Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for Marnoch

Marnoch, a parish of NE Banffshire, with a post office (Bridge of Marnoch), 8½ miles NNE of its post-town, Huntly, and 2 SSW of Aberchirder. Containing also that thriving village, it is bounded N by Boyndie and Banff, NE by Alvah, E by Forglen, SE by Turriff in Aberdeenshire, S by Inverkeithny and Rothiemay, W by Rothiemay and Grange, and NW by Ordiquhill. Its utmost length, from E to W, is 6¼ miles; its utmost breadth, from N to S, is 5½ miles; and its area is 14, 954 acres. The Deveron, here spanned by the two-arch Bridge of Marnoch (1806), winds 91/8 miles eastward along all the southern and south-eastern boundary, though the point where it first touches and that where it quits the parish are only 5¼ miles distant; and Crombie, Auchintoul, and other burns rise in the N, and flow to it southward across the interior. Along the Deveron the surface declines to 190 feet above sea-level; and thence it rises to 600 feet at Clunie Hill, 851 at Catstone Hill, 767 at *Meikle Brown Hill, 890 at *Wether Hill, and 740 at Gallow Hill, where asterisks mark those summits that culminate on the western and north-western confines of the parish. Granite is the predominant rock, and has been largely quarried. Limestone also occurs, and was at one time worked. The soil is variously alluvium, rich loam, clay, moss, and humid moor. Kinairdy and Crombie Castles have been noticed separately. Mansions are Ardmellie, Auchintoul, Cluny, Culvie, and Netherdale; and 8 proprietors hold each an annual value of £500 and upwards, 7 of between £100 and £500. Giving off a portion to Ord quoad sacra parish, Marnoch is in the presbytery of Strathbogie and the synod of Moray; the living is worth £351. The parish church, on a rising-ground near the left bank of the Deveron, a little NW of the Bridge of Marnoch, was built in 1792, and is a plain barn-like edifice, containing 837 sittings. It stood in the midst of a Caledonian stone-circle, two large stones only of which remain; and in the churchyard are a portion of its ancient predecessor and the finely-sculptured monument of George Meldrum of Crombie (1616-92), Episcopal minister of Glass. The successive presentation of Mr J. Edwards in 1837 and of Mr D. Henry in 1838 gave rise to one of the stiffest Disruption contests under the Veto Act; and led to the erection at Aberchirder of New Marnoch Free church, which, costing over £2000, contains 1000 sittings. Other places of worship are noticed under Aberchirder; and Aberchirder Episcopal and four public schools-Aberchirder, Blacklaw, Marnoch, and Netherdale-with respective accommodation for 75, 400, 78, 120, and 60 children, had (1883) an average attendance of 75, 210, 73, 124, and 42, and grants of £59, 8s., £183, 15s., £67, 17s. 6d., £110, 19s., and £39, 19s. Valuation (1865) £10,101, (1882) £18,350. Pop. (1801) 1687, (1831) 2426, (1861) 3289, (1871) 3294, (1881) 3230, of whom 3141 were in the ecclesiastical parish.—Ord. Sur., sh. 86, 1876.


(F.H. Groome, Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland (1882-4); © 2004 Gazetteer for Scotland)

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a parish"   (ADL Feature Type: "countries, 4th order divisions")
Administrative units: Marnoch ScoP       Banffshire ScoCnty
Place: Marnoch

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