Birse, a hamlet and a Deeside parish of S Aberdeenshire. The hamlet stands towards the NW corner of the parish, on the left bank of the Burn of Birse, 2¾ miles ESE of Aboyne station; at it are a post office under Aberdeen, a school, the manse, and the parish church (1799; 550 sittings).
The parish contains also the hamlet of Marywell, 1¾mile further ESE, and is bounded N by Aboyne, NE by Kincardine O'Neil and Banchory-Ternan, E and SE by Strachan in Kincardineshire, S by Lochlee in Forfarshire, and W by the Glentanner portion of Aboyne. It has alength from N to S of from 37/8 to 8 miles, a width from E to W of from 2½ to 8½ miles, and a land area of 31, 219 acres, exclusive of the Percie portion of Aboyne. The Dee traces 43/8 miles of the northern, next 2½ of the north-eastern, boundary, being spanned by the bridges of Aboyne and Potarch; and the interior is drained by five of its main affluents and sub-affluents-Auld-dinnie Burn (running 4 miles N along the Glentanner border), the Burn of Birse (5½ miles NE), the Burn of Cattie (8¼ miles ENE), the Feugh (13 miles E by N, into Strachan), and the Aan (9 miles ENE along the Kincardineshire frontier, to the Feugh). The Dee at the Auld-dinnie's influx has an altitude above sea-level of 410, below Woodend Cottage of 232, feet; and from it the surface has a general west-south-westward rise, to Brackloch Craig (1034 feet) in the NW corner between the Auld-dinnie and the Burn of Birse; to Torquhandallachy (715), Brown Hill (900), Lamawhillis (1173), and Carmaferg (1724), between the Burns of Birse and Cattie; to Muckle Ord (724), Toms Cairn (1016), Arntilly Craig (1052), Lamahip (1325), Brackenstake (1555), *Hill of Duchery (1824), *Craigmahandle (1878), and *Gannoch (2396), between the Cattie and the Feugh; and to Creaganducy (1347), Peter Hill (2023), Glaspits (1758), White Hill (1840), Cock Hill (1960), †Hill of Cammie (2028), and †Mudlee Bracks (2259), between the Feugh and the Aan, where the asterisks mark summits culminating on the western, and the daggers on the southern, border- Granite, inferior limestone, and gneiss are the prevailing rocks, with fine red porphyry at Potarch; the soil is sandy in the Midstrath or Glen-cat valley, yellow loam in lower and black in upper Feughside, and sandy loam along the Burn of Birse and the Dee. Good crops are grown of oats and barley; and the plantations of Finzean, Ballogie, and Balfour, chiefly consisting of Scotch firs and larch, cover between 4000 and 5000 acres, but the old ` Forest of Birse,' to the S of the Feugh, is almost treeless now, and most of the marketable timber elsewhere has been felled. Fairs are held at the Bridge of Potarch on the second Thursday after the May, October, and November Aboyne fairs. Two ruined castles stand upon the Feugh, one (towards its source) ascribed to a Bishop Gordon of Aberdeen or to Gordon of Clune, the other (at Easter Clune) to ` Archbishop Ross,' by whom perhaps Archbishop James Stewart, Duke of Ross, who died in 1503, is meant; and there are also two gallow-hills, a good many cairns, a sculptured stone 6 feet high in the churchyard, and a long granite stone ` set up on Corse-dardar to mark the spot where King Dardanus was slain by his rebellions subjects- ' Natives were Dr Alexander Garden (1730-91), botanist and zoologist of Charlestown, South Carolina, and the Rev. John Skinner (1721-1807), ecclesiastical historian and author of Tullochgorum, ` the best song,' said Burns, ` that Scotland ever saw.' Finzean House, Ballogie House, and Balfour House lie about 7, 5, and 3 miles ESE of Aboyne, the first being a fine old building forming three sides of a quadrangle, the other two modern mansions; and their respective owners, Rt. Farquharson, Esq., Wm. Edw. Nicol, Esq., and Alex. Cochran, Esq., hold 16, 809, 7219, and 1259 acres in the shire, of an annual value of £6167, £2558, and £339, whilst a fourth proprietor is the Marquis of Huntly. Birse is in the presbytery of Kincardine O'Neil and synod of Aberdeen; its minister's income is £190. St Michael's Roman Catholic chapel of Ballogie (1858; 70 sittings) stands near the Cattie's confluence with the Dee, 2½ miles E of Marywell, 1 mile SE of the Bridge of Potarch; and there are four board schools-Ballogie (girls), Birse, Finzean, and Forest. With respective accommodation for 51, 71, 80, and 37 children, these had (1879) an average attendance of 55, 49, 64, and 7, and grants of £48, 4s. 6d., £44, 6s. 6d., £52, 1s., and £19, 18s. Valuation (1881) £7005, 3s. Pop. (1801) 1266, (1821) 1506, (1841) 1295, (1851) 1533, (1861) 1284, (1871) 1198, (1881) 1093.—Ord. Sur., sh. 66, 1871.
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