Peterculter: Historical perspective for Peterculter

Peterculter, a parish of SE Aberdeenshire, containing Murtle, Milltimber, and Culter stations on the Deeside branch (1853) of the Great North of Scotland railway, 5½, 6½, and 7¾ miles WSW of Aberdeen, under which there is a post and telegraph office of Peterculter. It is bounded N by Skene and Newhills, E by Newhills and Banchory-Devenick, S by Maryculter, SW by Drumoak, and W by Echt. Its utmost length, from ENE to WSW, is 6½ miles; its utmost breadth is 5 miles; and its area is 16 square miles, or 10, 288¼. acres, of which 100 are water, and 267 belong to the small Bieldside detached portion almost surrounded by Banchory-Devenick.* The Dee, curving 4¾ miles east-north-eastward along or near to all the Maryculter boundary, is joined at the parish church by Leuchar Burn, which flows 61/4. miles south-eastward along the Skene border and across the interior. The Leuchar itself is fed by Gormack Burn, tracing 3 miles of the Drumoak boundary, and below its influx is often known as the Burn of Culter. The surface declines along the Dee to 50 feet above sea-level, and rises thence to 322 feet at Eddieston Hill, 450 at Beins Hill or the Weather Craig, and 706 at Kingshill Wood. Gneiss is the predominant rock in the eastern and northern -portions of the parish, granite in the western; and the latter has been largely quarried at Anguston. In the E the soil is sandy or gravelly, with a mixture of vegetable earth; whilst in the arable parts of the other districts it is variously a red earth or clay, a thin sandy soil on gravel and rock, and a mixture of black earth or reclaimed moss and clay. Nearly onesixth of the entire area is under wood, plantations chiefly of larch and Scotch firs; and about two-thirds are in tillage, a good deal of swampy and moorish land having been reclaimed in the course of the last half century. Employment, other than agriculture, is furnished by the Culter Paper Mill (1751) and by a flock factory (183l). Normandykes, the chief antiquity, is noticed separately, as also are the mansions of Binghill, Countesswells, Culter, and Murtle. Five proprietors hold each an annual value of £500 and upwards, and five of between £100 and £500. Peterculter is in the presbytery and synod of Aberdeen; the living is worth £241, 11s. The parish church, originally dedicated to St Peter, stands close to the Dee's-left bank, near Culter station. It was built in 1779, and contains 550 sittings. Nearly 2 miles to the N is Peterculter Free church; and two public schools, Countesswells and Craigton, with respective accommodation for 57 and 180 children, had (1883) an average attendance of 37 and l27, and grants of £32, 11s. and £117, 9s. 6d. Valuation (1860) £7879, (l884) £12, 312, 15s. 7d., plus £956 for the railway, and £500 for the aqueduct. Pop. (1801) 871, (183l) 1223, (1861) 1410, (1871) l668, (1881) 1908.—Ord. Sur., shs. 77, 76, 67, 1871-74.

* According, however, to a decision of 1867, the Deebank detached portion of Banchory-Devenick belongs now to Peterculter. which thus has a total land area of 10,547 acres.

Culter, a station, an estate, and a rivulet on the SE border of Aberdeenshire. The station is on the Deeside railway, within Peterculter parish, near the influx of Culter rivulet to the river Dee, 7¾ miles WSW of Aberdeen. The estate is mainly in Peterculter parish, partly in Drumoak, and from the 13th century till 1726 belonged to a branch of the Cummings. Culter House here, 1 mile NE of the station, is a large old mansion, said to have been built by Sir Alexander Cumming, who, in 1695, was created a Baronet, and whose son, Sir Archibald (1700-75), for a time was ruler of the Cherokees. It now is a seat of Rt. Wm. Duff, Esq. of Fetteresso and Glassaugh, who, born in 1835, has sat for Banffshire since 1861, and who owns 1588 acres in the shire, valued at £1747 per annum. The rivulet, rising on the W border of Cluny parish, meanders 10 miles eastward, through Cluny and on Cluny's boundaries with Midmar and Echt; expands into Loch Skene, on the mutual boundary of Echt and Skene; and proceeds thence 4 miles south-eastward, partly on the same boundary partly through Peterculter, to the Dee. Its lower reaches, with features of lake and linn, steep banks and wooded cliffs, bridges and mills, present a series of romantic scenes. See Peterculter.

Note: This text has been made available using a process of scanning and optical character recognition. Despite manual checking, some typographical errors may remain. Please remember this description dates from the 1880s; names may have changed, administrative divisions will certainly be different and there are known to be occasional errors of fact in the original text, which we have not corrected because we wish to maintain its integrity. This information is provided subject to our standard disclaimer