Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland .. - National Library of Scotland

;MARYCULTERold churchyard is near the mansion-honse of Culter, nearthe river Dee. Of the old church almost nothing nowremains but the foundations, which show that it wasahout 82 feet long, 28 wide, and had walls about 3 feetthick. It seems to date from about the sixteenthcentury, and contained a number of curious woodcarvings, which were all dispersed, and most of themlost or destroyed, when the new church was built, a mileto the S, in 1782. Carved effigies of a knight and hislady are supposed to be those of Thomas Menzies of Maryculterand his wife Marion Keid, heiress of Pitfoddles,who lived in the first half of the 16th century. TheMenzies family acquired the estate of Maryculter earlyin the 14th century ; and the last of the family was MrJohn Menzies, the founder of Blaiks College. Thefamily burial ground was at St Nicholas in Aberdeen,and these figures are supposed to have been brought herefor safety when the West Kirk of Aberdeen was rebuiltin 1751-55. The late Mr Irvine-Boswell of Kingcaussie(1785-1860), who did so much for the improvement ofthe agriculture of the parish, is also buried here. TheIrvines of Kingcaussie are a branch of the Irvines ofDrum ;and the line ended in an heiress who married thewell-known Lord Balmuto. Their son was the MrIrvine-Boswell just mentioned. The mansions, besidesMaryculter House and Kingcaussie House, are AltriesHouse, Auchlunies House, and Heathcot, the last ofwhich has been converted into a hydropathic establishment.The clock tower of Maryculter House is old, andis said to have been used by the Menzies family as anoratory, but the rest of the house is modern. Near themansion-house is an oval hollow, measuring some 80yards across, and about 30 feet deep, which bears thename of The Thunder Hole.' ' AVithin the last SO yearsthe depth has been considerably reduced. Traditionallyit was formed by the fall of a thunderbolt, and the spotwas reckoned not exactly ' canny.' The church and mostof the lands of the parish were in the possession of theKnights Templars, and on their downfall passed underthe control of the Knights of St John of Jerusalem, whoheld them in regality. In 1540 we find Sir WalterLyndesay, the Preceptor of Torphichen, granting thelands of Essintully (now Ashentilly), 'jacentes in baronianostra de Maricultir,' to his beloved 'germano frati-iAlexandre;Lyndesay ' and in 1545 he leased to himalso the Mains of Maryculter, part of the rent to bepaid being ' thre barrell of salmont yeirl-ie for the WeillWatter anentis Kurd,' where salmon-fishing is stillcarried on. In 1547 Sir James Sandilands, Lord StJohn and Preceptor of Torphichen, leased the 'teyndschawls' of Easter Essintully and the Mains of Maryculter,lyand ' within the barony of the samyn,' to thesame Alexander Lyndesay ; and in 1548 the Lordsof Council and Session found, in an action raisedby the preceptor, that the haill landis and barony'at Maricultir ' belonged ' to his sayd pi'eceptorie infre regalite,' having been 'in tjTnes by past replegitfra the Schiref of Kincardin and his deputis to thefredome and privelege of the sayd regalite and bailliescourttis thairof.'The portion of the parish bordering the Dee is traversedby a fine road formed about 1836-37, and leading fromAbekdeek to Banchory by the S side of the river.From this, near ilaryculter House, a road passes southwardto a bridle-path across the Grampians to nearDrumlithie, and so to the coast road. Bailw.ay communicationis afforded by Milltimber and Culter stations,on the Deeside section of the Great North of Scotlandrailway system. These are, however, on the N bank ofthe Dee, outside the parish, and each about If mile fromits centre. The hamlet is beside the church, and ismerely the Kirktown. It is by road 7 miles WSW ofAberdeen, under which it has a sub-post office. Theparish of Maryculter is in the presbytery and synodof Aberdeen. The parish church, built in 1782, andrepaired when an organ was introduced in 1881, contains460 sittings. There is a Free church ; and theRoman Catholic College and chapel at Bi.aies areseparately noticed. Three public schools—the boys'MAEYKIRKand the East and West girls' and infants'—with respectiveaccommodation for 75, 60, and 60 children, had(1883) an average attendance of 36, 30, and 42, andgrants of £35, Is., £28, 16s., and £34, 14s. Theprincipal landowner is Mr Kinloch of Park. Valuation(1856) £4879, (1884) £7691, 6s. 7d. Pop. (1801) 710,(1831) 960, (1861) 1055, (1871) 1110, (1881) 1072.—Ord. Sur., shs. 77, 67, 1873-71.Marydale, a place in Kilmorack parish, Invernessshire,on the left bank of the Glass, near Invercannichand the Glenaffric Hotel, 20 miles SW ofBeauly. Its Roman Catholic church of Our Ladyand St Bean was built in 1868, and contains 400sittings.MaryhiU, a police burgh in Barony parish, NWLanarkshire, on the left bank of the river Kelvin, 3^miles NNW of the centre of Glasgow, with which it isconnected by tramway and by the Glasgow and Helensburghsection of the North British railway. It occupiesa brae descending to the picturesque and romantic dellof the Kelvin, which dell is spanned by the four-archviaduct, 83 feet high and 400 long, of the Fokth andClyde Canal. MaryhiU possesses in itself and in itsenvirons such strong attractions of scenery as draw manyvisitors from Glasgow, and exhibits for the most part awell-built, pleasant appearance. It has a post officeunder Glasgow, with money order, savings' bank, andtelegraph departments, branches of the Royal and UnionBanks, an hotel, 3 Established churches, 2 Free churches,a U.P. church, a Roman Catholic church, 4 public and 2Roman Catholic schools, iron, bleach, glass, and printworks, etc. Under Gla.sgow are noticed the MaryhiUBarracks and the Dawsholm gasworks. The burgh isgoverned by a senior and 2 junior magistrates and 9otier police commissioners. Valuation (1876) £30,939,(1884) £65,637. Pop. of quoad sacra parish (1881)39,980; of town (1841) 2552, (1861) 3717, (1871) 5842,(1881) 12,884, of whom 6525 were males. Houses intown (1881) 2240 inhabited, 691 vacant, 5 buUding.—Ord. Sur., sh. 30, 1S66.Marykirk, a village and a parish of S Kincardineshire.The village, in the SE corner of the parish, is beautifullysituated near the left bank of the river North Esk (herespanned by a four-arch bridge of 1813), 7 furlongs N byW of Craigo station, IJ mile S of Marykirk station,and 6 miles NNW of Montrose, under which it has apost office.The parish, containing also Luthermuir village,till at least 1721 was known as Aberluthnott (Gael.'meeting of the waters where the stream is swift '). Itbounded N by Fordoun, NE by Laurencekirk, E byisGarvock, SE by St Cyrus, S by Logic-Pert in Forfarshire,and W by Fettercairn. Its utmost length, from NNE toSSAV, is 5J miles ; its breadth varies between 2§ and 4Jmiles ;and its area is 9912 acres, of which 72 are water.The North Esk flows 4 miles east-by-southward alongall the Forfarshire boundary, and opposite the village isspanned by a thirteen-areh viaduct, of fine appearanceand erected at great cost ; Luther AVater runs 44miles south-south-westward through the middle of theinterior to the North Esk ; and Black and Dourie Burns,Luthnot and Balmaleedy Burns, drain the side districtsinto the larger streams. The surface, comprisingnmcli of the SW extremity of the Howe of Mearns,declines along the North Esk to 80 feet above sea-level,and W of the railway at no point exceeds 264 feet ; butto the E it attains 555 at KirktonhiU Tower and 700 atthe meeting-point with Garvock and St Cyrus. Eruptiverocks occur in the hills ; but Old Red sandstone prevailsthroughout the low grounds, and is quarriedwhilst limestone also is plentiful, and was formerlyworked. The soil is much of it good sound fertile loam,incumbent on decomposed red sandstone. About 615acres are in pasture ;plantations, chiefly of Scotch fir,cover rather more than 1600 acres ; and the rest of theland is in tillage. Mansions, noticed separately, areBALJIAKEW.4.N, Hatton (Viscount Arbuthnott), Ixglis-MALDIE (Earl of Kintore), Kirktonhill, and ThorntonCastle ;and 6 proprietors hold each an annual value of9