Aberdeenshire (historic)

Aberdeenshire or the County of Aberdeen (Siorrachd Obar Dheathain in ) is a of. This area (excluding itself) is also a.

Until 1975 Aberdeenshire was one of the, governed by a from 1890. The boundaries of the county were adjusted by the boundary commissioners appointed under the that established the county council. In 1900, the county town of Aberdeen became a county of a city and was thus removed from the county.

The county bordered, and  to the south,  and  to the west, and the  to the north and east. It had a coast-line of 65 miles (105 km), and was the sixth Scottish county in area, occupying 5,107 km².

In 1975 the reorganised local administration in Scotland into a two-tier system of regions and districts. Aberdeenshire, along with the City of Aberdeen, Banffshire, Kincardineshire and most of were merged to form, with the former county being divided between the districts of , ,  and.

In 1996 Scottish local government system was reorganised a second time to form a single tier of unitary council areas. The name was revived for the, which has different boundaries.

The area is generally hilly, and from the south-west, near the centre of, the send out various branches, mostly to the north-east.

Towns and villages

 * Fyvie
 * New Deer
 * Old Deer
 * Fyvie
 * New Deer
 * Old Deer
 * Fyvie
 * New Deer
 * Old Deer
 * New Deer
 * Old Deer
 * New Deer
 * Old Deer
 * New Deer
 * Old Deer
 * New Deer
 * Old Deer
 * New Deer
 * Old Deer

Places of interest

 * Aden Country Park
 * Deer Abbey, Old Deer
 * (For more castles in Aberdeenshire, see )
 * Deer Abbey, Old Deer
 * (For more castles in Aberdeenshire, see )
 * (For more castles in Aberdeenshire, see )
 * (For more castles in Aberdeenshire, see )
 * (For more castles in Aberdeenshire, see )
 * (For more castles in Aberdeenshire, see )
 * (For more castles in Aberdeenshire, see )
 * (For more castles in Aberdeenshire, see )
 * (For more castles in Aberdeenshire, see )

Main industries

 * and production

Constituencies
There was an of the  of the  from 1708 to 1801 and of the  from 1801 to 1868. This constituency did not include the of, which was represented as a component of  until 1832, when it was enlarged and became the. The other components of the became components of the then new.

In 1868 the Aberdeenshire constituency was divided to form two new s, or county constituencies, namely and.

In 1885 the Aberdeen was divided to form the burgh constituencies of  and.

In 1918 Aberdeenshire and were treated as if a single county for parliamentary representation purposes, with the area of the  and the Aberdeenshire constituencies being divided into three new constituencies,,  and. Kincardine and Western Aberdeenshire included the whole of the former Kincardineshire constituency.

In 1950 the area of the former Kincardinshire constituency (as abolished in 1918) was merged into a the then new, and the Aberdeenshire area was divided into the and the , but the boundary between these new eastern and western constituencies differed from that for the constituencies of the 1868 to 1918 period.

Boundary changes in 1955 enlarged the Aberdeenshire West constituency, and reduced the size of the Aberdeenshire East constituency.

In 1983, eight years after the local government county of Aberdeenshire was abolished, the Aberdeenshire constituencies were replaced with new constrituencies.

1911
The following text came originally from a 1911 Encyclopedia 

Description
Popular geography divides the traditional shire into five districts:
 * , mostly between the Dee and Don, which nearly covers the southern half of the county and contains the city of . It is mountainous, especially, which contains the greatest mass of elevated land in the . The Dee valley has sandy soil, the valley loamy.
 * , between the lower Don and Ythan, has a sandy coast, which is succeeded inland by a clayey, fertile, tilled tract, and then by low hills, moors, mosses and tilled land.
 * 1)  lies north of the Ythan, and comprising the north-east of the county, is next in size to Mar, parts of the coast being bold and rocky, the interior bare, low, flat, undulating and in places peaty. On the coast, six miles (10 km) south of, are the Bullers of Buchan - a basin in which the sea, entering by a natural arch, boils up violently in stormy weather. Buchan Ness is the most easterly point of Scotland.
 * , in the centre of the shire, comprises a beautiful, undulating, loamy, fertile valley, formerly called the granary of.
 * , occupying a considerable area south of the Deveron, mostly consists of hills, moors and mosses.

The mountains provide the most striking of the physical features of the county. are the principal heights in the division of Mar.
 * , 1309 m (4296 ft), a magnificent mass, the second highest mountain in the ,
 * 1295 m (4248 ft),
 * , 1293 m (4241 ft),
 * , 1196 m (3924 ft),
 * , 1171 m (3843 ft),
 * "Dark", 1154 m (3786 ft), the subject of a well-known song by ,
 * , 1084 m (3556 ft),
 * , 1037 m (3402 ft),
 * 900 m (2953 ft),

Farther north rise the, 722 m (2368 ft) on the Banffshire border, , 558 m (1830 ft), , 518 m (1698 ft), a beautiful peak which from its central position is a landmark visible from many different parts of the county, and which is celebrated in 's song, O gin I war faur the Gadie rins, and Foudland, 466 m (1529 ft).

The chief rivers are the, 90 s (145 ) long; the Don, 82 miles (132 km); the , 37 miles (60 km), with mussel-beds at its mouth; the , 20 miles (32 km), and the Deveron, 62 miles (100 km), partly on the boundary of Banffshire.

The rivers abound with salmon and trout, and the pearl mussel occurs in the Ythan and Don. A valuable pearl in the Scottish crown is said to be from the Ythan. , the largest of the few lakes in the county, 399 m (1310 ft) above the sea, 2½ miles (4 km) long and 1/3 to ½ miles (500 to 800 m) broad, lies some 8½ miles (14 km) southwest of, and has , a royal shooting-box, near its south-western end. , 6 miles (10 km) southeast of Fraserburgh, is only separated from the sea by a narrow strip of land. There are noted springs at Peterhead, Fraserburgh, and  near.

Geology
The greater part of the county is composed of crystalline s belonging to the s of the Eastern Highlands.

In the upper parts of the valleys of the Dee and the Don they form well-marked groups, of which the most characteristic are
 * 1) the black schists and s, with flints, and a thin band of ,
 * 2) the main or limestone,
 * 3) the.

These divisions are folded on highly inclined or vertical axes trending north-east and south-west, and hence the same zones are repeated over a considerable area. The quartzite is generally regarded as the highest member of the series. Excellent sections showing the component strata occur in and its tributary valleys above Braemar. Eastwards down the Dee and the Don and northwards across the plain of Buchan towards and Fraserburgh there is a development of , partly of  and perhaps partly of  origin. A belt of slate which has been quarried for roofing purposes runs along the west border of the county from Turriff by Auchterless and the towards the Tap o' Noth near. The metamorphic rocks have been invaded by igneous materials, some before, and by far the larger series after the folding of the strata.

The basic types of the former are represented by the sills of and  gneiss in Glen Muick and, which have been permeated by  and  in s and s, often foliated. The later granites subsequent to the plication of the schists have a wide distribution on the Ben Macdhui and Ben Avon range, and on Lochnagar; they stretch eastwards from Ballater by Tarland to and north to Bennachie. Isolated masses appear at Peterhead and at Strichen.

Though consisting mainly of biotite granite, these later intrusions pass by intermediate stages into, as in the area between Balmoral and the head-waters of the. The granites have been extensively quarried at, Peterhead and.

and, the precise age of which is uncertain, occur at the rock north of , at Belhelvie and near. Where the schists of sedimentary origin have been pierced by these igneous intrusions, they are charged with contact minerals such as, , and. Cordierite-bearing rocks occur near Ellon, at the foot of Bennachie, and on the top of the Buck of Cabrach.

A banded and mottled - s occurring with the at, west-northwest of Braemar, has yielded , , brown , ,  and hornblende.

A larger has been obtained from an exposure of limestone and associated beds in, about four miles (6 km) above the point where that river joins the Dee.

Narrow belts of Old Red, resting unconformably on the old platform of s and schists, have been traced from the north coast at Peterhead by Turriff to , and also from Huntly by Gartly to. The strata consist mainly of and sandstones, which, at Gartly and at Rhynie, are associated with lenticular bands of  indicating contemporaneous  action. Small outliers of conglomerate and sandstone of this age have recently been found in the course of excavations in Aberdeen.

The glacial deposits, especially in the belt bordering the coast between and Peterhead, furnish important evidence. The ice moved eastwards off the high ground at the head of the Dee and the Don, while the mass spreading outwards from the Moray Firth invaded the low plateau of ; but at a certain stage there was a marked defection northwards parallel with the coast, as proved by the deposit of red north of. At a later date the local s laid down materials on top of the red clay.

The committee appointed by the proved that the Greensand, which has yielded a large suite of  fossils at, in the parish of , occurs in glacial drift, resting probably on granite. The strata from which the Moreseat fossils were derived are not now found in place in that part of, but Mr considers that the horizon of the fossils is that of the lower Greensand of the Isle of Wight or the Aptien stage of. Chalk flints are widely distributed in the drift between Fyvie and the east coast of Buchan. At a patch of clay with Liassic fossils occurs. At several localities between Logie Coldstone and Dinnet a deposit of  occurs beneath the.

Flora and fauna
The tops of the highest mountains have an arctic flora. At the royal lodge on, 411 m (1350 ft) above the sea, grow larches, vegetables, currants, laurels, roses, etc. Some ash-trees, 1 to 1.5 m (4 or 5 ft) in girth, grow at 400 m (1300 ft) above the sea. Trees, especially Scotch fir and larch, grow well, and Braemar has plentiful natural timber, said to surpass any in the north of. Stumps of Scotch fir and oak found in peat sometimes far exceed any now growing in size.

Moles occur at 550 m (1800 ft) above the sea, and squirrels at 450 m (1400 ft). Grouse, partridges and hares abound, and rabbits are often too numerous. Red deer abound in Braemar, which has the most extensive deer forest in.

Climate and agriculture
Except in the mountainous districts, Aberdeenshire has a comparatively mild climate, owing to the proximity of much of the shire to the sea. The mean annual temperature at Braemar reaches 6 °C (44 °F), and that at 8 °C (46 °F). The mean yearly rainfall varies from about 750 to 950 mm (30 to 37 in). In summer the upper Dee and Don valleys provide the driest and most bracing climate in the, and grain grows cultivated up to 500 m (1600 ft) above the sea, or 100 to 150 m (400 to 500 ft) higher than elsewhere in North Britain. Poor, gravelly, clayey and peaty soils prevail, but tile-draining, bones and guano, and the best methods of modern tillage, have greatly increased the produce. Indeed, in no part of has a more productive soil developed out of such unpromising material. Farm-houses and steadings have much improved, and the best agricultural implements and machines get widespread use. About two-thirds of the population depend entirely on agriculture. Farms are small compared with those in the south-eastern counties. Oats form the predominant crop, wheat has practically gone out of cultivation, but barley has largely increased. The most distinctive industry is cattle-feeding. Aberdeenshire fattens a great number of the home-bred crosses for the and local markets, and imports Irish animals on an extensive scale for the same purpose, while an exceedingly heavy trade in dead meat for  and the south occurs all over the county. Farmers also raise, horses and pigs in large numbers.

Fisheries
A large population in villages along the coast engage in the white and herring fishery, fostering the next most important industry to agriculture.

Aberdeenshire fishing developed almost exclusively due to the introduction of steam trawlers. The total value of the annual catch, of which between a half and a third consists of herrings, amounts to £1,000,000.

The industry produces both speldings (salted and rock-dried haddocks) and finnans (smoked haddocks). The ports and creeks belong to the fishery districts of Peterhead, Fraserburgh and Aberdeen, the last of which includes also three Kincardineshire ports. The herring season for, Peterhead and Fraserburgh lasts from June to September, at which time the ports become crowded with boats from other Scottish districts. Valuable salmon-fishings exist - rod, net and stake-net - on the Dee, Don, Ythan and Ugie.

The average annual despatch of from Aberdeenshire comprises about 400 tons.

Other industries
Manufactures mainly cluster in or near the city of, but throughout the rural districts one finds much milling of corn, brick and tile making, smith-work, brewing and distilling, cart and farm-implement making, casting and drying of peat, and timber-felling, especially on Deeside and Donside, for pit-props, railway sleepers, laths and barrel staves. A number of paper-making establishments operate, most of them on the Don near.

The chief mineral wealth comes from the noted durable, quarried at , Kemnay, Peterhead and elsewhere including for causewaying stones. and other rocks are also quarried at different parts. The shire imports mostly coal, lime, timber, iron, slate, raw materials for the textile manufactures, wheat, cattle-feeding stuffs, bones, guano, sugar, alcoholic liquors, fruits. The exports include granite (rough-dressed and polished), flax, woollen and cotton goods, paper, combs, preserved provisions, oats, barley, and live and dead cattle.

Communications
On the south city has rail links with,  and , and to the north-west a line runs to  via ,  and.

Branch lines from various points used to run to several smaller towns, e.g. from to Ballater by, from  to  (with a branch at Maud for  and at Ellon for  and Boddam), from Kintore to Alford, and from Inverurie to Old Meldrum and also to Macduff. These lines all closed, largely as a result of the in the 1960s, they now serve as local pathways or bicycle tracks.

By sea Aberdeenshire has regular communication with the and the.

The highest of the macadamized roads crossing the eastern Grampians rises to a point 2200 ft above sea-level.

Population and government
In 1801 the population numbered 284,036 and in 1901 304,439 (of whom 159,603 were females), or 154 persons to the square mile (59/km²). In 1901 Aberdeenshire had 8 persons who spoke Gaelic only, and 1333 who spoke Gaelic and English. The chief towns include (population in 1901, 153,503), Bucksburn (2231), Fraserburgh (9105), Huntly (4136), Inverurie (3624), Peterhead (11,794), Turriff (2273).

The Supreme Court of Justiciary sits in to try cases from the counties of Aberdeen, Banff and Kincardine. The three counties are under a sheriff, and two sheriffs-substitute reside in Aberdeen, who sit also at Fraserburgh, Huntly, Peterhead and Turriff. The sheriff courts occur in and Peterhead.

The higher branches of education have always been thoroughly taught in the schools throughout the shire, and pupils have long been in the habit of going directly from the schools to the university.

Aberdeenshire people have a quick, sharp, rather angry accent. The local dialect, affectionally known as the, appears broad, and rich in diminutives, and is noted for the use of /i/ in bane and stane and muin but /wi/ before /g/ and /k/ in guid and cuit etc., the /f/ realisation of wh, /d/ for medial th /ð/ etc. As recently as 1830 Gaelic provided the fireside language of almost every family in Braemar, but by the start of the 20th century was little used.

History
The country later forming the shires of and Banff once served as home to the northern Picts, whom  called Taixall, dubbing the territory Taixalon. Their town of Devana, once supposed to be the modern, has been identified by with a site in the parish of Peterculter, where there are remains of an ancient camp at , and by  with a station on Loch Davan, west of. s have also been discovered on the upper Ythan and Deveron, but evidence of effective Roman occupation is still to seek. Traces of the native inhabitants, however, occur much more frequently. s or earth-houses occur fairly commonly in the west. Relics of s or lake-dwellings exist at Loch Ceander, or Kinnord, five miles (8 km) north-east of Ballater, at Loch Goul in the parish of and elsewhere. s or forts occur on hills at, where the dun encloses an area of two acres (8,000 m²), Barra near Old Meldrum, Tap o' Noth, Dunnideer near and other places. s, s and "druidical" abound, as do many examples of the sculptured stones of the early  epoch.

Efforts to convert the Picts started with in the 5th century, and continued with  (who founded a monastery at Old Deer),, , and , lasting results emerged only slowly. Indeed, dissensions within the Columban church and the expulsion of the clergy from Pictland by the Pictish king in the 8th century undid most of the progress that missionaries had made. The and  periodically raided the coast, but after  ascended the throne of  in 1040, the  men, under the guidance of, refrained from further trouble in the north-east. was afterwards slain at (1057), a cairn on Perkhill marking the spot.

The influence of the conquest of  made itself felt even in Aberdeenshire. Along with numerous Anglo-Saxon exiles, there also settled in the country who introduced various industries,  who brought farming, and Scandinavians who taught nautical skill. The Celts revolted more than once, but and his successors crushed them and confiscated their lands. In the reign of (ruled 1107 - 1124) mention first appears of  (originally called  and, in the Norse sagas, ), which received its charter from  in 1179, by which date its burgesses had already combined with those of Banff, Elgin,  and other trans-Grampian communities to form a free, under which they enjoyed exceptional trading privileges. By this time, too, the Church had extended its organisation, establishing the bishopric of in 1150.

In the 12th and 13th centuries some of the great Aberdeenshire families arose, including the earl of Mar (c. 1122), the Leslies, Freskins (ancestors of the dukes of Sutherland), Durwards, Bysets, Comyns and Cheynes; significantly, in most cases their founders had immigrated to the district.

The Celtic thanes and their retainers slowly fused with the settlers. They declined to take advantage of the disturbed condition of the country during the wars of the Scots independence, and made common cause with the bulk of the nation.

Though (d. 1300?), one of the competitors for the throne, had considerable interests in the shire, his claim received locally little support. In 1296 made a triumphal march to the north to terrorise the more turbulent nobles. Next year surprised the  garrison in, but failed to capture the castle. In 1303 Edward again visited the county, halting at the Castle of Kildrummy, then in the possession of, who shortly afterwards became the acknowledged leader of the Scots and made his headquarters for several months. Despite the seizure of Kildrummy Castle by the English in 1306, Bruce's prospects brightened from 1308, when he defeated, earl of Buchan (died 1313?), at.

For a hundred years after Robert Bruce's death (1329) intermittent anarchy occurred in the shire. The English burned itself in 1336, and the re-settlement of the districts of  and Strathbogie occasioned constant quarrels on the part of the dispossessed. Moreover, the crown had embroiled itself with some of the Highland chieftains, whose independence it sought to abolish. This policy culminated in the invasion of Aberdeenshire by, who, however, suffered defeat at Harlaw, near Inverurie, at the hands of the Earl of Mar in 1411.

In the 15th century two further leading county families emerged: becoming Lord Forbes about 1442, and, Lord Gordon in 1437 and Earl of Huntly in 1445. Bitter feuds raged between these families for a long period, but the Gordons reached the height of their power in the first half of the 16th century, when their domains, already vast, were enhanced by the acquisition, through marriage, of the (1514).

Meanwhile commerce with the Low Countries, and the Baltic had grown apace, Campvere (Veere in ), near Flushing (Vlissingen) in the, becoming the emporium of the Scottish traders, while education was fostered by the foundation of  in 1497 ( followed a century later). At the Reformation so little intuition had the clergy of the drift of opinion that at the very time that religious structures were being despoiled in the south, the building and decoration of churches went on in the shire. Protestantism came in without much tumult, though rioting took place in and  in the city suffered damage. The offered some resistance, on behalf of the Catholics, to the influence of, who was  during the reign of , but was defeated and killed at Corrichie on the Hill of Fare in 1562.

As years passed it became apparent that Presbyterianism gained less generally support than Episcopacy, of which system Aberdeenshire remained for generations the stronghold in Scotland.

Another crisis in ecclesiastical affairs arose in 1638, when the authorities ordered subscription to the. Aberdeenshire responded so grudgingly to this demand that visited the shire in the following year to enforce acceptance. The Cavaliers, not being disposed to yield, dispersed an armed gathering of Covenanters in the affair called the Trot of Turriff (1639), shedding the first blood of the civil war. The Covenanters obtained the upper hand in a few weeks, when Montrose appeared at the and compelled the surrender of, which had no choice but to cast in its lot with the victors.

Montrose, however, soon changed sides, and after defeating the Covenanters under Lord Balfour of Burleigh (1644), delivered the city to rapine. He worsted the Covenanters again after a stiff fight on, , at Alford, a village in the beautiful. Peace was temporarily restored on the "engagement" of the Scots commissioners to assist Charles I.

welcomed on his return from the Netherlands in 1650, but in little more than a year General  entered the city at the head of the Cromwellian regiments. The English garrison remained till 1659, but the following year Aberdeenshire effusively hailed the, and prelacy once more went into the ascendant. Most of the Presbyterians conformed, but the, more numerous in the shire and the adjoining county of than anywhere else in , suffered systematic persecution.

After the (1688) episcopacy passed under a cloud, but the clergy, yielding to force majeure, gradually accepted the inevitable, hoping, as long as  lived, that prelacy might yet become the national form of Church government. Her death dissipated these dreams, and as, her successor, was antipathetic to the clergy, it happened that and  came to be regarded in the shire as identical, though in point of fact the non-jurors as a body never countenanced rebellion.

The raised the standard of revolt in Braemar ; a fortnight later  was proclaimed at  cross; the Pretender landed at Peterhead on, and in February 1716 he was back again in. The collapse of the first rising ruined many of the lairds, and when the second rebellion occurred thirty years afterwards the county in the main remained apathetic, though the insurgents held for five months, and Lord Lewis Gordon won a trifling victory for Prince  at. The relieved  at the end of February 1746, and by April the  had become a fugitive.

Thereafter the people devoted themselves to agriculture, industry and commerce, which developed by leaps and bounds, and, along with equally remarkable progress in education, transformed the aspect of the shire and made the community as a whole one of the most prosperous in.