Parish of Rhynie

A historical perspective, drawn from the Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland: A Survey of Scottish Topography, Statistical, Biographical and Historical, edited by Francis H. Groome and originally published in parts by Thomas C. Jack, Grange Publishing Works, Edinburgh between 1882 and 1885.

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1791-99: Rhynie 1834-45: Rhynie

Rhynie, a parish on the western border of Aberdeenshire, in the SE containing the post-office village of Muir of Rhynie, 4 miles SSW of Gartly station and 13¾ NW of Alford. It comprises the ancient parishes of Rhynie and Essie; and is bounded N by Gartly, E by Kennethmont, SE by Clatt and Auchindoir, and W by Cabrach. Its utmost length, from E to W, is 7½ miles; its breadth varies between 1⁵/₈ and 4⁷/₈ miles; and its area is 20³/₈ square miles or 12, 883³/₅ acres, of which 4½i are water. The drainage all goes to the little Water of Bogie, which flows 6³/₈ miles north-north-eastward along all the south-eastern and eastern boundary. Where it quits the parish, the surface declines to 524 feet above sea-level; and thence it rises to 1500 feet at the Hill of Noth, 1851 at the Tap o' Noth, 1059 at Quarry Hill, 1398 at Clayshot Hill, and 1669 at the Mound of Haddoch, just within Cabrach parish. The rocks include granite,sandstone, greenstone, and syenite; and the soil is a loamy clay along the valley of the Bogie, clay and gravel towards the Tap o' Noth, and loamy or mossy over most of the western division. Antiquities, other than Lesmore Castle, are cairns, tumuli, several standing-stones (four of them sculptured, and very good of their kind), and remains of a large vitrified fort on the Tap o' Noth, with walls more than 10 feet thick. The Duke of Richmond and Gordon is almost sole proprietor. Rhynie is in the presbytery of Strathbogie and the synod of Moray; the living is worth £205. The parish church, a Free church, and a Congregational chapel, all stand at Muir of Rhynie; and Lesmore public, Rhynie public, and Duff's girls' schools, with respective accommodation for 58, 240, and 42 children, had (1884) an average attendance of 40, 136, and 39, and grants of £32, £113, 5s., and £42, 8s. Valuation (1860) £3311, (1885) £4728, 18s. 9d., plus £17 for railway. Pop. (1801) 676, (1831) 1018, (1861) 1061, (1871) 1195, (1881) 1126.—Ord. Sur., shs. 76, 86, 75, 85, 1874-76.

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Note: This text has been made available using a process of scanning and optical character recognition. Despite manual checking, some typographical errors may remain. Please remember this description dates from the 1880s; names may have changed, administrative divisions will certainly be different and there are known to be occasional errors of fact in the original text, which we have not corrected because we wish to maintain its integrity. This information is provided subject to our standard disclaimer