Kennethmont, a hamlet and a parish of NW central Aberdeenshire. The hamlet, Kirkhill of Kennethmont, stands 588 feet above sea-level and ¾ mile WSW of Kennethmont station on the Great North of Scotland railway, this being 8 miles SSE of Huntly, 12 ¼ WNW of Inveramsay Junction, and 32 ¾ NW of Aberdeen. It has a post office, with money order, savings' bank, and railway telegraph departments, a cattle and sheep market on the third Monday of every month, and a hiring market on the third Monday of April.
The parish, comprising the ancient parishes of Kennethmont and Christ's Kirk, is bounded N by Gartly, NE by Insch, SE by Premnay, S by Leslie, SW by Clatt, and W by Rhynie. Its utmost length, from E to W, is 6 miles; its utmost breadth, from N to S, is 3 5/8 miles; and its area is 8472 acres, of which 3 ¾ are water. The Water of Bogie flows 2 ½ miles north-by-eastward along all the Rhynie border; and the Shevock, rising on the Moss of Wardhouse, has here a south-easterly course of 5 5/8 miles on or near to the northern and eastern boundaries; so that the drainage belongs partly to the Deveron and partly to the Don. Along the Bogie the surface declines to 498, along the Shevock to 490, feet above sea-level; and thence it rises to 1426 feet at Knockandy Hill and 1021 at the Hill of Christ's Kirk. The rocks include mica and clay slate in the N, trap and greenstone in the E, and syenite in the W; and a chalybeate spring near the northern border enjoyed once high medicinal repute. The soil is extremely various, ranging from clay and loam to moss, but has been greatly improved within the last forty years by draining and manuring. Plantations cover a considerable area. At Ardlair and Cults are traces of two stone circles. Wardhouse and Leith Hall, 1 ¼ mile NE and 1 mile WNW of Kennethmont station, are both old but commodious mansions; and their owners, Carlos Pedro Gordon, Esq., K.M. (b. 1814; suc. 1866), and Col. Alex. Sebastian Leith-Hay, C.B. (b. 1819; suc. 1862), holds 13,427 and 12,546 acres in the shire, valued at £6876 and £7916 per annum. Distinguished members of these two families have been Admiral Sir James Alex. Gordon, G.C.B. (1788-1869), General Sir James Leith, G.C.B. (17631816), and Lieut. -Col. Sir Andrew Leith-Hay, K.H., M.P. (d. 1862); another native of Kennethmont was William Milne, D.D. (1785-1822), the Chinese missionary. A third mansion is Craighall; and, in all, 3 proprietors hold each an annual value of more, and 2 of less, than £500. Kennethmont is in the presbytery of Alford and synod of Aberdeen; the living is worth £266. The parish church, built in 1812, contains 400 sittings. A Free church stands 1 mile ESE; and a public school, with accommodation for 200 children, had (1881) an average attendance of 149, and a grant of £128, 3s. 6d. Valuation (1860) £4669, (1882) £5895, plus £1516 for railway. Pop. (1801) 784, (1831) 1131, (1861) 1187, (1871) 1062, (1881) 999.—Ord. Sur., shs. 76, 86, 1874-76.
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