valley of the Dee. Built in 1853 of a light grey granite found in
the neighbourhood, it is composed of two semi-detached squares
with connecting wings, and displays the usual castellated towers,
high-pitched gables and conical roofed turrets. The massive clock-tower
rising to a height of 100 feet from amongst the surrounding leafage and
gleaming white in summer sunshine forms a pleasing picture. The late
Queen Victoria purchased the estate in 1848, and the Prince Consort
took a great personal interest in the design the details of which
are said to be modelled on a close study of Castle Fraser, already
referred to. For more than half a century it has been a royal residence
and though many additions and alterations have been made in that time,
the general picture of the edifice remains the same to the traveller on
the Deeside road. Two miles below is Abergeldie Castle, which has been
leased by the Royal Family for many years. Its turreted square tower,
old and plain and somewhat cramped in space, serves as a contrast to
the more spacious modern mansion.
This region of the Dee has many mansions. Invercauld House,
reconstructed in 1875, is in the same manner, its chief feature being
a battlemented tower seventy feet high. The situation of Invercauld
at the foot of a high hill and backed by plantations of pine and with
a beautiful green terrace stretching to the river Dee is probably
unsurpassed in the district. As seen from the Lion’s Face Rock, a
perpendicular cliff on the south side of the river, this house of the
Farquharsons makes a striking picture not likely ever to be forgotten.
Farther up is Mar Lodge, the residence of the Duke of Fife, in the
horizontal and English domestic style. It was built so recently as
1898, and replaced a somewhat similar building destroyed by fire.
Glenmuick House, built in 1873, is in the Tudor style, strongly treated
and modified to harmonise with the rugged surroundings. The only other
Deeside mansion we can refer to is Kincardine Lodge, recently built,
a very fine building, based to a large extent on the plan of Fyvie
Castle, which we have already referred to as the grandest castellated
mansion-house in the north.
[Illustration: Cluny Castle]
Donside is not so well furnished with stately and luxurious
manor-houses, but it has Castle Newe and Cluny Castle, the
antique-modern Place of Tilliefoure, Fintray House in the Tudor style,
Pitmathen in French Renaissance, each in its own way a work of art.
Midway between the two valleys is Dunecht House, which was built for
Lord Lindsay, a great authority on Christian art, and of which the
most striking feature is the great campanile in the Italian manner.
[Illustration: Haddo House]
In the Ythan valley, Haddo House, the residence of the Earl of
Aberdeen, Lord Lieutenant of the County, belongs to the period of the
late English Renaissance, but additions have been made from time to
time. Crimonmogate, Strichen, and Philorth are classic.
It is a curious fact, worthy of mention, that the local masons
have almost developed a school of craftsmanship, by the thorough
conscientiousness and downright honesty
[Illustration: Midmar Castle]
of their work. We have already remarked that Kintore and Inverurie
seemed to be the centre from which the sculptured stones radiated. In
the same region are the group of castles, Castle Fraser, Craigievar,
Midmar and Cluny (now destroyed), all within an easy radius of the
centre. Castle Fraser and Midmar were built by a mason called John
Bell, whose work was characterised by sterling qualities. The art
would almost seem to have been handed down through several generations
of craftsmen, for the modern Cluny Castle and Dunecht House, as well as
their chapels, besides other palatial and extensive fabrics, were built
entirely by local masons, without any extraneous help. It seems as if
the building art were indigenous to this particular locality.
22. Communications—Roads, Railways.
In ancient times the chief means of communication between Aberdeenshire
and the south was the old South and North Drove Road, which crosses the
Cairn-o-Mounth from Fettercairn in Kincardine, and, passing the Dye and
Whitestones on the Feugh, reaches the Dee at Potarch. It then ran along
the hill to Lumphanan and on through Leochel to the Bridge of Alford,
thence to Clatt and Kennethmont and along the valley of the Bogie to
Huntly.
There was another—a supposed Roman road—which, coming up from
the direction of Stonehaven, crossed the Dee at Peterculter, and,
proceeding northward through Skene, Kinnellar, Kintore and Inverurie,
went on to Pitcaple. Thence it passed through Rayne and across the east
shoulder of Tillymorgan to what has been regarded as a Roman camp at
Glenmailen, and by the Corse of Monellie, Lessendrum and Cobairdy, to
the fords of the Deveron below Avochie.
Another ancient road crossed the mountains from Blairgowrie by the
Spittal of Glenshee, over the Cairnwell, Castleton of Braemar, and the
upper waters of the Gairn to the valley of the Avon at Inchrory and
thence by Tomintoul to Speyside.
[Illustration: Spittal of Glenshee]
After the ’45 General Wade adopted the southern part of this road as
the line of his great military route from Blairgowrie to Fort George,
but from Castleton he turned to the east, went down the Dee valley to
Crathie, and thence across the hills to Corgarff in Upper Strathdon
from which he reached Tomintoul by the “Lecht.” This route he completed
in 1750.
These roads had naturally to lead to fords in the rivers, and, when
bridges came to be built, it was just as natural that they should be
placed in the line of established routes. When the Bridge of Alford was
built over the Don in 1810-11 and the Bridge of Potarch over the Dee in
1812-13, a new line of road was made across country to connect them. It
went from Dess through Lumphanan and Leochel to the Don valley.
The first turnpike made in Aberdeenshire was the road from the Bridge
of Dee to the city of Aberdeen _viâ_ Holborn Street, which completed
the northern section of the great post-road between Edinburgh and
Aberdeen. This was in 1796.
About the same time was made the North Deeside Road reaching from
Aberdeen to Aboyne and thence to Ballater, Crathie, and Braemar, where
it met the Cairnwell Road. Another was the Aberdeen and Tarland route,
which went by Skene and Echt with branches joining on to those already
in existence. One of these struck off at Skene, and, crossing the hill
of Tilliefourie, proceeded to Alford. It was afterwards extended up
the Strath by Mossat, and Glenkindie to Corgarff, where it met General
Wade’s road.
The great post-road from Aberdeen to Inverness went by Woodside,
Bucksburn, Kintore, Inverurie, the Glens of Foudland to Huntly and
Cairnie on the boundary of Banffshire. It had branches from Huntly to
Portsoy through Rothiemay and to Banff through Forgue by the Bridge of
Marnoch.
The Strathbogie Road from Huntly to Donside by way of Gartly, Rhynie,
and Lumsden joined the Strathdon Road at Mossat. Though by no means the
most convenient, it is still used as the route along which the mails
are conveyed to Strathdon.
The Aberdeen and Banff Road left the post-road at Bucksburn and passing
through Dyce, New Machar, Old Meldrum, Fyvie, Turriff, and King Edward
made for the Bridge of Banff.
In the eastern district the most important route was that to Peterhead.
It crossed the new Bridge of Don, and, passing through Belhelvie,
Ellon, and Cruden, came to Peterhead by the coast. From there it went
straight across country to Banff by Longside, Mintlaw, New Pitsligo,
and Byth, thence over the Longmanhill to Macduff. Later a coast route
was made connecting Peterhead and Fraserburgh, by way of St Fergus,
Crimond and Lonmay. Another continuation of it was along the coast past
Rosehearty, Pennan, Gardenstown and Troup Head into Banffshire.
It was only during the nineteenth century that proper and serviceable
highways were constructed. Prior to that time a few main roads had been
made but side connections were few and badly kept, so that wheeled
vehicles, if they had existed, would have been a useless luxury. Early
in the eighteenth century wheeled vehicles were absolutely unknown. In
1765 the judges of the Circuit Court of Justiciary first travelled to
Aberdeen in chaises instead of on horseback. The first mail coach did
not arrive till 1798. It took 21 hours between Edinburgh and Aberdeen.
Not till 1811 did passenger coaches begin to ply between Aberdeen and
Huntly. Then only was it possible for the farmer to convey his products
by cart, which superseded the pack-horse as a means of transport.
The upkeep of the roads was secured by a system of tolls. Traces of the
system still survive in the renovated toll-bar houses, which in some
cases retain a window facing right and a window facing left to mark the
approach of vehicles from either side. Aberdeenshire abolished tolls in
1865.
The Railway system reached Aberdeen in 1848. Prior to that time for
fifty years the stage coach plying between Edinburgh and Aberdeen
had been, apart from the sea-routes, the only bond between this part
of the country and the south. A few years later, in 1854, what is
now the Great North of Scotland Railway was opened from Aberdeen to
Huntly, and two years thereafter was extended as far as Keith. This
is still the main line of railway in the county. It touches in its
course Dyce, Kintore, Inverurie, Insch, and Huntly. By and by branch
lines were constructed forking off from it at various points; _first_
from Inveramsay, through Wartle, Fyvie, to Turriff and ultimately
to Macduff; _second_ from Inverurie across country to Old Meldrum;
_third_ from Kintore up Donside by Kemnay and Monymusk to Alford; and
lastly from Dyce through New Machar, Udny, Ellon to New Maud, where it
bifurcates, one fork going on to Peterhead the other to Fraserburgh.
This is the Buchan and Formartine branch. Recently a sub-branch was
made from Ellon running to the coast and touching Cruden Bay, its
terminus being at Boddam within half an hour’s distance of Peterhead.
From Fraserburgh, a light railway runs to Cairnbulg, Inverallochy and
St Combs. The only other line of railway in the county is the Deeside
line, which runs up the Dee valley as far as Ballater. It was begun in
1853, and Banchory was the terminus till 1859, when an extension was
made to Aboyne; then in 1866 it was extended to Ballater.
The lack of population and the paucity of goods apart from agricultural
products have handicapped the local railways, which are far from
prosperous. The chances of extension in other directions are very
remote. Meantime outlying districts, such as Strathdon and Braemar,
are served by motors. The holiday and tourist traffic during the
summer months and the influx of sportsmen at the shooting season are
contributory sources of revenue, but even these show no tendency to
grow—a state of affairs due to the prevalent use of private motor-cars.
Aberdeenshire has no canals and is never likely to have. Prior to the
advent of railways a canal, designed by Telford, the great engineer,
was constructed between Aberdeen and Port Elphinstone on the south side
of Inverurie. It was opened for passenger and goods traffic in 1806,
and continued to serve the district until the steam-engine sounded its
knell. For nearly half a century it was a bond between the chief city
and the centre of the county and, although it never was remunerative
to the promoters, and provided a very slow mode of conveyance, it was
of great public service. The railway line to the north runs parallel
at certain places to the track of this canal, whose superannuated
embankments may still be recognised, after half a century, at various
points between Aberdeen and Inverurie.
23. Administration and Divisions.
In the twelfth century Scotland was divided into Sheriffdoms, where the
Sheriff was the minister of the Crown for trying civil and criminal
cases. The office was hereditary until the rebellion of ’45, when its
hereditary character was abolished. Aberdeenshire has a non-resident
Sheriff-Principal (who is also Sheriff of Banff and Kincardine) besides
two resident Sheriff-substitutes. These deal with ordinary civil
cases such as debts, as well as with criminal cases involving fine
or imprisonment, but not as a rule involving penal servitude, except
forgery, robbery and fire-raising.
The head of the county is the Lord-Lieutenant. Next to him is the
Vice-Lieutenant and a large number of Deputy-Lieutenants and Justices
of the Peace, but the chief administrative body is the County
Council, which consists of 65 members. These elect the chairman
and vice-chairman, who are designated respectively convener and
vice-convener. County Councils were first established in 1889. The
county is divided into districts, and each district has so many
divisions, or parishes, which elect one councillor. Aberdeenshire
has 85 parishes, which are grouped in eight districts: (1) Deer with
fifteen electoral divisions, (2) Ellon with seven, (3) Garioch with
six, (4) Deeside with six, (5) Turriff with seven, (6) Aberdeen
with nine, (7) Alford with four, and (8) Huntly with four, making
fifty-eight electoral divisions in all. The powers of the Council are
to maintain roads and bridges, to administer the Contagious Diseases
(Animals) Acts, to appoint a medical officer of health and a sanitary
inspector, to deal with the pollution of rivers and to see to the
protection of wild birds. Previous to the passing of the Act of 1889
the Commissioners of Supply were the chief governing body. They are
still retained but have no jurisdiction, except in so far as they
elect members to the Standing Joint Committee. This committee includes
representatives from the County Council appointed annually and from the
Commissioners of Supply, together with the Sheriff _ex officio_. The
Standing Joint Committee has charge of the Police and controls all the
capital expenditure in the county.
Each district has a district committee consisting of the county
councillors for the divisions of the district and of parish councillors
selected by each parish council of the district. Each parish has in
this way two representatives on the district committee, one elected
by the electors and the other appointed by the parish council. This
district committee is the local authority for administering the Public
Health Acts, but has no power to raise money—that being the function
of the County Council as a whole.
By a later Act of 1894, a parish council was established in every
parish. The number of councillors in landward parishes is fixed by the
County Council and in burghal parishes by the Town Council. The parish
council looks after the Poor Law and must provide for pauper lunatics,
sees to the levying of the school rate, to the administration of the
Vaccination Acts, and to the appointment of Registrars.
The affairs of the county are therefore divided amongst three bodies,
the County Council, the District Committees and the Parish Councils.
Prior to 1890 the powers of local administration lay with the
Commissioners of Supply, the Road Trustees and the Parochial Boards,
whose functions are now vested in these other bodies.
Each parish, besides having a Parish Council, has a School Board,
which, since 1872, has administered the education of the parish.
Education is free and compulsory for all children between the ages
of 5 and 14. The schools are of three types—primary, intermediate,
and secondary. The intermediate schools provide a three years’ course
beyond the elementary stage, and the secondary schools a further course
lasting for two years.
The County Council now takes a certain share in educational
administration, having powers to allocate grants of money to schools
and bursaries to pupils. The training of teachers, which until recently
was in the hands of the Churches (Established and United Free), has
now passed to a Provincial Committee elected by various representative
bodies.
Every burgh has a Town Council consisting of Provost, Magistrates
and Councillors, who hold their seats for three years. The number
of councillors varies with the size of the town. In Aberdeen, the
councillors are elected by wards, of which there are eleven, each ward
electing three representatives, one of whom retires annually. The Town
Council of Aberdeen consists of 34 members, the Dean of Guild being
an _ex officio_ member. The Town Council is the local authority for
Public Health, and looks after the streets, buildings and sewers. It
owns the gas works, water works, tramways, electric power station, and
public parks. It regulates the lighting, cleansing, and sanitation. The
Magistrates, who are elected annually by the Council, are the licensing
authority, and form the police court for the trial of minor offences.
The city of Aberdeen is not like Peterhead and Fraserburgh included in
the administration of the county, being itself constituted the county
of a city, with a Lord-Lieutenant of its own, who is the Lord-Provost
_ex officio_. It has its own Parish Council as well as its own School
Board.
Aberdeenshire is represented in Parliament by four members—two for
the county, east and west, and two for the city, north and south. Some
of the smaller burghs, Kintore, Inverurie and Peterhead, are grouped
with similar burghs in Banff and Moray (Banff, Elgin, Cullen) to form
a constituency called the Elgin Burghs, which returns one member.
In addition, the University of Aberdeen shares a member with the
University of Glasgow.
There is still a certain amount of overlapping and confusion in
the administrative divisions. For example, Torry, which is on the
Kincardineshire side of the Dee, is really a suburb of Aberdeen, and as
such elects members to the Town Council, the Parish Council, and the
School Board, but it has no share in electing a member of Parliament
for Aberdeen, being in that regard part of Kincardineshire, and voting
for a representative of that county. There are other similar anomalies.
24. The Roll of Honour.
It is an accepted fact that Aberdonians have intellectual characteristics
somewhat different from those of their fellow-countrymen, the result
partly of race, partly and chiefly, we believe, of environment. We have
already alluded to the amalgamation of nationalities that went to form
the people of this north-eastern corner of the kingdom. Doubtless the
Spartan upbringing that was the rule in the county served to develop
sturdy character and good physique. The result is that the Aberdonian
has distinguished himself in all parts of the Empire and even beyond
it. Not that he has often risen to the front rank of greatness, but he
is frequently found well forward among the best of the second-class.
Their own county presenting no tempting openings for ability,
Aberdonians have migrated from the narrow home-sphere in great numbers
and have made their mark as administrators, medical officers, and even
as soldiers of fortune. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries
the cadets of the great houses, exiled by the pressure of the times,
joined the service of continental kings and rose to high rank in
the armies of Sweden, France, and Russia. Chief amongst these was
James Keith, younger brother of the last Earl Marischal, and born
at Inverugie Castle. After serving for nineteen years in Russia, he
joined the service of Frederick the Great, under whom he attained to
the highest military rank as Field-Marshal, contributing to victories
gained during the Seven Years’ War and conducting the retreat from
Olmütz. At the battle of Hochkirchen, when charging the enemy, he fell
mortally wounded in 1758. Peterhead keeps his memory green by a statue
presented to it by the Emperor William I. It is a replica in bronze
of a similar effigy in Berlin. Field-Marshal Keith is probably the
native of Aberdeenshire who has figured most largely in history. He
was Frederick’s right hand, and his military genius has been fittingly
acknowledged by Carlyle in his great work.
Another of the same type, though less eminent, was Patrick Gordon of
Auchleuchries, who fought both on the Swedish and on the Polish side,
but ultimately transferred his sword to Russia, where he rose to the
highest rank, and on his death-bed was watched over and wept over by
Peter the Great. He was born in 1635 at Auchleuchries near Ellon and
died in 1699. He was a perfect example of the successful military
adventurer, one of the type so skilfully depicted by Walter Scott in
Dugald Dalgetty.
The county has been a prolific recruiting ground for the Army. After
the ’45 Chatham’s device for breaking down the clan system and
diverting the energies of the Highlanders into healthier channels by
enlisting them in British regiments was an inspiration of genius. In
1794 the Duke of Gordon raised during a few weeks a regiment of Gordon
Highlanders, which first distinguished itself with Sir Ralph Abercromby
in Egypt, and did noble service also in the Peninsula and at Waterloo.
In the work of empire-making in India and elsewhere, the Aberdonian
has borne a notable part. He has shown ability to exercise a singular
mastery over inferior races. Conspicuous in this respect was Sir Harry
B. Lumsden, who formed the Corps of Guides out of the most daring
free-booters of the North-West frontier of India.
In statesmanship the county has been surpassed by other districts, and
yet it has the distinction of having produced one Prime Minister—the
fourth Earl of Aberdeen (1784-1860), who was responsible for the
Crimean War, and whom Byron styled “the travelled Thane, Athenian
Aberdeen.”
The ecclesiasts of distinction are too numerous to mention. Foremost
amongst them was Bishop Elphinstone, who, though not a native of the
county, identified himself with its interests when he became Bishop
(1483), founded the University, King’s College, the light of the North
(1494), and the church of St Machar (the Cathedral in Old Aberdeen)
and was a pioneer in all that makes for educational enlightenment. He
was instrumental in introducing the art of printing into Scotland.
His tomb is very appropriately in King’s College, the centre from
which radiated the beneficent influence of his life. Henry Scougal
(1650-1678), scholar and saint, son of Bishop Scougal and the inspirer
of John Wesley, was a student of King’s College. He had not been long
ordained in his charge at Auchterless before he was appointed to the
Chair of Divinity in King’s College. He died at 28; but his _Life of
God in the Soul of Man_ is still greatly prized by lovers of devotional
literature. Dean Ramsay, whose _Reminiscences of Scottish Life and
Character_ (1858) is a classic in humorous literature and one not
likely soon to be forgotten, was born in Aberdeen.
In medical science the roll of eminent names is long and impressive,
from Bannerman, who was physician to David II, down to Arthur
Johnston, who after an academic career abroad, cultivated the muses
at Aberdeen, gaining fame as a writer of Latin verse. He was for some
time physician to Charles I. Born at Caskieben in 1587, he was rector
of King’s College in 1637, and died in 1641. Dr John Arbuthnot, though
a native of Kincardineshire, was a student at Marischal College; as
the friend of Pope and Swift, and the wit and physician at the Court
of Queen Anne, he is likely to be remembered. Another celebrated
physician was Dr John Abercrombie, who, born in Aberdeen, went to
Edinburgh, and became head of the profession and first physician to the
king in 1824. Others no less noted were Sir James Clark; Sir Andrew
Clark; Neil Arnott, a contemporary with Byron at the Grammar School,
and more famous as natural philosopher than as physician, devising
skilful inventions in healing and ventilation; Sir James Macgrigor, to
whose memory a lofty obelisk in polished red granite was erected in
Marischal College quadrangle. After standing there for years it was
recently removed to the Duthie Park. Macgrigor was a pioneer in the
humanitarian treatment of the sick and wounded in war, and was chief
of the Medical Staff in the Peninsular campaigns.