Parish of Cairnie

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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1791-99: Cairnie
1834-45: Cairnie

Cairnie (Gael. carnan, 'small cairn'), a hamlet of NW Aberdeenshire, and a parish partly also in Banffshire. The hamlet lies on the left bank of the Burn of Cairnie, a small affluent of the Isla, 4½ miles NW of its post-town Huntly. The parish is bounded N by Grange, NE by Rothiemay, E by Huntly, S by Huntly and Glass, W by Botriphnie, and NW by Keith; and it is traversed, along the NE border, by the Great North of Scotland railway, and contains there Rothiemay station. Its greatest length, from E to W, is 8¼ miles, and its breadth, from N to S, varies between 1¾ and 55/8 miles. The Deveron traces the eastern, the Isia the north-eastern, and the Burn of Davidston the western boundary. Low grounds adjoin these streams, and have a deep fertile soil. The surface sinks at the confluence of the Isla and Deveron to 296 feet above sea-level, but rises southward to the Bin (1027 feet), westward to the Little and Meikle Balloch (913 and 1199) on the Banffshire border, and to the Hill of Shenwall (957). In 1839-40 2258 acres, on and near the Bin, were planted with larch, spruce, and pine. A lime-work is at Ardonald. The entire parish formed part of the lordship of Strathbogie, taken from the Comyns by Robert Bruce, and given to Sir Adam Gordon; it thence onward was the original estate of the Gordon family; and, as now ecclesiastically constituted, it comprises the ancient parishes of Botary and Ruthven, and part of Drumderg. The portrait-painter, Wm. Aikman (1682-1731), was a native. The Duke of Richmond and Gordon and Major Duff Gordon Duff are chief proprietors, 7 others holding a yearly value of less than £100. Cairnie is in the presbytery of Strathbogie and synod of Moray; the living is worth £347. The parish church i-s an old but commodious building, and there is also a Free church; whilst four schools-Cairnie, Ruthven, Windyraw, and Daun's Endowed-with respective accommodation for 127,70,67, and 46 children, had (1879) an average attendance of 92, 51,46, and 37, and grants of £82,16s., £47,2s., £56, 16s., and £18,19s. Valuation of Aberdeenshire portion (1881) £7700,17s. 6d; of Banffshire section (1882) £926,9s. 6d. Pop. (1801) 1561, (1821) 1854, (1841) 1638, (1861) 1490, (1871) 1525, (1881) 1565, of whom 60 were in Banffshire.- Ord. Sur., shs. 85,86,1876. See A Stroll to Cairnie (Keith, 1865), and the Rev. Dr J. F. Gordon's Book of the Chronicles of Keith, Cairnie, etc. (Glas. 1880).

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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