Rothiemay, a village and a parish of E Banffshire. The village of Rothiemay or Milltown stands, 290 feet above sea-level, on the left bank of the river Deveron, 2¼ miles NNE of Rothiemay station in Cairnie parish on the Great North of Scotland railway, this being 3½ miles SSE of Grange Junction, 45¼ NW of Aberdeen, and 5 N of Huntly, under which there is a post and railway telegraph office of Rothiemay. Towards the close of 1880 the sewage works of the village were extended and greatly improved, and its water supply was taken from a new source, all at the expense of the Earl of Fife. Fairs are held here on the third Tuesday of May o. s. and the Friday after the first Thursday of October o. s.
The parish is bounded NE by Marnoch, SE by Inverkeithny and by Forgue in Aberdeenshire, S and SW by Huntly and Cairnie in Aberdeenshire, and NW by Grange. Its utmost length, from E to W, is 6¼ miles; its utmost breadth, from N to S, is 53/8 miles; and its area is 93682/3 acres, of which 103½ are water. Shiel Burn runs 41/8 miles south-westward along all the Grange boundary to the Isla; the Isla flows 3¼ miles south-eastward along all the Cairnie boundary to the Deveron; and the Deveron winds 83/8 miles east-north Eastward-for 15/8 and for 1¼ mile across the southern and the south-eastern interior, elsewhere along the Huntly, Forgue, and Marnoch boundaries. In the extreme E the surface declines along the Deveron to 195 feet above sea-level; and thence it rises to 871 feet at the Cairns of Geith, 500 at Mossiehead, and 767 at Meikle Brown Hill on the north-eastern border. The northern district, a tolerably level plateau, includes an extensive moss, affording supplies of peat fuel to a wide extent of country, and is elsewhere disposed variously in arable and pasture ground and fine plantations. The southern district is partly a gentle declivity of more than 1 mile in breadth to the Isla and the Deveron, and partly a luxuriant valley, highly embellished with culture and wood. Much land that was formerly in a waste condition has been brought under the plough; and a very extensive agggregate area is under plantations. Granite is the predominant rock; and the soil of the arable lands is mostly rich and fertile. An ancient Caledonian stone circle stands a little way N of the village; and an ancient road, supposed to be a Roman iter, traverses the western district. The self-taught astronomer, James Ferguson, F.R.S. (171076), was born at the Core of Mayen, in a cottage whose ruins were removed about 1848. Rothiemay House, to the E of the village, is a building of some antiquity, traditionally said to have given a night's lodging to Queen Mary in 1562. Another mansion, Mayen House, is noticed separately; and the property is divided between the Earl of Fife and Mr Hay-Gordon. Rothiemay is in the presbytery of Strathbogie and the synod of Moray; the living is worth £285. Places of worship are the parish church (1807; 500 sittings) and a Free church; and three public schools-Mannoch Hill, Rothiemay, and Ternemny-with respective accommodation for 78, 200, and 128 children, had (1884) an average attendance of 64, 70, and 85, and grants of £56, £59, 12s. 6d., and £74, 7s. 6d. Valuation (1860) £4240, (1885) £5060. Pop. (1801) 1061, (1831) 1228, (1861) 1414, (1871) 1370, (1881) 1363.—Ord. Sur., sh. 86, 1876.
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