Monquhitter, a parish of N Aberdeenshire, containing the villages of Cuminestown and Garmond, 6 miles E by N and 7 ENE of Turriff, under which the former has a post office. It is bounded N by King-Edward, E by New Deer and Methlick, S by Fyvie, and W by Turriff, from which last it was disjoined in 1649. Its length, from NNW to SSE, varies between 27/8 and 95/8 miles; its utmost width is 5¼ miles; and its area is 17,455¼ acres, of which 221/3 are water. Entering from King-Edward, the Burn of Monquhitter or Idoch Water flows 5½ ,miles south-westward till it passes off into Turriff on its way to the Deveron; whilst Asleed or Little Water runs 7¾ miles southward along the eastern boundary on its way to the Ythan. Along Idoch Water the surface declines to 158 feet above sea-level; and thence it rises northward to 577 feet at the Hill of Cotburn, eastward to 586 at Waggle Hill, from which it again sinks south-south-eastward to 180 feet along Asleed Water. Much of Monquhitter is hilly, bleak, and barren of aspect, and even the rest presents a monotonous appearance, though culture and reclamation have done their best to render it pleasing and productive. Moors, bogs, and morasses were formerly very extensive, but have been greatly curtailed, and, with the exception of the deeper and firmer bogs, are fast approaching exhaustion as a source of fuel. Red sandstone abounds, and has been largely quarried, but does not form a good building material. The soils of the arable lands are a reddish loam and a deep black mould, both incumbent on boulder clay. But a small proportion of the parish is under wood, which does not thrive in any part of Buchan. Lendrum, in the SW corner, is the traditionary scene of a three-day's battle between Donald of the Isles and the 'Thane' or Mormaer of Buchan in the latter half of the 11th century, when the Comyns are said to have won the victory. Down to at least 1793 it was firmly believed that corn growing on the 'bloody butts of Lendrum' could never be reaped without strife and bloodshed among the reapers. At Findlay's Mire some Covenanters were cut off by the Ogilvies. Tillymaud and Northburn,with a rental of £1013, were vested in trustees by the late Messrs Chalmers for charitable purposes in Monquhitter and the city of Aberdeen. AUCHRY House (1767) is the chief mansion; and 4 proprietors hold each an annual value of £1000 and upwards, 6 of between £500 and £1000, 8 of between £100 and £500, and 3 of from £45 to £70. Giving off a portion to Millbrex quoad sacra parish, Monquhitter is in the presbytery of Turriff and the synod of Aberdeen; the living is worth £315 (21 chalders). Previous to the Anti-patronage Act coming into operation, the Earl of Fife was patron of the church and parish; and Monquhitter was the last parish in which the right of presentation was exercised, on 29 Dec. 1874. The parish church, a plain edifice of 1868, stands on a slope to the N of Cuminestown, and contains 1050 sittings. A Free church (358 sittings) stands in a hollow to the S of Cuminestown, near whose centre is St Luke's Episcopal church (1844; 130 sittings). Three public schools-Garmond female, Greeness, and Monquhitter-and Balquhindachy proprietary school, with respective accommodation for 66, 120, 206, and 68 children, had (1883) and average attendance of 62, 82, 192 and 27, and grants of £54, 1s., £75, 4s. 8d., £181, 15s., and £18, 9s. 6d. Valuation (1860) £6185, (1884) £12,903, 2s. 10d. Pop. (1801) 1710, (1831) 2004, (1861) 2580, (1871) 2949, (1881) 2794, of whom 2474 were in the ecclesiastical parish.—Ord. Sur., shs. 86, 87, 1876.
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