Parish of Forgue

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.

This edition is copyright © The Editors of the Gazetteer for Scotland, 2002-2022.

It has taken much time and money to make the six-volumes of Groome's text freely accessible. Please help us continue and develop by making a donation. If only one out of every ten people who view this page gave £5 or $10, the project would be self-sustaining. Sadly less than one in thirty-thousand contribute, so please give what you can.

Use the tabs on the right of this page to see other parts of this entry Arrow

Links to the Historical Statistical Accounts of Scotland are also available:
(Click on the link to the right, scroll to the bottom of the page and click "Browse scanned pages")

1791-99: Forgue
1834-45: Forgue

Forgue, a parish on the north-western border of Aberdeenshire. The church, near which a hamlet once existed, is situated 5½ miles E of Rothiemay station, and 7½ NE of Huntly, under which there is a post office.

The parish is bounded N and NE by Inverkeithny in Banffshire, E by Auchterless, S by Culsalmond and Insch, W by Drumblade and Huntly, and NW by Rothiemay in Banffshire. Its utmost length, from N to S, is 75/8. miles; its breadth, from E to W, varies between 2 and 53/8. miles; and its area is 17, 379½ acres, of which 25½ are water. The river Deveron winds 9 furlongs along the Rothiemay border; Glen Water or the Ury, flowing 23/8. miles eastward through the Glen of Foudland, traces all the southern boundary; the Ythan rises in the southern interior, and passes off into Auchterless; whilst Forgue and Frendraught Burns, uniting below the church, carry most of the drainage northward to the Deveron. The surface declines along the Deveron to 242 feet above sea-level, at the confluence of Forgue and Frendraught Burns to 232, along the Ury to 538, and along the Ythan to 508; and the interior is a fine alternation of vales and hillocks, holms and knolls. The north-western extremity is occupied by part of Foreman Hill (1127 feet); and in the S rise Broom Hill (1006), Wether Hill (943), and the Hill of Bainshole (1042). The chief rocks are greywacke, clay slate, limestone, granitic gneiss, and syenitic greenstone, of which the slate and limestone were formerly quarried at Lambhill and Pitfancy. The soils are various- sandy, gravelly, loamy, clayey, and mossy; some rich and grateful, others poor and barren; some yielding from eight to ten returns of the seed sown, others returning no more than two or less than three. Much of the land incapable of being turned to any better account is covered with plantations. An interesting ruin, famous in ballad and separately noticed, is Frendraught Castle; other antiquities are remains of several ancient Caledonian stone circles, and of what is conjectured to have been a Roman redoubt. The Admirable Crichton (1560-83) has been claimed as a native, falsely, since Eliock, in Dumfriesshire, was his birthplace; but in Forgue was born the eminent antiquary, John Stuart, LL.D. (1813-77). A large distillery is at Glendronach, and fairs are held at Hawkhall. In 1875 a neat cottage hospital was built in this parish by Mrs Morison of Bognie, for patients resident in the parishes of Forgue, Ythan-Wells, Auchterless, and Inverkeithny. In front of it is a granite cross 20 feet high, erected by the tenantry in 1876 as a memorial to her husband, the late Alexander Morison, Esq., in pursuance of whose wishes this hospital was founded. Mansions are Auchaber, Aucharnie, Boyne's Mill, Cobairdy, Corse, Drumblair House, Drumblair Cottage, Frendraught, Haddo, and Temple-land; and 5 proprietors hold each an annual value of £500 and upwards, 8 of between £100 and £500, and 3 of less than £100. In the presbytery of Turriff and synod of Aberdeen, this parish includes the chief part of Ythan-Wells quoad sacra parish, itself being a living worth £343. Its church, erected in 1819, is a substantial edifice, with 900 sittings, Gothic windows, and a fine-toned organ, presented by Walter Scott, Esq. of Glendronach, in 1872. There are also a Free church of Forgue, and an Episcopal church, St Margaret's, which latter, rebuilt in 1857, is an Early English structure, with nave, chancel, and a tower and spire 110 feet high. Forgue public, Largue public, and Forgue Episcopalian school, with respective accommodation for 140, 100, and 60 children, had (1881) an average attendance of 79, 82, and 51, and grants of £71, 6s. 6d., £76, 11s., and £34, 8s. Valuation (1860) £11,006, (1881) £13,538, 1s. 9d. Pop. of civil parish (1801) 1768, (1831) 2286, (1861) 2686, (1871) 2623, (1881) 2422; of ecclesiastical parish (1871) 1332, (1881) 1303.-Ord. Sur., sh. 86, 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

If you have found this information useful please consider making
a donation to help maintain and improve this resource. More info...

By using our site you agree to accept cookies, which help us serve you better