Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland .. - National Library of Scotland

———MACHANY WATERand has accommodation for 100, whilst the publicschool accommodates 700. By the Reform Bill, Macduffwas, for parliamentary purposes, included within theboundaries of the burgh of Banff, but its municipalityremained distinct, and municipal matters are managedby a provost, 2 bailies, a dean of guild , a treasurer, and4 councillors ; while police matters are attended to bya board of six commissioners of police. The weeklymarket is on Tuesday. "Water was introduced in 1883.There is a post office, with money order, savings'bank, and telegraph departments, branches of theUnion and North of Scotland Banks, a branch ofthe National Security Savings' Bank, and agenciesof 11 insurance companies. There are also a townhouse,meal and saw mills, baths, a hall, a gascompany, a masonic lodge (St James, No. 653), alodge of Oddfellows, a club, two ladies' schools, and anumber of the usual charitable, etc. institutions. Thebridge 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 ofTurriff 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 andBlackford parishes, Perthshire, flowing 13J miles eastwardtill it falls into the Earn at a point 2| miles NNWof Auchterarder.— Or(Z. Sur., sh. 47, 1869.Machar, New, a parish of SE Aberdeenshire, to theN containing Summerhill village, which stands, 310feet above sea-level, 5 furlongs SSW of New Macharstation on the Formartine and Buchan section of theGreat North of Scotland railway, this being 5J miles Nof Dyce Junction and 11 J NNW of Aberdeen. Summerhillhas a post office under Aberdeen, with money orderand savings' bank departments ; and close to the stationis New Machar Inn, where cattle and horse fairs areheld 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 ofNew Machar, the parish is bounded NW and NE byUdny, E by Belhelvie, SE and S by Old Machar, SWby Dyce, and W by Fintray. Till 1621 it formed partof Old Machar parish, and, after being disjoined, wasknown successively as the Upper Parochine of StMachar, Upper Machar, and, finally. New Machar.utmost length, from N by W to S by E, is 5J miles ;its utmost breadth, from E to W, is 3J miles ; and itsarea is 9047 acres, of which 45 are water, and 2088Jbelong to the Straloch or north-western detachedportion (2| x IJ mile), separated from the main body bya strip of Udny, 300 yards wide at the narrowest, andalso bounded by Kinkell and Fintray. This Stralochportion belongs politically to Banffshire (detached), butecclesiastically ranks as part of New Machar, and forrating and other purposes is treated as part of Aberdeenshire.The Don flows IJ mile south-south-eastwardalong all the Dyce border ; and Elrick Burn, rising inthe Straloch section, runs 7 J miles south-south-eastward,partly along the Fintray border, but mainly throughthe interior, till it falls into the Don at a point 2§ furlongsSW 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'sLoch (2 x f furl.). At the Bridge of Dyce the surfacedeclines to 128 feet above sea-level ; and thence it risesgently to 299 feet at Highlands, 400 at Eosemount, 600at Upper Rannieshill, 620 at Changehill, and 543 at theHill of Clyne. Granite abounds in the southern district,and limestone is found on the estate of NorthKinmundy. The soil of the southern district, near theDon, is a gravelly loam ; of the middle district, is agood loam ; and of the northern district, is very various,and much of it poor. About two-thirds of the entirearea 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, are2ItsMACHABSremains of three pre-Eeformation chapels—St Colm's atMonykebbock, St Mary's at Clubsgoval, and St Mary'sat Straloch—the first of which is mentioned as early as1256, and still is represented by a fine old burying,ground. At Parkhill, in 1864, was found a silver chainof double rings, 17^ inches in length and 44 oz. inweight, with a penannular terminal ring, engravedwith one of the symbols of the sculptured stones. It isnow in the Edinburgh Antiquarian Museum. A moorwithin the parish was the scene, in 1647, of a defeat ofthe Royalists by the Covenanters. Robert Gordon ofStraloch (1580-1661), the distinguished geographer andantiquary, was born at Kinmundy ; and Dr ThomasReid (1710-96), the eminent moral philosopher, wasminister from 1737 till 1752. Mansions, noticed separately,are Elrick, Pakkhill, and Stkaloch ; and 6proprietors hold each an annual value of £500 andupwards, 2 of between £100 and £500, and 3 of from£20 to £50. New Machar is in the presbytery andsynod of Aberdeen ; the living is worth £335. Theparish church at Summerhill was buUt in 1791, andcontains 650 sittings. There is also a Free church ; andthree public schools— Parkhill girls', Summerhill boys',and Whiterashes—with respective accommodation for95, 205, and 90 children, had (1883) an average attendanceof 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 Stralochportion, and £1227 for the railway. Pop. (1801) 925,(1831) 1246, (1861) 1511, (1871) 1483, (1881) 1505, ofwhom 238 were in the Straloch or Banffshire section.Ord. Sur., sh. 77, 1873.Machar, Old, a parish of SE Aberdeenshire, containinggreat part of Aberdeen city, with all Old Aberdeen,Woodside, and other suburbs. Down to the 17thcentury it comprehended the present parishes of NewMachar and Newhills ; and now it is bounded NAV byNew 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, fromN by W to S by E, is 7J miles ; its utmost breadth is4| miles ; and its area is 12,595J acres, of which 285are foreshore and 1674 water, whilst 5283J fall withinthe parliamentary burgh of Aberdeen. The Don, afterflowing 3J miles south-south-eastward along the Dyceand Newhills boundary, winds 3J miles eastward acrossthe interior to the sea ; and the Dee, in a run of ly'xmile, traces the southern boundary. The districtbetween the two rivers, comprising two-fifths of theentire area, is described in our article on Aberdeen ;and, as to the district N of the Don, it need only besaid that the surface rises gradually from the shore to asummit altitude of 318 feet at Perwinnes Hill, ^ mileN of which, at the New Machar boundary, is CorbyLoch (2| x 2 furl. ; 251 feet). The predominant rock isgranite ; and the soil ranges from fertile loam to barrenpeat-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 Macharitself is a collegiate charge, the stipend of the firstminister being £386, of the second £340. Eight schools,all public but one, with total accommodation for 2220children, had (1883) an average attendance of 2224, andgrants amounting to £2002, 19s. 2d. Landward valuation(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 theecclesiastical parish of Old Machar, and 1451 in thelandward portion of the parish. Ord. Sur., sh. 77, 1873.Machars (Celt, macliair, ' a plain '), one of the threedistricts of Wigtownshire, being the broad-based, triangularpeninsula between Wigtown and Luce Bays. Ithas ill-defined boundaries, but it may be viewed eitheras comprehending the parishes of Whithorn, Glasserton,Sorbie, Kirkinner, and most of Mochrum, amounting to100 square miles, or as comprehending also the rest ofMochrum and parts of Old Luce, Kirkcowan, and Penninghame,amounting, with these additions, to nearly