nearly 2 miles to the N is Peterculter FreeTurrit, are among the best known. The Braes o' Donne church ; and two public schools, Countesswells andand Braes o' Balquhidder have also been celebrated in Craigton, with respective accommodation for 57 andpoetry ; and Mallet has sung The Birks o' Invermay. 180 children, had (1883) an average attendance of 37Many Jacobite songs have reference to Perthshire, not the and 127, and grants of £32, lis. and £117, 9s. 6d.least noticeable being James Hogg's Cam' ye hy Athole. Valuation (1860) £7879, (1884) £12,312, 15s. 1±,plusThe Baroness Nairne's beautiful ballad The Auld Souse £956 for the railway, and £500 for the aqueduct. Pop.was written of the old House of Gask. The incident (1801) 871, (1831) 1223, (1861) 1410, (1871) 1668, (1881)which gave rise to Wordsworth's poem Stejiping Westward1908.— 0»-rf. Sur., shs. 77, 76, 67, 1871-74.occurred at Loch Katrine.Peterhead, a parish containing a town of the sameSee James Robertson, General Vieiu of the Agriculture name in the NE of Aberdeenshire, and in the extremeof the County of Perth (Perth, 1799) ; vol. x. of TJie New E of the Buchan district of that county. The old nameStatistical Account (Edinb. 1845) ; Perthshire Illustrated was Peterugie, which was exchanged for the present one(Lond. 1844) ; John Dickson, ' Report on the Agricultureof Perthshire," in Trans. Sight, and Ag. Soc. by a detached portion of Banffshire (St Fergus), E byabout the end of the 16th century. It is bounded NE(Edinb. 1868) ; J. C. Guthrie, The Vale of Strathmore the North Sea, SSW by Crudeu parish, and W by the(Edinb. 1875) ; P. D. Drummond, Perthshire in Bygone parish of Longside. The boundary along the NE isDays (Lond. 1879) ; W. Marshall, Eistoric Scenes in formed for 4g miles by the river Ugie—whence the oldPerthshire (Edinb. 1880) ; T. Hunter, Woods, Forests, name of the parish—and here, as well as to the E, theand Estates of Perthshire (Perth, 1883) ; E, S. Fittis, boundary is natural ; on the SSW and W it is artificial.m-ustrations of the Sistory and Antiquities of Perthshire The shape of the parish may be roughly described as a(Perth, 1874), Perthshire Antiquarian Miscellany (1875), parallelogram with very irregular sides except on theHistorical and Traditionary Gleanings Concerning Perthshire(1876), Clironicles of Perthshire (1877), Sketches from NW, at the point where the boundary line of theSSW, where it is almost straight. The greatest length,of the Olden Times in Perthshire (1878), Book of Perthshiredetached portion of Banffshire quits the Ugie NW ofMemorabilia (1879), and Recreations of an EoundhiUock, to Cave o' Meachie on the coast on theAntiquary in Perthshire Sistory and Genealogy (1880) SE, is 6J miles ; the greatest breadth, a line at rightbesides works cited under Ckieff, Culeoss, Dunkeld, angles to this, from North Head at the town of PeterheadFiNGASK Castle, Gask, Geantully, Inchaefkay,to Mill of Dens on the SW, is 4J mUes ; and theInohmahome, Keie, Monteith, Perth, and Scone. area is 9449 '267 acres, inclusive of 235 '620 foreshore andPeterculter, a parish of SE Aberdeenshire, containing44 '055 water. The height of the surface rises from sea-Murtle, Milltimber, and Culter stations on the level along the eastern border westward with irregularDeeside branch (1853) of the Great North of Scotland undulations to Cowsrieve (229 feet) and Black Hill (350),and another rising ground turns eastward to the shoreat Sterling Hill (209), in the extreme SE of the parish.Near the centre of the sea-coast is the conical Meethillrailway, 5i, 6^, and 7| miles WSW of Aberdeen, underwhich there is a post and telegraph office of Peterculter.It is bounded N by Skene and Newhills, E by NewhUlsand Banchory-Devenick, S by Maryculter, SW byDrumoak, and W by Echt. Its utmost length, fromENE to WSW, is 6| miles ; its utmost breadth is 5miles ; and its area is 16 square miles, or 10,288| acres,of which IOO/t) are water, and 267f belong to the smallBieldside detached portion almost surrounded by Banchory-Devenick.*The Dee, curving 4| miles eastnorth-eastwardalong or near to all the Maryculterboundary, is joined at the parish church by LeuchaeBuEN, which flows 6J miles south-eastward along theSkene border and across the interior. The Leucharitself is fed by Gormack Burn, tracing 3 miles of theDrumoak boundary, and below its influx is oftenknown as the Burn of Culter. The surface declinesalong the Dee to 50 feet above sea-level, and risesthence to 322 feet at Eddieston Hill, 450 at BeinsHill or the Weather Craig, and 706 at Kingshill Wood.Gneiss is the predominant rock in the eastern andnorthern portions of the parish, granite in the western;and the latter has been largely quarried at Anguston.* According, however, to a decision of 1867, the Deebank detachedportion of Banchory-Devenick belongs now to Peterculter,which thus has a total land area of 10,547 acres.200(181 feet). The coast following the larger windings measuresabout 7f miles, and from it the promontories ofPeterhead, Salthouse Head, and Buchan Ness project,the latter being the most easterly point of Scotland,though the promontory on which the town stands is notfar behind, and the heads to the E of the harbour arestill farther E. Between the point occupied by thetown and Salthouse Head is Peterhead or BrickworkBay, fuUy f mile wide across the mouth, and | miledeep, with rocky and shingly shores. Between SaltburnHead and Buchan Ness is Sandford Bay, 1 milewide across the mouth, and J mile deep, and with aconsiderable portion of its shore formed by a fine sandybeach. Near the south-eastern point, however, a lineof cliffs pierced by numerous chasms and caves beginsand continues round by Buchan Ness till the southernboundary of the parish is reached. Only a small portionof the area is under wood, and there are about 100acres of bare rock and 400 of moory and mossy ground,but the rest is all under cultivation, the soil varyingfrom sand to rich black loam and stiff clay. The underlyingrocks are granite or granitic, and are extensivelyquanied, the red varieties so well known commercially