Mormond Hill

A historical perspective, drawn from the Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland: A Survey of Scottish Topography, Statistical, Biographical and Historical, edited by Francis H. Groome and originally published in parts by Thomas C. Jack, Grange Publishing Works, Edinburgh between 1882 and 1885.

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Mormond, a station in Strichen parish, NE Aberdeenshire, on the Formartine and Buchan branch of the Great North of Scotland railway, 2 ½ miles ENE of Strichen and 7 ¾ S by W of Fraserburgh. Mormond House, in Rathen parish, on Cortes estate, 5 miles S of Fraserburgh, and 9 furlongs WNW of Lonmay station, was erected early in the present century by John Gordon, Esq. of Cairnbulg, and is a commodious mansion, with an elegant portico, an artificial lake (2 ½ x 1/3 furl.), and finely-wooded grounds. Its owner, William Fraser Cordiner, Esq., holds l585 acres in the shire, valued at £1325 per annum. Mormond Hill, on the mutual boundary of the three parishes of Strichen, Rathen, and Fraserburgh (detached), 6 ½ miles SSW of Fraserburgh, rises in two summits - the higher- to the W of 769 and 749 feet above sea-level, and serves as a landmark to mariners. On its south-western brow, overlooking Strichen village, is the figure of a horse which, occupying a space of nearly half an acre, consists of pieces of white quartz rock, fitted into cuttings in the turf, and was formed about the beginning of the present century by the tenantry of the Strichen estate, to commemorate the war-horse of Lord Lovat. The figure of a stag on the seaboard face of the hill, directly over Whiteside farm, occupies a space of nearly an acre; measures 240 feet from the tip of the antlers to the hoof; consists of similar materials to those of the `White Horse;' appears in bold relief from the contrast of its quartzite stones to the circumjacent mossy soil; and was formed in 1870 by Mr Cordiner to serve as a conspicuous landmark. A massive cairn of quartzite stones stands in the near vicinity of the stag, and was erected in the latter part of 1870, to commemorate the formation of the stag. A waterspout, which burst on the SW shoulder of the hill, one July morning of 1789, tore vast masses of moss from their native bed, made cavities 18 to 20 feet deep, and poured such a deluge down Ugie Water as swept -away bridges, and lodged masses of moss on the river's banks down to its mouth at Peterhead. See Strichen.—Ord. Sur., shs. 87, 97, 1876.

An accompanying 19th C. Ordnance Survey map is available, or use the map tab to the right of this page.

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

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