Glenmuick, Tullich, and Glengairn, a Deeside parish of SW Aberdeenshire, containing the post office village and railway terminus of Ballater, 43½ miles WSW of Aberdeen, and 4 and 6½ miles WSW of Cambus o' May and Dinnet stations, both of which also are within its bounds. Comprising the ancient parishes of Glengairn to the NW, Tullich to the NE, and Glenmuick to the S, the two first on the left and the last on the right side of the Dee, it is bounded N by Strathdon and Logie-Coldstone, NE by Logie-Coldstone, E by AboyneGientanner, SE by Lochlee and SW by Clova in Forfarshire, and W by Crathie-Braemar. Its utmost length, from N to S, is 17¼ miles; its width, from E to W, varies between 41/8 and 127/8 miles; and its area is 88, 7981/3 acres, of which 1437½ are water. From a point ¾ mile E of Crathie church to the Mill of Dinnet, the Dee winds 155/8 miles east-north-eastward-first 45/8 miles along the Crathie border, next 87/8 miles through the interior, and lastly 21/8 miles along the Aboyne border- during which course it descends from 850 to 505 feet above sea-level. A stream that rises on Cairn Taggart, in the SE extremity of the parish, at 3150 feet, thence dashes 17/8 mile east-south-eastward to wild and picturesque Dhu Loch (51/3 x 11/3 furl-; 2091 feet), thence hurries 2 miles east-by-southward to dark Loch Muick (2¼ miles x ½ mile; 1310 feet), and thence, as the river Muick, runs 95/8 miles north-north-eastward along Glen Muick proper, till, ½ mile above Ballater bridge and at 665 feet of altitude, it falls into the Dee. Through the north-western or Glengairn portion of the united parish, the Gairn, entering from Crathie, winds 9 miles east-south-eastward to the Dee, at a point 13/8 mile NW of Ballater; whilst the Water of Tanner, rising close to the Forfarshire border, at 2050 feet, runs 7 miles north-eastward through Glenmuick, and passes off into the Glentanner division of Aboyne. In the Tullich portion are Lochs Cannor (1 mile x 5 furl.; 570 feet) and Daven (6 x 4¾ furl-; 480 feet), the former belonging wholly to this parish, the latter partly to Logie-Coldstone. Save for the broadening valley of the Dee and the wide dreary Muir of Dinnet in the NE, the surface almost everywhere is mountainous. Chief elevations, westward, N of the Dee are Culblean Hill (1750 feet), Crannach Hill (1824), *Morven Hill (2862), wooded Craigandarroch (1250), Geallaig Hill (2439), and *Carn a' Bhacain (2442), where asterisks mark those summits that culminate on the confines of the parish. E of the Tanner rise Cloch an Yell (2053) and *Mount Keen (3077); between the Tanner and the Muick, Black Craig (1742), Pananich Hill (1896), Cairn Leughan (2293), *Fasheilach (2362), Black Hill (2470), *Lair of Aldararie (2726), *Broad Cairn (3268), *Cairn Bannoch (3314), and *Cairn Taggart (3430); and W or left of the Muick, Creag Phiobaidh (1462), the Coyle (1956), *Conacheraig Hill (2827), and the *lower summit (3768) of Lochnagar. The rocks include granite, gneiss, trap, and primary limestone; lead-mining operations were carried on at Abergairn in 1874; and other minerals are fluor-spar, amianthus, asbestos, serpentine, etc. The soil along the Dee and in the lower glens is mostly boulder gravel or sandyloam. Barely a thirtieth of the entire area is in tillage; as much or more- chiefly along the Dee and the Muick-is clad with woods and plantations of Scotch fir, larch, birch, oak, aspen, etc-; and the rest is all either sheep-walk or deerforest, moss or heathy moorland. All the chief spots of interest, of which there are many, have articles to themselves, as Alt - na - Giuthasach, Ballatrich, Brackley and Knock Castles, Pananich, and the Vat. Glenmuick House, on the Muick's right bank, 2 miles SSW of Ballater, was built in 1872 from designs by Sir Morton Peto, and is a striking Tudor edifice of native pink-coloured granite, with a massive square tower 75 feet high. Its owner, James Thomson Mackenzie, Esq. of Kintail (b. 1824), holds 25,000 acres in the shire, valued at £1116 per annum. Cambus o' May House, near the station of that name, is a pretty gabled and verandahed mansion of 1874; and other residences, noticed separately, are Birkhall and Monaltrie. The chief proprietors are the Queen, the Prince of Wales, the Marquis of Huntly, Mr Farquharson of Monaltrie, and Mr Mackenzie. Giving off portions to the quoad sacra parishes of Glengairn and Dinnet, Glenmuick is in the presbytery of Kincardine O'Neil and synod of Aberdeen; the living is worth £297. The churches are noticed under Ballater, Glengairn, and Dinnet. Five public schools-Ballater, Birkhall female, Inchmarnock, Kinord female, and Glengairn, the last under a separate school board with respective accommodation for 260, 43, 40, 53, and 60 children, had (1881) an average attendance of 180, 19, 26, 46, and 20, and grants of £162, £28, 5s., £41, 8s-, £47, 17s., and £31, 10s. Valuation (1843) £5745, (1881) £12, 813, 16s. Pop. of civil parish (1801) 1901, (1831) 2279, (1861) 1668, (1871) 2160, (1881) 2109; of ecclesiastical parish (1871) 1602, (1881) 1672; of registration district (1871) 1995, (1881) 1946.—Ord. Sur.,, sh. 65, 66, 75, 76, 1870-76.
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