Chapter V: Part 5

=Peterhead= (13,560), the most easterly town in Scotland, is built of red granite. A century ago it was a fashionable watering-place, and used to be a whaling station. Now its chief industry is the herring fishing. South of the town a harbour of refuge is being constructed by convict labour, from the convict prison close by. The harbour of refuge will cost, it is said, a million of money and its construction will occupy 25 to 30 years. A linen factory once existed here, as also a woollen factory, which exported cloth to the value of £12,000 a year. Both became extinct, but the woollen industry was revived and still prospers. Another prominent industry is granite polishing. At Inverugie Castle was born Field-Marshal James Keith, whose statue stands in front of the Town-House. The “Pretender” landed at Peterhead on Christmas Day, 1715. Peterhead was erected into a burgh of barony in 1593 by Earl Marischal, the founder of Marischal College, Aberdeen. It continued to be part of the Earl’s estates till the rebellion of 1715, when the lands were confiscated. The Peterhead portion is now the property of the Merchant Maiden Hospital of Edinburgh. (pp. 8, 29, 38, 39, 41, 57, 66, 68, 76, 83, 94, 95, 101, 102, 111, 163, 164, 169, 171.)

=Rosehearty= (1308) is a misspelt Gaelic name of which _Ros_, a promontory, and _ard_, a height, are undoubted elements. The little town stands on the shore a mile north of Pitsligo[1]. There is a tradition that in the fourteenth century a party of Danes landed and took up residence here, instructing the inhabitants, who were mostly crofters, in the art of fishing. (pp. 62, 162.)

[Footnote 1: Alexander Forbes, fourth and last Lord Pitsligo (1678-1762) was a warm supporter of the exiled Stuarts and took part in both rebellions. After Culloden, he remained in hiding, his chief place of concealment being a cave in the rocks west of Rosehearty.]

M. A.

=Strichen= (1094) was formerly called Mormond, from the hill at the base of which the village stands. This hill owing to the comparatively level character of the surrounding country is a conspicuous feature in the landscape for miles. On the south-western side, the figure of a horse is cut out in the turf, the space being filled up with white stones. This “White Horse” occupies half an acre of ground and is visible at a great distance. On the south side of the hill an antlered stag on a larger scale is figured in the same manner. This was done so late as 1870. (pp. 11, 16, 38, 91, 158.)

=Torphins= (455), a rising village on Deeside, much resorted to by Aberdonians in the summer months. (p. 106.)

=Turriff= (2346) is situated on a table-land on the north of the burn of Turriff near its junction with the Deveron. Turriff is midway between Aberdeen and Elgin; hence the couplet—

Choose ye, choise ye, at the Cross o’ Turra
Either gang to Aberdeen or Elgin o’ Moray.

Turriff is very ancient, being mentioned in the _Book of Deer_, under the name of Turbruad, as the seat of a Celtic monastery dedicated to St Congan, a follower of St Columba. The double belfry of the old church (date 1635) is really a piece of castellated architecture applied to an ecclesiastical edifice. The churchyard gateway is also Early Scottish Renaissance. (pp. 11, 31, 40, 110, 112, 119, 163, 164.)

Scotland
19639,377 acres

Aberdeenshire
1,261,971 acres

Fig. 1. Area of Aberdeenshire compared with that of Scotland ]

Scotland
4,472,043

Aberdeenshire
304,439

Fig. 2. Population of Aberdeenshire compared with that of Scotland ]

Aberdeenshire, 154

Lanarkshire, 1524

Fig. 3. Comparative density of Population to square mile]

Scotland
7,423,185 cwts

Aberdeeshire
3,563,254 cwts

Fig. 8. Quantity of Fish (all kinds) landed in Aberdeenshire as compared with that of Scotland (1909), almost 50% ]

Scotland
4,500,000 cwts

Aberdeenshire
1,661,768 cwts

Fig. 9. Quantity of Herrings landed in Aberdeenshire as compared with that of Scotland (1909) ]

Cambridge:
PRINTED BY JOHN CLAY, M.A.
AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS

_The Cambridge University Press_ ]

GEOLOGICAL MAP OF
COUNTY OF
ABERDEEN

_Copyright. George Philip & Son L^{td}._
]

Transcriber’s Notes

Page 62—changed Pitullie to Pittullie Page 119—changed possesssed to possessed Page 148—changed Sreet to Street Page 164—changed Kenmay to Kemnay Page 164—changed Formartin to Formartine Page 189—changed Glenlivat to Glenlivet