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Aberdeenshire (historic)

 

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Aberdeenshire (historic)



 
 
Aberdeenshire or the County of Aberdeen (Siorrachd Obar Dheathain in Gaelic) is a registration county
Registration county

A registration county was, in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, a statistical unit used for the output of census information. Registration counties were formed by grouping together the registration districts wholly or partly within a county....
 of Scotland
Scotland

conventional_long_name = ScotlandAlba|common_name= Scotland|image_flag = Flag of Scotland.svg|flag_width = 130px...
. This area (excluding Aberdeen
Aberdeen

Aberdeen is Scotland's third most populous City status in the United Kingdom and one of Scotland's 32 Local government in Scotland Council areas of Scotland....
 itself) is also a lieutenancy area
Lieutenancy areas of Scotland

The Lieutenancy areas of Scotland are the areas used for the ceremonial Lord Lieutenant, the British monarch's representatives, in Scotland. They are different from the local government of Scotland council areas, the committee areas, the sheriffdoms, the registration counties, the former Regions and districts of Scotland, the former counties...
.

Until 1975 Aberdeenshire was one of the counties of Scotland
Counties of Scotland

The counties of Scotland were the principal subdivisions of Scotland of Scotland until 1975. Scotland's current Lieutenancy areas of Scotland and registration counties are largely based on them....
, governed by a county council
County council

A County council is the elected administrative body governing an area known as a county. This term has slightly different meanings in different countries....
 from 1890. The boundaries of the county were adjusted by the boundary commissioners appointed under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1889
Local Government (Scotland) Act 1889

The Local Government Act 1889 is an Act of Parliament of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which was passed on 26 August 1889. The main effect of the act was to establish elected county councils in Scotland....
 that established the county council. In 1900, the county town of Aberdeen became a county of a city and was thus removed from the county.

The county bordered Kincardineshire
Kincardineshire

The County of Kincardine, also known as Kincardineshire or The Mearns was a Local government of Scotland Counties of Scotland on the coast of northeast Scotland....
, Angus
Angus

Angus is one of the 32 Local government in Scotland council areas of Scotland, and a Lieutenancy areas of Scotland. The council area borders onto Aberdeenshire, Perth and Kinross and the Dundee City....
 and Perthshire
Perthshire

Perthshire , officially the County of Perth, is a registration county in central Scotland. It extends from Strathmore, Angus and Perth & Kinross in the east, to the Pass of Drumochter in the north, Rannoch Moor and Ben Lui in the west, and Aberfoyle, Scotland in the south....
 to the south, Inverness-shire
Inverness-shire

Inverness-shire also known as the county of Inverness, or Siorrachd Inbhir Nis in Scottish Gaelic, was a general purpose Counties of Scotland of Scotland, with the burgh of Inverness as the county town, until 1975, when, under the Local Government Act 1973, the county area was divided for Local government in Scotland purposes between th...
 and Banffshire
Banffshire

The County of Banff is a registration county for property, and Banffshire is a Lieutenancy areas of Scotland of Scotland.The County of Banff, also known as Banffshire, was a Counties of Scotland of Scotland with its own county council between 1890 and 1975....
 to the west, and the North Sea
North Sea

The North Sea is a marginal sea, epeiric sea on the European continental shelf. The Dover Strait and the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Sea in the north connect it to the Atlantic Ocean....
 to the north and east.






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Encyclopedia


Aberdeenshire or the County of Aberdeen (Siorrachd Obar Dheathain in Gaelic) is a registration county
Registration county

A registration county was, in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, a statistical unit used for the output of census information. Registration counties were formed by grouping together the registration districts wholly or partly within a county....
 of Scotland
Scotland

conventional_long_name = ScotlandAlba|common_name= Scotland|image_flag = Flag of Scotland.svg|flag_width = 130px...
. This area (excluding Aberdeen
Aberdeen

Aberdeen is Scotland's third most populous City status in the United Kingdom and one of Scotland's 32 Local government in Scotland Council areas of Scotland....
 itself) is also a lieutenancy area
Lieutenancy areas of Scotland

The Lieutenancy areas of Scotland are the areas used for the ceremonial Lord Lieutenant, the British monarch's representatives, in Scotland. They are different from the local government of Scotland council areas, the committee areas, the sheriffdoms, the registration counties, the former Regions and districts of Scotland, the former counties...
.

Until 1975 Aberdeenshire was one of the counties of Scotland
Counties of Scotland

The counties of Scotland were the principal subdivisions of Scotland of Scotland until 1975. Scotland's current Lieutenancy areas of Scotland and registration counties are largely based on them....
, governed by a county council
County council

A County council is the elected administrative body governing an area known as a county. This term has slightly different meanings in different countries....
 from 1890. The boundaries of the county were adjusted by the boundary commissioners appointed under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1889
Local Government (Scotland) Act 1889

The Local Government Act 1889 is an Act of Parliament of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which was passed on 26 August 1889. The main effect of the act was to establish elected county councils in Scotland....
 that established the county council. In 1900, the county town of Aberdeen became a county of a city and was thus removed from the county.

The county bordered Kincardineshire
Kincardineshire

The County of Kincardine, also known as Kincardineshire or The Mearns was a Local government of Scotland Counties of Scotland on the coast of northeast Scotland....
, Angus
Angus

Angus is one of the 32 Local government in Scotland council areas of Scotland, and a Lieutenancy areas of Scotland. The council area borders onto Aberdeenshire, Perth and Kinross and the Dundee City....
 and Perthshire
Perthshire

Perthshire , officially the County of Perth, is a registration county in central Scotland. It extends from Strathmore, Angus and Perth & Kinross in the east, to the Pass of Drumochter in the north, Rannoch Moor and Ben Lui in the west, and Aberfoyle, Scotland in the south....
 to the south, Inverness-shire
Inverness-shire

Inverness-shire also known as the county of Inverness, or Siorrachd Inbhir Nis in Scottish Gaelic, was a general purpose Counties of Scotland of Scotland, with the burgh of Inverness as the county town, until 1975, when, under the Local Government Act 1973, the county area was divided for Local government in Scotland purposes between th...
 and Banffshire
Banffshire

The County of Banff is a registration county for property, and Banffshire is a Lieutenancy areas of Scotland of Scotland.The County of Banff, also known as Banffshire, was a Counties of Scotland of Scotland with its own county council between 1890 and 1975....
 to the west, and the North Sea
North Sea

The North Sea is a marginal sea, epeiric sea on the European continental shelf. The Dover Strait and the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Sea in the north connect it to the Atlantic Ocean....
 to the north and east. It had a coast-line of 65 miles (105 km).

The coat of arms of Aberdeenshire County Council was granted in 1890. The four quarters represented the Buchan, Mar, Garioch and Strathbogie areas.

In 1975 the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973
Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973

The Local Government Act 1973 is an Act of Parliament of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, that reformed local government of Scotland in Scotland, on May 16, 1975....
 reorganised local administration in Scotland into a two-tier system of regions and districts. Aberdeenshire, along with the City of Aberdeen, Banffshire, Kincardineshire and most of Morayshire were merged to form Grampian Region, with the former county being divided between the districts of City of Aberdeen, Banff and Buchan
Banff and Buchan

Banff and Buchan is a committee area of the Aberdeenshire Council, Scotland.It has a population of 35,742 . Fishing and agriculture are important industries, together with associated processing and service activity....
, Gordon
Gordon, Scotland

Gordon was formerly was one of five local government districts of Scotlands inthe Grampian region of Scotland.The district was formed by the Local Government Act 1973 from part of the former counties of Scotland of Aberdeenshire , namely:...
 and Kincardine and Deeside
Kincardine and Deeside

Kincardine and Deeside was formerly a local government district inthe Grampian Region of Scotland.In 1996 it was included in the Aberdeenshire unitary area....
.

In 1996 Scottish local government system was reorganised a second time to form a single tier of unitary council areas. The name was revived for the council area of Aberdeenshire
Aberdeenshire

Aberdeenshire is one of the 32 unitary authority council areas in Scotland.In this present day Aberdeenshire does not include Aberdeen City which is a Council Area in its own right....
, which has different boundaries.

The area is generally hilly, and from the south-west, near the centre of Scotland
Scotland

conventional_long_name = ScotlandAlba|common_name= Scotland|image_flag = Flag of Scotland.svg|flag_width = 130px...
, the Grampians
Grampian Mountains (Scotland)

This article is about a mountain range in Scotland; for other uses see: Grampians.The 'Grampian Mountains' or 'Grampians' are one of the three major mountain ranges in Wales !occupying a considerable portion of the Scottish Highlands in northeast Scotland....
 send out various branches, mostly to the north-east.

Towns and villages

  • Aberchirder
    Aberchirder

    Aberchirder , known locally as Foggieloan or Foggie, is a village in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, situated on the A97 road six miles west of Turriff....
  • Aboyne
    Aboyne

    Aboyne is a village on the edge of the Scottish Highlands in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, on the River Dee, Aberdeenshire, approximately 30 miles west of Aberdeen....
  • Ballater
    Ballater

    Ballater is a burgh in Aberdeenshire , Scotland on the River Dee, Aberdeenshire, immediately east of the Cairngorm Mountains. Situated at a height of 123m in elevation, Ballater is a centre for hiking and is known for its spring , once said to cure scrofula....
  • Braemar
    Braemar

    Braemar is a village in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, around west of Aberdeen in the Scottish Highlands. It is the closest significantly-sized settlement to the upper course of the River Dee, Aberdeenshire sitting at an altitude of ....
  • Daviot
    Daviot

    Daviot is a village in Aberdeenshire. Famous residents include theologian William Robinson Clark and novelist Alistair MacLean.Daviot has one of the best examples of Neolithic stone circles in the north east of Scotland, Loanhead of Daviot stone circle, which comprises 10 stones plus one recumbent stone....
  • Ellon
  • Fraserburgh
    Fraserburgh

    Fraserburgh is a town in Aberdeenshire , Scotland with a population recorded in the United Kingdom Census 2001 at 12,454. It lies at the extreme northeast corner of Aberdeenshire, around north of Aberdeen, and north of Peterhead....
  • Fyvie
  • Huntly
  • Inverbervie
    Inverbervie

    Inverbervie is a small town on the north-east coast of Scotland, south of Stonehaven, in the Aberdeenshire.The Inverbervie name derives from Inbhir Beirbhe, meaning Mouth of the Bervie Water in Scottish Gaelic....
  • Inverurie
    Inverurie

    Inverurie is a Royal Burgh in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, approximately 16 miles north west of Aberdeen on the A96 road and lies on the Northern Express Railway Route from Aberdeen to Inverness....
  • Kintore
  • Logie Coldstone
    Logie Coldstone

    Logie Coldstone is an Aberdeenshire village north of the River Dee, Aberdeenshire, near Tarland in the Cromar, a basin of land cut out of the Grampian Mountains foothills between Aboyne and Ballater....
  • Lonmay
  • Maud
    Maud, Aberdeenshire

    Maud is a small town in the Buchan area of the Scotland county of Aberdeenshire. Population 610 . Located 13 miles west of Peterhead on the South Ugie Water, Maud rose to prosperity in the nineteenth century as a railway junction of the Formartine and Buchan Railway that ran through Maud to Fraserburgh and Peterhead, but has always been the...
  • Mintlaw
    Mintlaw

    Mintlaw is a small town in Aberdeenshire, Scotland lying along the A952 road and is geographically a route centre. The 2001 UK census records a population of 2,647 people....
  • New Deer
  • Old Deer
  • Oldmeldrum
    Oldmeldrum

    Oldmeldrum is a village and Civil parish in Aberdeenshire, not far from Inverurie in North_East_Scotland_ Scotland. With a growing population of over 2000, Oldmeldrum falls within Scotland's top 300 centres of population....
  • Peterhead
    Peterhead

    Peterhead is a town in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It is Aberdeenshire's largest settlement, having a population of 19,000 at the United Kingdom Census 2001....
  • Portlethen
    Portlethen

    Portlethen is a town situated seven miles south of Aberdeen, Scotland along the A90 road. It has expanded rapidly over the last thirty years. Portlethen has a population of about seven thousand, and more than eight hundred houses are being built on nearby farmland....
  • Portsoy
    Portsoy

    Portsoy is a burgh in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, formerly in the county of Banffshire.It is known for:*its local jewellery made from "Portsoy marble" ...
  • Rosehearty
    Rosehearty

    Rosehearty , Rizarty in the local dialect, is located on the Moray Firth coast, four miles west of the town Fraserburgh, in the historical county of Aberdeenshire in Scotland....
  • St. Comb's
  • Tarland
    Tarland

    Tarland is a village in Aberdeenshire, Scotland and is located five miles northwest of Aboyne, and 30 miles west of Aberdeen. Population 540 ....
  • Turriff
    Turriff

    Turriff is a town and parish in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It is approximately 166 feet above sea level.Turriff is known locally as Turra in the Doric dialect of Scots language....
  • Westhill


Places of interest

  • Aden Country Park
  • Balmoral Castle
    Balmoral Castle

    Balmoral Castle is a large estate house situated in the area of Aberdeenshire, Scotland, known as Royal Deeside. The estate was purchased by Victoria of the United Kingdom Prince Consort Albert, Prince Consort, and remains a favourite summer palace....
  • Bullers of Buchan
    Bullers of Buchan

    Located about six miles south of Peterhead and 25 miles north of Aberdeen in northeast Scotland, the Bullers of Buchan is a collapsed sea cave forming an almost circular chasm some 30 metres deep, where the sea rushes in through a natural archway....
  • Cairness House
    Cairness House

    Cairness House, four miles south of Fraserburgh in the County of Aberdeenshire, is the largest and finest country house in Buchan and one of the great houses of Scotland....
  • Deer Abbey, Old Deer
  • Duff House
    Duff House

    Duff House is a Georgian house in Banff, Scotland, Scotland.Within the Deveron Valley lies Duff House, designed by William Adam , built between 1735 and 1740, and widely thought to be one of Britain's finest Georgian houses....
  • Dunnottar Castle
    Dunnottar Castle

    Dunnottar Castle is a ruined medieval fortress located upon a precipitous rocky headland on the north-east coast of Scotland, about two miles south of Stonehaven....
  • Findlater Castle
    Findlater Castle

    Findlater Castle sits in a romantic position on a -high cliff overlooking the Moray Firth on the coast of Banff and Buchan, Aberdeenshire, Scotland....
  • Fyvie Castle
    Fyvie Castle

    Fyvie Castle is a castle in the village of Fyvie, near Turriff in Aberdeenshire, Scotland.The earliest parts of Fyvie Castle date from the 13th century - some sources claim it was built in 1211 by William the Lion....
  • Haddo House
    Haddo House

    Haddo House is a Scottish stately home located approximately 20 miles north of Aberdeen . It has been owned by the National Trust for Scotland since 1979....
  • Huntly Castle
    Huntly Castle

    Huntly Castle is a ruined castle in Huntly, Scotland in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It was the ancestral home of the chief of Clan Gordon, Earl of Huntly....
    • (For more castles in Aberdeenshire, see Castles in Scotland
      Castles in Scotland

      This list of castles in Scotland is a link page for any castle in Scotland.The first castles were built in Scotland in the 11th and 12th centuries, with the introduction of Normans influence....
      )
  • Scotland's Lighthouse Museum


Main industries

  • Crude oil and natural gas
    Natural gas

    Natural gas is a gas consisting primarily of methane. It is found associated with fossil fuels, in coal beds, as methane clathrates, and is created by methanogenic organisms in marshes, bogs, and landfills....
     production
  • Agriculture
    Agriculture

    Agriculture refers to the production of food and goods through farming and forestry. Agriculture was the key development that led to the rise of civilization, with the animal husbandry of domestication animals and plants creating food surpluses that enabled the development of more Population density and Social stratification societies....


Constituencies

There was an Aberdeenshire constituency
Aberdeenshire (UK Parliament constituency)

Aberdeenshire was a Scotland county constituency of the British House of Commons of the Parliament of Great Britain from 1708 to 1801 and of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801 until 1868....
 of the House of Commons
British House of Commons

The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the British monarchy and the House of Lords ....
 of the Parliament of Great Britain
Parliament of Great Britain

The Parliament of Great Britain was formed in 1707 following the ratification of the Act of Union 1707 by both the Parliament of England and Parliament of Scotland....
 from 1708 to 1801 and of the Parliament of the United Kingdom
Parliament of the United Kingdom

The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislature in the United Kingdom and British overseas territories....
 from 1801 to 1868. This constituency did not include the parliamentary burgh of Aberdeen
Aberdeen

Aberdeen is Scotland's third most populous City status in the United Kingdom and one of Scotland's 32 Local government in Scotland Council areas of Scotland....
, which was represented as a component of Aberdeen District of Burghs until 1832, when it was enlarged and became the Aberdeen burgh constituency
Aberdeen (UK Parliament constituency)

Aberdeen was a burgh constituency of the British House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1832 until 1885. It was represented by one Member of Parliament , elected by the first past the post voting system....
. The other components of the district of burghs became components of the then new Montrose District of Burghs.

In 1868 the Aberdeenshire constituency was divided to form two new county divisions, or county constituencies, namely Eastern Aberdeenshire
East Aberdeenshire (UK Parliament constituency)

East Aberdeenshire was a Scotland county constituency of the British House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1868 to 1918 and form 1950 to 1983....
 and Western Aberdeenshire
West Aberdeenshire (UK Parliament constituency)

West Aberdeenshire was a Scotland county constituency of the British House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1868 to 1918 and form 1950 to 1983....
.

In 1885 the Aberdeen burgh constituency
Burgh constituency

A burgh constituency is a type of parliamentary United Kingdom constituencies in Scotland. It is a constituency which is predominantly urban area, and on this basis has been designated as a burgh constituency....
 was divided to form the burgh constituencies of Aberdeen North
Aberdeen North (UK Parliament constituency)

Aberdeen North is a burgh constituency of the United Kingdom House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, and it elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election....
 and Aberdeen South
Aberdeen South (UK Parliament constituency)

Aberdeen South is a burgh constituency of the United Kingdom House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, and it elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election....
.

In 1918 Aberdeenshire and Kincardineshire
Kincardineshire

The County of Kincardine, also known as Kincardineshire or The Mearns was a Local government of Scotland Counties of Scotland on the coast of northeast Scotland....
 were treated as if a single county for parliamentary representation purposes, with the area of the Kincardineshire county constituency
Kincardineshire (UK Parliament constituency)

Kincardineshire, was a United Kingdom constituencies of the British House of Commons of the Parliament of Great Britain from 1708 to 1801 and of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1918....
 and the Aberdeenshire constituencies being divided into three new constituencies, Kincardine and Western Aberdeenshire
Kincardine and Western Aberdeenshire (UK Parliament constituency)

Kincardine and Western Aberdeenshire was a Scotland constituency of the British House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1918 until 1950....
, Aberdeen and Kincardine Central
Aberdeen and Kincardine Central (UK Parliament constituency)

Aberdeen and Kincardine Central, also known as Central Aberdeenshire, was a county constituency of the British House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1918 until 1950....
 and Aberdeen and Kincardine East
Aberdeen and Kincardine East (UK Parliament constituency)

Aberdeen and Kincardine East was a county constituency of the British House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1918 to 1950....
. Kincardine and Western Aberdeenshire included the whole of the former Kincardineshire constituency.

In 1950 the area of the former Kincardinshire constituency (as abolished in 1918) was merged into the then new North Angus and Mearns constituency
North Angus and Mearns (UK Parliament constituency)

Angus Angus North and Mearns, Scotland, was a constituency represented in the British House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1950 to 1983....
, and the Aberdeenshire area was divided into the East Aberdeenshire constituency
East Aberdeenshire (UK Parliament constituency)

East Aberdeenshire was a Scotland county constituency of the British House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1868 to 1918 and form 1950 to 1983....
 and the West Aberdeenshire constituency
West Aberdeenshire (UK Parliament constituency)

West Aberdeenshire was a Scotland county constituency of the British House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1868 to 1918 and form 1950 to 1983....
, but the boundary between these new eastern and western constituencies differed from that for the constituencies of the 1868 to 1918 period.

Boundary changes in 1955 enlarged the Aberdeenshire West constituency, and reduced the size of the Aberdeenshire East constituency.

In 1983, eight years after the local government county of Aberdeenshire was abolished, the Aberdeenshire constituencies were replaced with new constrituencies.

1911


The following text came originally from a 1911 Encyclopedia

Description

Popular geography divides the traditional shire into five districts:
  1. Mar
    Marr

    Marr is one of six committee areas in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, bordering Atholl, Badenoch, Gowrie, The Mearns, Banffshire and Buchan. It has a population of 34,038 ....
    , mostly between the Dee and Don, which nearly covers the southern half of the county and contains the city of Aberdeen. It is mountainous, especially Braemar
    Braemar

    Braemar is a village in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, around west of Aberdeen in the Scottish Highlands. It is the closest significantly-sized settlement to the upper course of the River Dee, Aberdeenshire sitting at an altitude of ....
    , which contains the greatest mass of elevated land in the British Isles
    British Isles

    The British Isles are a group of islands off the northwest coast of continental Europe that include Great Britain and Ireland, and numerous smaller islands....
    . The Dee valley has sandy soil, the Don
    River Don, Aberdeenshire

    The River Don is a river in the northeast of Scotland. It Source in the Grampian Mountains and flows eastwards, through Aberdeenshire, to the North Sea at Aberdeen....
     valley loamy.
  2. Formartine
    Formartine

    Formartine is a committee area in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. This district has a long history and extends north from the River Don, Aberdeenshire....
    , between the lower Don and Ythan, has a sandy coast, which is succeeded inland by a clayey, fertile, tilled tract, and then by low hills, moors, mosses and tilled land.
  3. Buchan
    Buchan

    Buchan is one of the six committee areas and administrative areas of Aberdeenshire Council, Scotland. These areas were created by the council in 1996, when the Aberdeenshire Council areas of Scotland was created under the Local Government etc Act 1994....
     lies north of the Ythan, and comprising the north-east of the county, is next in size to Mar, parts of the coast being bold and rocky, the interior bare, low, flat, undulating and in places peaty. On the coast, six miles (10 km) south of Peterhead
    Peterhead

    Peterhead is a town in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It is Aberdeenshire's largest settlement, having a population of 19,000 at the United Kingdom Census 2001....
    , are the Bullers of Buchan - a basin in which the sea, entering by a natural arch, boils up violently in stormy weather. Buchan Ness is the most easterly point of Scotland.
  4. Garioch
    Garioch

    The Garioch is the name of one of six committee areas in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. The "och" at the end of the word is silent and so the word as a whole is generally pronounced /'gee-ree/....
    , in the centre of the shire, comprises a beautiful, undulating, loamy, fertile valley, formerly called the granary of Aberdeen.
  5. Strathbogie
    Strathbogie

    Strathbogie may refer to* Strathbogie, the old name of Huntly, Scotland in Scotland, and the strath to the south of it.* Strathbogie, Victoria, Australia...
    , occupying a considerable area south of the Deveron, mostly consists of hills, moors and mosses.


The mountains provide the most striking of the physical features of the county.
  • Ben Macdhui
    Ben Macdhui (Scotland)

    Ben Macdui, also spelled Ben Macdhui and Ben MacDui is the highest mountain in the Cairngorms of Scotland, and the second highest in the United Kingdom after Ben Nevis....
    , 1309 m (4296 ft), a magnificent mass, the second highest mountain in the United Kingdom
    United Kingdom

    The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom , the UK or Britain,is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe....
    ,
  • Braeriach
    Braeriach

    Braeriach is the third highest mountain in Scotland, surpassed only by Ben Nevis and Ben Macdhui . It is the highest point in the western massif of the Cairngorms, separated from the central section by the pass of the Lairig Ghru....
     1295 m (4248 ft),
  • Cairn Toul
    Cairn Toul

    Cairn Toul is the List of mountains and hills of the United Kingdom in Scotland, surpassed only by Ben Nevis, Ben Macdhui and Braeriach. It is the second highest point in the western massif of the Cairngorms, linked by a bealach at around 1125 m above sea level to Braeriach....
    , 1293 m (4241 ft),
  • Beinn a' Bhùird
    Beinn a' Bhùird

    Beinn a' Bh?ird is a Munro in the Cairngorms mountain range of Scotland.In Watson the author suggests the mountain should be named Beinn B?rd - table hill saying that local Scottish Gaelic speakers pronounced the mountain Paing B?rd, with some of the older local folk still using Painna B?rd....
    , 1196 m (3924 ft),
  • Ben Avon
    Ben Avon

    Ben Avon is a mountain in the Cairngorms mountains of Scotland. The highest point of the massif, known as Leabaidh an D?imh Bhuide is classified as both a Munro and a Marilyn ....
    , 1171 m (3843 ft),
  • "Dark" Lochnagar
    Lochnagar

    Lochnagar or Beinn Ch?ochan is a mountain in the Grampian Mountains of Scotland, located about five miles south of the River Dee, Aberdeenshire near Balmoral Castle....
    , 1154 m (3786 ft), the subject of a well-known song by Byron,
  • Cairn Eas, 1084 m (3556 ft),
  • Sgarsoch, 1037 m (3402 ft),
  • Culardoch 900 m (2953 ft),
are the principal heights in the division of Mar

Farther north rise the Buck of Cabrach, 722 m (2368 ft) on the Banffshire border, Tap o' Noth
Tap o' Noth

The Tap o' Noth is a hill fort on top of the Hill of Noth, 20 miles west of Inverurie in Aberdeenshire, Scotland at grid reference NJ485293. It is the second highest fort in Scotland and its main feature is its well-preserved Vitrified fort which encloses an area of approximately 100 m by 30 m....
, 558 m (1830 ft), Bennachie
Bennachie

Bennachie is a range of hills in Aberdeenshire , Scotland. It has several tops, the highest of which, Oxen Craig, has a height of 528 m ....
, 518 m (1698 ft), a beautiful peak which from its central position is a landmark visible from many different parts of the county, and which is celebrated in John Imlah's song, O gin I war faur the Gadie rins, and Foudland, 466 m (1529 ft).

Loch Muick in Winter
The chief rivers are the Dee
River Dee, Aberdeenshire

The River Dee is a river in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It source in the Cairngorms and flows through Strathdee to reach the North Sea at Aberdeen....
, 90 miles (145 km) long; the Don, 82 miles (132 km); the Ythan, 37 miles (60 km), with mussel-beds at its mouth; the Ugie, 20 miles (32 km), and the Deveron, 62 miles (100 km), partly on the boundary of Banffshire.

The rivers abound with salmon and trout, and the pearl mussel occurs in the Ythan and Don. A valuable pearl in the Scottish crown is said to be from the Ythan. Loch Muick
Loch Muick

Loch Muick is a 2-mile long freshwater loch in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It is fed from the west by the Allt an dubh Loch, which flows down from Dubh Loch....
, the largest of the few lakes in the county, 399 m (1310 ft) above the sea, 2½ miles (4 km) long and 1/3 to ½ miles (500 to 800 m) broad, lies some 8½ miles (14 km) southwest of Ballater
Ballater

Ballater is a burgh in Aberdeenshire , Scotland on the River Dee, Aberdeenshire, immediately east of the Cairngorm Mountains. Situated at a height of 123m in elevation, Ballater is a centre for hiking and is known for its spring , once said to cure scrofula....
, and has Altnagiuthasach, a royal shooting-box, near its south-western end. Loch Strathbeg
Loch Strathbeg

The Loch of Strathbeg is a designated Special Protection Area for wildlife conservation purposes. It is located near to Rattray, Aberdeenshire and Crimond in Aberdeenshire, Scotland....
, 6 miles (10 km) southeast of Fraserburgh, is only separated from the sea by a narrow strip of land. There are noted chalybeate
Chalybeate

Chalybeate is a word meaning "containing iron". Chalybeate waters are also known as ferruginous waters....
 springs at Peterhead, Fraserburgh, and Pannanich near Ballater
Ballater

Ballater is a burgh in Aberdeenshire , Scotland on the River Dee, Aberdeenshire, immediately east of the Cairngorm Mountains. Situated at a height of 123m in elevation, Ballater is a centre for hiking and is known for its spring , once said to cure scrofula....
.

Geology

The greater part of the county is composed of crystalline schist
Schist

The schists form a group of Erins metamorphic rocks, chiefly notable for the preponderance of lamellar minerals such as micas, Chlorite group, talc, hornblende, graphite, and others....
s belonging to the metamorphic rock
Metamorphic rock

Metamorphic rock is the result of the transformation of an existing rock type, the protolith, in a process called metamorphism, which means "change in form"....
s of the Eastern Highlands.

In the upper parts of the valleys of the Dee and the Don they form well-marked groups, of which the most characteristic are
  1. the black schists and phyllite
    Phyllite

    Phyllite is a type of Foliation metamorphic rock primarily composed of quartz, sericite mica, and Chlorite group; the rock represents a gradiation in the degree of metamorphism between slate and mica schist....
    s, with flints, and a thin band of tremolite
    Tremolite

    Tremolite is a member of the amphibole group of silicate minerals with composition: calcium2magnesium5silicon8oxygen222....
     limestone
    Limestone

    File:Limestone Formation In Waitomo.jpgLimestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the mineral calcite . The deposition of limestone strata is often a by-product and indicator of biological activity in the geology record....
    ,
  2. the main or Blair Atholl
    Blair Atholl

    Blair Atholl is a small town in Perthshire, Scotland, built about the confluence of the Rivers Tilt and Garry in one of the few areas of flat land in the midst of the Grampian Mountains....
     limestone,
  3. the quartzite
    Quartzite

    Quartzite is a hard metamorphic rock which was originally sandstone. Sandstone is converted into quartzite through heating and pressure usually related to tectonics compression within orogeny....
    .


These divisions are folded on highly inclined or vertical axes trending north-east and south-west, and hence the same zones are repeated over a considerable area. The quartzite is generally regarded as the highest member of the series. Excellent sections showing the component strata occur in Glen Clunie and its tributary valleys above Braemar. Eastwards down the Dee and the Don and northwards across the plain of Buchan towards Rattray Head
Rattray Head

Rattray Head is a Headlands and bays in Buchan, Aberdeenshire, on the north east coast Scotland. To north lies Strathbeg Bay and Rattray Bay is to its south....
 and Fraserburgh there is a development of biotite
Biotite

Biotite is a common Silicate minerals#Phyllosilicates mineral within the mica group, with the approximate chemical formula K3AlSi3O102....
 gneiss
Gneiss

Gneiss is a common and widely distributed type of Rock formed by high-grade regional metamorphic rock processes from pre-existing formations that were originally either igneous rock or Sedimentary rock rocks....
, partly of sedimentary
Sedimentary rock

Sedimentary rock is one of the three main Rock types . Sedimentary rock is formed by deposition and consolidation of mineral and organic material and from precipitation of minerals from solution....
 and perhaps partly of igneous
Igneous rock

Igneous rock is one of the three main Rock types . Igneous rock is formed by magma being cooled and becoming solid . They may form with or without crystallization, either below the surface as Intrusion rocks or on the surface as extrusive rocks....
 origin. A belt of slate which has been quarried for roofing purposes runs along the west border of the county from Turriff by Auchterless and the Foudland Hills
Foudland Hills

The Foudland Hills is a mountainous landform in the northeast of Aberdeenshire and northwest of Morayshire. The Foudland Hills are a prominent feature along the northern coastal region of Aberdeenshire, and are visible from somewhat distant points such as Longman Hill to the east....
 towards the Tap o' Noth near Gartly
Gartly

Gartly is an inland hamlet in Aberdeenshire, Scotland that is several miles south of the town of Huntly, and is situated on the River Bogie, a tributary of the River Deveron....
. The metamorphic rocks have been invaded by igneous materials, some before, and by far the larger series after the folding of the strata.

The basic types of the former are represented by the sills of epidiorite and hornblende
Hornblende

Hornblende is a complex silicate minerals series of minerals. Hornblende is not a recognized mineral in its own right, but the name is used as a general or field term, to refer to a dark amphibole....
 gneiss in Glen Muick and Glen Callater, which have been permeated by granite
Granite

Granite is a common and widely occurring type of Intrusion , felsic, igneous rock rock . Granite has a medium to coarse texture, occasionally with some individual crystals larger than the groundmass forming a rock known as Porphyry ....
 and pegmatite
Pegmatite

Pegmatite is a very coarse-grained igneous rock that has a grain size of 20 mm or more; such rocks are referred to as pegmatitic.Most pegmatites are composed of quartz, feldspar and mica; in essence a "granite"....
 in vein
Vein

In the circulatory system, veins are blood vessels that carry blood toward the heart. Most veins carry deoxygenated blood from the tissues back to the heart; exceptions are the pulmonary vein and umbilical veins, both of which carry oxygenated blood....
s and lenticles, often foliated. The later granites subsequent to the plication of the schists have a wide distribution on the Ben Macdhui and Ben Avon range, and on Lochnagar; they stretch eastwards from Ballater by Tarland to Aberdeen
Aberdeen

Aberdeen is Scotland's third most populous City status in the United Kingdom and one of Scotland's 32 Local government in Scotland Council areas of Scotland....
 and north to Bennachie. Isolated masses appear at Peterhead and at Strichen.

Though consisting mainly of biotite granite, these later intrusions pass by intermediate stages into diorite
Diorite

Diorite is a grey to dark grey intermediate Intrusion igneous rock composed principally of plagioclase feldspar , biotite, hornblende, and/or pyroxene....
, as in the area between Balmoral and the head-waters of the Gairn. The granites have been extensively quarried at Rubislaw, Peterhead and Kemnay
Kemnay

Kemnay is a village 16 miles west of Aberdeen in Scotland. It has a population of about 7040 ....
.

Serpentine
Serpentine

The serpentine group describes a group of common rock-forming hydroxy magnesium iron Silicate minerals#Phyllosilicates minerals; they may contain minor amounts of other elements including chromium, manganese, cobalt and nickel....
 and troctolite
Troctolite

Troctolite is a rare ultramafic intrusive rock type. It consists essentially of variable amounts of olivine and calcic plagioclase along with variable minor pyroxene....
, the precise age of which is uncertain, occur at the Black Dog
Black dog

Black dog may refer to:*Black Dog ,a small rural village in mid devon*Black dog , a ghostly dog in British folklore*Black Dog , a 1998 film*Black Dog , a song by Led Zeppelin from Led Zeppelin IV...
 rock north of Aberdeen
Aberdeen

Aberdeen is Scotland's third most populous City status in the United Kingdom and one of Scotland's 32 Local government in Scotland Council areas of Scotland....
, at Belhelvie and near Old Meldrum. Where the schists of sedimentary origin have been pierced by these igneous intrusions, they are charged with contact minerals such as sillimanite
Sillimanite

Sillimanite also called Bucholzite is an alumino-silicate mineral with the chemical formula Al2SiO5. Sillimanite is named after the American chemist Benjamin Silliman ....
, cordierite
Cordierite

Cordierite or iolite is a magnesium iron aluminium Silicate minerals. Iron is almost always present and a solid solution exists between Mg-rich cordierite and Fe-rich sekaninaite with a series formula: 2aluminum3 to 2Al3....
, kyanite
Kyanite

Kyanite, whose name derives from the Greek word kyanos, meaning blue, is a typically blue silicate mineral, commonly found in aluminium-rich metamorphic pegmatites and/or sedimentary rock....
 and andalusite
Andalusite

Andalusite is an aluminium Silicate minerals mineral with the chemical formula Al2SiO5.The variety chiastolite commonly contains dark inclusions of carbon or clay which form a checker-board pattern when shown in cross-section....
. Cordierite-bearing rocks occur near Ellon, at the foot of Bennachie, and on the top of the Buck of Cabrach.

A banded and mottled calc
Calcium

Calcium is the chemical element with the symbol Ca and atomic number 20. It has an atomic mass of 40.078 amu. Calcium is a soft grey alkaline earth metal, and is the fifth most abundant element by mass in the earth's Crust ....
-silicate
Silicate

A silicate is a compound containing an anion in which one or more central silicon atoms are surrounded by electronegative ligands. This definition is broad enough to include species such as hexafluorosilicate , [SiF6]2-, but the silicate species that are encountered most often consist of silicon with oxygen as the ligand...
 hornfels occurring with the limestone
Limestone

File:Limestone Formation In Waitomo.jpgLimestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the mineral calcite . The deposition of limestone strata is often a by-product and indicator of biological activity in the geology record....
 at Derry Falls, west-northwest of Braemar, has yielded malacolite, wollastonite
Wollastonite

Wollastonite is a calcium Silicate minerals mineral that may contain small amounts of iron, magnesium, and manganese substituting for calcium. It is usually white....
, brown idocrase, garnet
Garnet

The garnet group includes a group of minerals that have been used since the Bronze Age as gemstones and abrasives. The name "garnet" comes from the Latin language granatus , possibly a reference to the Punica granatum , a plant with red seeds similar in shape, size, and color to some garnet crystals....
, sphene and hornblende.

A larger list of minerals
List of minerals

This is a List of minerals for which there are Wikipedia articles. Mineral variety names and mineraloids are to be listed after the valid minerals for each letter....
 has been obtained from an exposure of limestone and associated beds in Glen Gairn, about four miles (6 km) above the point where that river joins the Dee.

Narrow belts of Old Red Sandstone
Sandstone

Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-size mineral or rock Particle size . Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust ....
, resting unconformably on the old platform of slate
Slate

Slate is a fine-grained, foliation , homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcano ash through low grade regional metamorphism....
s and schists, have been traced from the north coast at Peterhead by Turriff to Fyvie
Fyvie

Fyvie is a small village in the region of Buchan, in Aberdeenshire, Scotland.It lies alongside the River Ythan and is on the A947 road. Fyvie is host to Fyvie Castle reputed to be home to some of the ancient Scotland kings....
, and also from Huntly by Gartly to Kildrummy Castle
Kildrummy Castle

Kildrummy Castle is a ruined castle near Kildrummy, in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, United Kingdom. Though ruined, it is one of the most extensive castles of 12th century date to survive in eastern Scotland, and was the seat of the Earls of Mar....
. The strata consist mainly of conglomerates
Conglomerate (geology)

A conglomerate is a Rock consisting of individual stones that have become cemented together. Conglomerates are sedimentary rocks consisting of rounded fragments and are thus differentiated from breccias, which consist of angular clasts....
 and sandstones, which, at Gartly and at Rhynie, are associated with lenticular bands of andesite
Andesite

Andesite is an igneous rock, volcanic rock, of Igneous rock#Chemical classification, with aphanitic to porphyritic texture. The mineral assemblage is typically dominated by plagioclase plus pyroxene and/or hornblende....
 indicating contemporaneous volcanic
Volcano

A volcano is an opening, or rupture, in a planet's surface or Crust , which allows hot, molten rock, ash, and gases to escape from below the surface....
 action. Small outliers of conglomerate and sandstone of this age have recently been found in the course of excavations in Aberdeen.

The glacial deposits, especially in the belt bordering the coast between Aberdeen
Aberdeen

Aberdeen is Scotland's third most populous City status in the United Kingdom and one of Scotland's 32 Local government in Scotland Council areas of Scotland....
 and Peterhead, furnish important evidence. The ice moved eastwards off the high ground at the head of the Dee and the Don, while the mass spreading outwards from the Moray Firth invaded the low plateau of Buchan
Buchan

Buchan is one of the six committee areas and administrative areas of Aberdeenshire Council, Scotland. These areas were created by the council in 1996, when the Aberdeenshire Council areas of Scotland was created under the Local Government etc Act 1994....
; but at a certain stage there was a marked defection northwards parallel with the coast, as proved by the deposit of red clay
Clay

Clay is a naturally occurring material composed primarily of fine-grained minerals, which show plasticity through a variable range of water content, and which can be hardened when dried and/or fired....
 north of Aberdeen
Aberdeen

Aberdeen is Scotland's third most populous City status in the United Kingdom and one of Scotland's 32 Local government in Scotland Council areas of Scotland....
. At a later date the local glacier
Glacier

A glacier is a large, slow-moving mass of ice, formed from compacted layers of snow, that slowly deforms and flows in response to gravity and high pressure....
s laid down materials on top of the red clay.

The committee appointed by the British Association proved that the Greensand, which has yielded a large suite of Cretaceous
Cretaceous

The Cretaceous , usually abbreviated K for its German translation Kreide, is a geologic period from circa to million years ago . In the geologic timescale, the Cretaceous follows on the Jurassic period and is followed by the Paleogene period....
 fossils at Moreseat, in the parish of Cruden, occurs in glacial drift, resting probably on granite. The strata from which the Moreseat fossils were derived are not now found in place in that part of Scotland
Scotland

conventional_long_name = ScotlandAlba|common_name= Scotland|image_flag = Flag of Scotland.svg|flag_width = 130px...
, but Mr Jukes Brown considers that the horizon of the fossils is that of the lower Greensand of the Isle of Wight or the Aptien stage of France
France

France , officially the French Republic , is a country whose Metropolitan France is located in Western Europe and that also comprises various Overseas departments and territories of France....
. Chalk flints are widely distributed in the drift between Fyvie and the east coast of Buchan. At Plaidy a patch of clay with Liassic fossils occurs. At several localities between Logie Coldstone and Dinnet a deposit of diatomite (Kieselguhr) occurs beneath the peat
Peat

Peat is an accumulation of partially decayed vegetation biological tissue. Peat forms in wetlands or peatlands, variously called bogs, Moorland, muskegs, pocosins, mires, and peat swamp forests....
.

Flora and fauna

The tops of the highest mountains have an Arctic flora. At the royal lodge on Loch Muick
Loch Muick

Loch Muick is a 2-mile long freshwater loch in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It is fed from the west by the Allt an dubh Loch, which flows down from Dubh Loch....
, 411 m (1350 ft) above the sea, grow larches, vegetables, currants, laurels, roses, etc. Some ash-trees, 1 to 1.5 m (4 or 5 ft) in girth, grow at 400 m (1300 ft) above the sea. Trees, especially Scotch fir and larch, grow well, and Braemar has plentiful natural timber, said to surpass any in the north of Europe
Europe

Europe is, conventionally, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural , the Caspian Sea, and by the Caucasus Mountains to the southeast....
. Stumps of Scotch fir and oak found in peat sometimes far exceed any now growing in size.

Moles occur at 550 m (1800 ft) above the sea, and squirrels at 450 m (1400 ft). Grouse, partridges and hares abound, and rabbits are often too numerous. Red deer abound in Braemar, which has the most extensive deer forest in Scotland
Scotland

conventional_long_name = ScotlandAlba|common_name= Scotland|image_flag = Flag of Scotland.svg|flag_width = 130px...
.

Climate and agriculture

Except in the mountainous districts, Aberdeenshire has a comparatively mild climate, owing to the proximity of much of the shire to the sea. The mean annual temperature at Braemar reaches 6 °C (44 °F), and that at Aberdeen
Aberdeen

Aberdeen is Scotland's third most populous City status in the United Kingdom and one of Scotland's 32 Local government in Scotland Council areas of Scotland....
 8 °C (46 °F). The mean yearly rainfall varies from about 750 to 950 mm (30 to 37 in). In summer the upper Dee and Don valleys provide the driest and most bracing climate in the British Isles
British Isles

The British Isles are a group of islands off the northwest coast of continental Europe that include Great Britain and Ireland, and numerous smaller islands....
, and grain grows cultivated up to 500 m (1600 ft) above the sea, or 100 to 150 m (400 to 500 ft) higher than elsewhere in North Britain. Poor, gravelly, clayey and peaty soils prevail, but tile-draining, bones and guano, and the best methods of modern tillage, have greatly increased the produce. Indeed, in no part of Scotland
Scotland

conventional_long_name = ScotlandAlba|common_name= Scotland|image_flag = Flag of Scotland.svg|flag_width = 130px...
 has a more productive soil developed out of such unpromising material. Farm-houses and steadings have much improved, and the best agricultural implements and machines get widespread use. About two-thirds of the population depend entirely on agriculture. Farms are small compared with those in the south-eastern counties. Oats form the predominant crop, wheat has practically gone out of cultivation, but barley has largely increased. The most distinctive industry is cattle-feeding. Aberdeenshire fattens a great number of the home-bred crosses for the London
London

London is the capital of both England and the United Kingdom, and the most populous municipality in the European Union. An important settlement for two millennia, History of London goes back to its founding by the Roman Empire....
 and local markets, and imports Irish animals on an extensive scale for the same purpose, while an exceedingly heavy trade in dead meat for London
London

London is the capital of both England and the United Kingdom, and the most populous municipality in the European Union. An important settlement for two millennia, History of London goes back to its founding by the Roman Empire....
 and the south occurs all over the county. Farmers also raise sheep, horses and pigs in large numbers.

Fisheries

A large fishing
Fishing

Fishing is the activity of catching fish. Fishing techniques include Fish net, Fish trap, Spearfishing, angling and Gathering seafood by hand. The term fishing may be applied to catching other aquatic animals such as different types of shellfish, squid, octopus, turtles, Edible frog and some edible marine invertebrates....
 population in villages along the coast engage in the white and herring fishery, fostering the next most important industry to agriculture.

Aberdeenshire fishing developed almost exclusively due to the introduction of steam trawlers. The total value of the annual catch, of which between a half and a third consists of herrings, amounts to £1,000,000.

The industry produces both speldings (salted and rock-dried haddocks) and finnans (smoked haddocks). The ports and creeks belong to the fishery districts of Peterhead, Fraserburgh and Aberdeen, the last of which includes also three Kincardineshire ports. The herring season for Aberdeen
Aberdeen

Aberdeen is Scotland's third most populous City status in the United Kingdom and one of Scotland's 32 Local government in Scotland Council areas of Scotland....
, Peterhead and Fraserburgh lasts from June to September, at which time the ports become crowded with boats from other Scottish districts. Valuable salmon-fishings exist - rod, net and stake-net - on the Dee, Don, Ythan and Ugie.

The average annual despatch of salmon
Salmon

Salmon is the common name for several species of fish of the family Salmonidae. Several other fish in the family are called trout,the difference is often attributed to the migratory life of the salmon as compared to the residential behaviour of trout, this holds true for the Atlantic salmon....
 from Aberdeenshire comprises about .

Other industries

Manufactures mainly cluster in or near the city of Aberdeen
Aberdeen

Aberdeen is Scotland's third most populous City status in the United Kingdom and one of Scotland's 32 Local government in Scotland Council areas of Scotland....
, but throughout the rural districts one finds much milling of corn, brick and tile making, smith-work, brewing and distilling, cart and farm-implement making, casting and drying of peat, and timber-felling, especially on Deeside and Donside, for pit-props, railway sleepers, laths and barrel staves. A number of paper-making establishments operate, most of them on the Don near Aberdeen
Aberdeen

Aberdeen is Scotland's third most populous City status in the United Kingdom and one of Scotland's 32 Local government in Scotland Council areas of Scotland....
.

The chief mineral wealth comes from the noted durable granite
Granite

Granite is a common and widely occurring type of Intrusion , felsic, igneous rock rock . Granite has a medium to coarse texture, occasionally with some individual crystals larger than the groundmass forming a rock known as Porphyry ....
, quarried at Aberdeen
Aberdeen

Aberdeen is Scotland's third most populous City status in the United Kingdom and one of Scotland's 32 Local government in Scotland Council areas of Scotland....
, Kemnay, Peterhead and elsewhere including for causewaying stones. Sandstone
Sandstone

Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-size mineral or rock Particle size . Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust ....
 and other rocks are also quarried at different parts. The shire imports mostly coal, lime, timber, iron, slate, raw materials for the textile manufactures, wheat, cattle-feeding stuffs, bones, guano, sugar, alcoholic liquors, fruits. The exports include granite (rough-dressed and polished), flax, woollen and cotton goods, paper, combs, preserved provisions, oats, barley, and live and dead cattle.

Communications

On the south Aberdeen
Aberdeen

Aberdeen is Scotland's third most populous City status in the United Kingdom and one of Scotland's 32 Local government in Scotland Council areas of Scotland....
 city has rail links with Stonehaven
Stonehaven

Stonehaven is a town in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It lies on Scotland's northeast coast and had a population of 9,577 in 2001 census.Stonehave, county town of Kincardineshire, grew around an Iron Age fishing village, now the "Auld Toon" , and expanded inland from the Seaside....
, Montrose
Montrose, Angus

Montrose is a coastal resort town and former royal burgh in Angus, Scotland. It is situated 38 miles north east of Dundee between the mouths of the North and South Esk rivers....
 and Dundee
Dundee

Dundee is the fourth-largest City status in the United Kingdom in Scotland and, fully named as Dundee City, one of Scotland's 32 Local government in Scotland Council areas of Scotland....
, and to the north-west a line runs to Inverness
Inverness

Inverness is a City status in the United Kingdom in northern Scotland. The city is the administrative centre for the Highland Council areas of Scotland, and it is promoted as the capital of the Scottish Highlands....
 via Huntly, Keith and Elgin
Elgin, Moray

Elgin is a former cathedral city and a former Royal Burgh in Moray, Scotland and is the administrative and commercial centre for Moray. The town originated to the south of the River Lossie on the higher ground above the flood plain....
.

Branch lines from various points used to run to several smaller towns, e.g. from Aberdeen
Aberdeen

Aberdeen is Scotland's third most populous City status in the United Kingdom and one of Scotland's 32 Local government in Scotland Council areas of Scotland....
 to Ballater by Deeside
Deeside

For Strathdee in Scotland see River Dee, AberdeenshireDeeside is the name given to the predominantly industrial conurbation of towns that are on, or near the River Dee, Wales in Flintshire, north east Wales....
, from Aberdeen
Aberdeen

Aberdeen is Scotland's third most populous City status in the United Kingdom and one of Scotland's 32 Local government in Scotland Council areas of Scotland....
 to Fraserburgh
Fraserburgh

Fraserburgh is a town in Aberdeenshire , Scotland with a population recorded in the United Kingdom Census 2001 at 12,454. It lies at the extreme northeast corner of Aberdeenshire, around north of Aberdeen, and north of Peterhead....
 (with a branch at Maud for Peterhead
Peterhead

Peterhead is a town in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It is Aberdeenshire's largest settlement, having a population of 19,000 at the United Kingdom Census 2001....
 and at Ellon for Cruden Bay
Cruden Bay

Cruden Bay is a village in Scotland, on the north coast of the Bay of Cruden in Aberdeenshire, 26 miles North of Aberdeen.Just south of Slains Castle, Cruden Bay was the site of a battle between Denmark and Scottish people under King Malcolm II of Scotland in 1012....
 and Boddam), from Kintore to Alford, and from Inverurie to Old Meldrum and also to Macduff. These lines all closed, largely as a result of the Beeching Axe
Beeching Axe

The Beeching Axe is an informal name for the HM Government's attempt in the 1960s to reduce the cost of running British Railways, the nationalised railway system in the United Kingdom....
 in the 1960s, they now serve as local pathways or bicycle tracks.

By sea Aberdeenshire has regular communication with the Orkney Islands
Orkney Islands

Orkney is an archipelago in northern Scotland, situated 10 miles north of the coast of Caithness. Orkney comprises over 70 islands; around 20 are inhabited....
 and the Shetland Islands
Shetland Islands

Shetland is an archipelago in Scotland, off the northeast coast. The islands lie to the northeast of Orkney, from the Faroe Islands and form part of the division between the Atlantic Ocean to the west and the North Sea to the east....
.

The highest of the macadamized roads crossing the eastern Grampians rises to a point above sea-level.

Population and government

In 1801 the population numbered 284,036 and in 1901 304,439 (of whom 159,603 were females), or 154 persons to the square mile (59/km²). In 1901 Aberdeenshire had 8 persons who spoke Gaelic only, and 1333 who spoke Gaelic and English. The chief towns include Aberdeen
Aberdeen

Aberdeen is Scotland's third most populous City status in the United Kingdom and one of Scotland's 32 Local government in Scotland Council areas of Scotland....
 (population in 1901, 153,503), Bucksburn (2231), Fraserburgh (9105), Huntly (4136), Inverurie (3624), Peterhead (11,794), Turriff (2273).

The Supreme Court of Justiciary sits in Aberdeen
Aberdeen

Aberdeen is Scotland's third most populous City status in the United Kingdom and one of Scotland's 32 Local government in Scotland Council areas of Scotland....
 to try cases from the counties of Aberdeen, Banff and Kincardine. The three counties are under a sheriff, and two sheriffs-substitute reside in Aberdeen, who sit also at Fraserburgh, Huntly, Peterhead and Turriff. The sheriff courts occur in Aberdeen
Aberdeen

Aberdeen is Scotland's third most populous City status in the United Kingdom and one of Scotland's 32 Local government in Scotland Council areas of Scotland....
 and Peterhead.

The higher branches of education have always been thoroughly taught in the schools throughout the shire, and pupils have long been in the habit of going directly from the schools to the university.

Aberdeenshire people have a quick, sharp, rather angry accent. The local Scots
Scots language

Scots or Lowland Scots refers to the Germanic Variety derived from Middle English spoken in parts of Lowland Scotland, Northern Ireland and the border areas of the Republic of Ireland....
 dialect, affectionally known as the Doric
Doric dialect (Scotland)

Doric was formerly used to refer to all dialects of Scots language but is now usually used as a name for the dialect spoken in the north-east of Scotland....
, appears broad, and rich in diminutives, and is noted for the use of /i/ in bane and stane and muin but /wi/ before /g/ and /k/ in guid and cuit etc., the /f/ realisation of wh, /d/ for medial th /ð/ etc. As recently as 1830 Gaelic provided the fireside language of almost every family in Braemar, but by the start of the 20th century was little used.

History

The country later forming the shires of Aberdeen
Aberdeen

Aberdeen is Scotland's third most populous City status in the United Kingdom and one of Scotland's 32 Local government in Scotland Council areas of Scotland....
 and Banff once served as home to the northern Picts, whom Ptolemy called Taixall, dubbing the territory Taixalon. Their town of Devana, once supposed to be the modern Aberdeen
Aberdeen

Aberdeen is Scotland's third most populous City status in the United Kingdom and one of Scotland's 32 Local government in Scotland Council areas of Scotland....
, has been identified by John Stuart
John Stuart

John Stuart may refer to:*John Stuart, 4th Earl of Atholl *John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute , Prime Minister of Great Britain from 1762?1763*John Stuart , British Superintendent of Indian Affairs in the southern colonies during the American Revolution...
 with a site in the parish of Peterculter, where there are remains of an ancient camp at Normandykes
Normandykes

Normandykes is a Roman camp situated near the present day town of Peterculter, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. . The site comprises approximately and is in proximity to the River Dee, Aberdeenshire....
, and by William Forbes Skene
William Forbes Skene

William Forbes Skene , Scotland historian and antiquary, was the second son of Sir Walter Scott's friend, James Skene , of Rubislaw, near Aberdeen....
 with a station on Loch Davan, west of Aboyne
Aboyne

Aboyne is a village on the edge of the Scottish Highlands in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, on the River Dee, Aberdeenshire, approximately 30 miles west of Aberdeen....
. Roman Camps have also been discovered on the upper Ythan and Deveron, but evidence of effective Roman occupation is still to seek. Traces of the native inhabitants, however, occur much more frequently. Weem
Weem

Weem is a village on the B846 near Aberfeldy, Scotland in Perthshire, Scotland.The name Weem is derived from the Gaelic "Uaimh" meaning Cave....
s or earth-houses occur fairly commonly in the west. Relics of crannog
Crannog

A crann?g is an artificial island, usually originally built in lakes, rivers and estuary waters, and most often used as an island settlement or dwelling place in prehistoric or Middle Ages times....
s or lake-dwellings exist at Loch Ceander, or Kinnord, five miles (8 km) north-east of Ballater, at Loch Goul in the parish of New Machar and elsewhere. Dun
Dun

Dun is now used both as a generic term for a fort and also for a specific variety of Atlantic roundhouse. In some areas they seem to have been built on any suitable crag or hillock, particularly south of the Firth of Clyde and the Firth of Forth down across the border into Northumberland....
s or forts occur on hills at Dunecht
Dunecht

Dunecht is a slightly linear village on the A944 road in north-east Aberdeenshire in Scotland. It is not to be confused with Echt, Aberdeenshire....
, where the dun encloses an area of two acres (8,000 m2), Barra near Old Meldrum, Tap o' Noth, Dunnideer near Insch
Insch

Insch is a town in Garioch, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It is located approximately from the city of Aberdeen. Auchleven and Premnay are villages associated with Insch....
 and other places. Monolith
Monolith

A monolith is a geological feature such as a mountain, consisting of a single massive Rock or rock, or a single piece of rock placed as, or within, a monument....
s, standing stone
Standing stone

Standing stones, orthostats, liths or more commonly, megaliths because of their large and cumbersome size, are solitary stones set vertically in the ground and come in many different varieties....
s and "druidical" circles of the pagan period
Stone circle

A stone circle is an ancient monument. Such a monument is not always precisely circular and often forms an ellipse, or a setting of four stones laid on an arc of a circle....
 abound, as do many examples of the sculptured stones of the early Christian
Christianity

Christianity is a Monotheistic religion #Christian view religion centered on the life and teachings of Jesus as New Testament view on Jesus' life....
 epoch.

Efforts to convert the Picts started with Teman in the 5th century, and continued with Columba
Columba

Early life in IrelandColumba was born to Fedlimid and Eithne of the Cenel Conaill in Gartan, near Lough Gartan, County Donegal, in Ireland. On his father's side he was great-great-grandson of Niall of the Nine Hostages, an High King of Ireland of the 5th century....
 (who founded a monastery at Old Deer), Drostan
Drostan

Saint Drostan , also Drustan, Dustan, and Throstan, was the founder and abbot of the monastery of Old Deer in Aberdeenshire. His relics were translation to the church at New Aberdour and his holy well lies nearby....
, Maluog, and Machar
Machar

Machar may refer to:* Agnes Maule Machar , Canadian author* Josef Svatopluk Machar , Czech poet and essayist* Machair , a type of fertile low-lying raised beach...
, lasting results emerged only slowly. Indeed, dissensions within the Columban church and the expulsion of the clergy from Pictland by the Pictish king Nectan in the 8th century undid most of the progress that missionaries had made. The Vikings and Danes periodically raided the coast, but after Macbeth
Macbeth

Macbeth is a tragedy by William Shakespeare about a regicide and its aftermath. It is Shakespeare's shortest Shakespearean tragedy and is believed to have been written some time between 1603 and 1606, with 1607 being the very latest possible date....
 ascended the throne of Scotland
Scotland

conventional_long_name = ScotlandAlba|common_name= Scotland|image_flag = Flag of Scotland.svg|flag_width = 130px...
 in 1040, the Orkney men, under the guidance of Thorfinn Sigurdsson
Thorfinn Sigurdsson, Earl of Orkney

Thorfinn Sigurdsson , called Thorfinn the Mighty, was Earl of Orkney. One of four brothers , sons of Earl Sigurd Hlodvirsson by his marriage to the daughter of Malcolm II of Scotland....
, refrained from further trouble in the north-east. Macbeth
Macbeth

Macbeth is a tragedy by William Shakespeare about a regicide and its aftermath. It is Shakespeare's shortest Shakespearean tragedy and is believed to have been written some time between 1603 and 1606, with 1607 being the very latest possible date....
 was afterwards slain at Lumphanan
Lumphanan

Lumphanan, is a village in Aberdeenshire, Scotland located 25 miles from Aberdeen and 10 miles from Banchory. It has two pubs, one in the village called "The MacBeth Arms" and one about three miles from the village centre named "The Cross"....
 (1057), a cairn on Perkhill marking the spot.

The influence of the Norman
Normans

The Normans were the people who gave their names to Normandy, a region in northern France. They descended from Viking conquerors of the territory and the native population of mostly Frankish and Gallo-Roman stock....
 conquest of England
England

native_name =|conventional_long_name = England|common_name = England|image_flag = Flag of England.svg|image_coat = England COA.svg|symbol_type = Royal Coat of Arms...
 made itself felt even in Aberdeenshire. Along with numerous Anglo-Saxon exiles, there also settled in the country Flemings who introduced various industries, Saxons
Saxons

The Saxons were a confederation of Germanic peoples. Their modern-day descendants in Saxony are considered ethnic Germans; those in the eastern Netherlands are considered to be ethnic Dutch people; those in north eastern Belgium are considered to be ethnic Flemish people; and those in southern England ethnic English people ....
 who brought farming, and Scandinavians who taught nautical skill. The Celts revolted more than once, but Malcolm Canmore
Malcolm III of Scotland

M?el Coluim mac Donnchada , called in most Anglicisation regnal lists Malcolm III, and in later centuries nicknamed Canmore, "Big Head" or Long-neck , was King of Scots....
 and his successors crushed them and confiscated their lands. In the reign of Alexander I
Alexander I of Scotland

Alexander I or Alaxandair mac Ma?l Coluim , called "The Fierce", King of the Scots or King of Alba, was the fourth son of M?el Coluim mac Donnchada by his wife Saint Margaret of Scotland, grand-niece of Edward the Confessor....
 (ruled 1107 - 1124) mention first appears of Aberdeen
Aberdeen

Aberdeen is Scotland's third most populous City status in the United Kingdom and one of Scotland's 32 Local government in Scotland Council areas of Scotland....
 (originally called Abordon and, in the Norse sagas, Apardion), which received its charter from William the Lion
William I of Scotland

William I , known as the Lion or Garbh, "the Rough", reigned as King of Scots from 1165 to 1214. His reign was the second longest in Scottish history before the Acts of Union 1707 with England in 1707, ....
 in 1179, by which date its burgesses had already combined with those of Banff, Elgin, Inverness
Inverness

Inverness is a City status in the United Kingdom in northern Scotland. The city is the administrative centre for the Highland Council areas of Scotland, and it is promoted as the capital of the Scottish Highlands....
 and other trans-Grampian communities to form a free Hanse, under which they enjoyed exceptional trading privileges. By this time, too, the Church had extended its organisation, establishing the bishopric of Aberdeen
Aberdeen

Aberdeen is Scotland's third most populous City status in the United Kingdom and one of Scotland's 32 Local government in Scotland Council areas of Scotland....
 in 1150.

In the 12th and 13th centuries some of the great Aberdeenshire families arose, including the earl of Mar (c. 1122), the Leslies, Freskins (ancestors of the dukes of Sutherland), Durwards, Bysets, Comyns and Cheynes; significantly, in most cases their founders had immigrated to the district.

The Celtic thanes and their retainers slowly fused with the settlers. They declined to take advantage of the disturbed condition of the country during the wars of the Scots independence, and made common cause with the bulk of the nation.

Though John Comyn (d. 1300?), one of the competitors for the throne, had considerable interests in the shire, his claim received locally little support. In 1296 Edward I
Edward I of England

Edward I , popularly known as Longshanks, the English Justinian, and the Hammer of the Scots , was a House of Plantagenet King of England who achieved historical fame by conquering large parts of Wales and almost succeeding in doing the same to Scotland....
 made a triumphal march to the north to terrorise the more turbulent nobles. Next year William Wallace
William Wallace

William Wallace was a Scotland knight and landowner who is known for leading a resistance during the Wars of Scottish Independence and regarded as a patriot and national hero....
 surprised the English
England

native_name =|conventional_long_name = England|common_name = England|image_flag = Flag of England.svg|image_coat = England COA.svg|symbol_type = Royal Coat of Arms...
 garrison in Aberdeen
Aberdeen

Aberdeen is Scotland's third most populous City status in the United Kingdom and one of Scotland's 32 Local government in Scotland Council areas of Scotland....
, but failed to capture the castle. In 1303 Edward again visited the county, halting at the Castle of Kildrummy, then in the possession of Robert Bruce
Robert I of Scotland

Robert I, King of the Scots usually known in modern English as Robert the Bruce was King of the Scots from 1306 until his death in 1329....
, who shortly afterwards became the acknowledged leader of the Scots and made Aberdeen
Aberdeen

Aberdeen is Scotland's third most populous City status in the United Kingdom and one of Scotland's 32 Local government in Scotland Council areas of Scotland....
 his headquarters for several months. Despite the seizure of Kildrummy Castle by the English in 1306, Bruce's prospects brightened from 1308, when he defeated John Comyn, earl of Buchan (died 1313?), at Inverurie
Inverurie

Inverurie is a Royal Burgh in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, approximately 16 miles north west of Aberdeen on the A96 road and lies on the Northern Express Railway Route from Aberdeen to Inverness....
.

For a hundred years after Robert Bruce's death (1329) intermittent anarchy occurred in the shire. The English burned Aberdeen
Aberdeen

Aberdeen is Scotland's third most populous City status in the United Kingdom and one of Scotland's 32 Local government in Scotland Council areas of Scotland....
 itself in 1336, and the re-settlement of the districts of Buchan
Buchan

Buchan is one of the six committee areas and administrative areas of Aberdeenshire Council, Scotland. These areas were created by the council in 1996, when the Aberdeenshire Council areas of Scotland was created under the Local Government etc Act 1994....
 and Strathbogie occasioned constant quarrels on the part of the dispossessed. Moreover, the crown had embroiled itself with some of the Highland chieftains, whose independence it sought to abolish. This policy culminated in the invasion of Aberdeenshire by Donald, Lord of the Isles
Domhnall of Islay, Lord of the Isles

Donald, or properly, Domhnall of Islay , was the son and successor of John of Islay, Lord of the Isles and chief of Clan Donald. The Lord of the Isles was based in and around the Scotland west-coast island of Islay, but under Domhnall's father had come to include many of the other islands off the west coast of Scotland, as well as Mor...
, who, however, suffered defeat at Harlaw, near Inverurie, at the hands of the Earl of Mar in 1411.

In the 15th century two further leading county families emerged: Sir Alexander Forbes
Alexander Forbes, 1st Lord Forbes

Alexander de Forbes , 1st Lord Forbes , also feudal baron of Forbes, was a Scotland Peerage.He was the eldest son of Sir Alexander de Forbes , Justiciary of Aberdeen, and Coroner of that county, by his wife, a daughter of Kennedy of Dunure....
 becoming Lord Forbes about 1442, and Sir Alexander Seton
Alexander Gordon, 1st Earl of Huntly

Alexander Seton , 1st Earl of Huntly , was a powerful 15th century Scottish magnate. He was knighted in 1439/40 and was Lord of Badenoch, & Cluny....
, Lord Gordon in 1437 and Earl of Huntly in 1445. Bitter feuds raged between these families for a long period, but the Gordons reached the height of their power in the first half of the 16th century, when their domains, already vast, were enhanced by the acquisition, through marriage, of the Earldom of Sutherland
Earl of Sutherland

The title of Earl of Sutherland is an ancient one in the Peerage of Scotland, created circa 1230. The Earl of Sutherland was also the Chief of Clan Sutherland....
 (1514).

Meanwhile commerce with the Low Countries, Poland
Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe. Poland is bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian Enclave and exclave, to the north....
 and the Baltic had grown apace, Campvere (Veere in Dutch
Dutch language

Dutch is a West Germanic languages spoken by over 22 million people as a first language, and about 5 million people as a second language."1% of the EU population claims to speak Dutch well enough in order to have a conversation." Outside the European Union the number of second language speakers of Dutch is very small. Most native...
), near Flushing (Vlissingen) in the Netherlands
Netherlands

The Netherlands is a country that is part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is a parliamentary democratic constitutional monarchy. The Netherlands is located in North-West Europe, and bordered by the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east....
, becoming the emporium of the Scottish traders, while education was fostered by the foundation of King's College, Aberdeen
King's College, Aberdeen

King's College in Old Aberdeen, Scotland, is a formerly independent university founded in 1495 and an integral part of the University of Aberdeen ....
 in 1497 (Marischal College
Marischal College

File:Marischal College New.jpgMarischal College is a building in the Scotland city of Aberdeen belonging to the University of Aberdeen. It was formerly an independent university in its own right....
 followed a century later). At the Reformation so little intuition had the clergy of the drift of opinion that at the very time that religious structures were being despoiled in the south, the building and decoration of churches went on in the shire. Protestantism came in without much tumult, though rioting took place in Aberdeen
Aberdeen

Aberdeen is Scotland's third most populous City status in the United Kingdom and one of Scotland's 32 Local government in Scotland Council areas of Scotland....
 and St. Machar's Cathedral
St. Machar's Cathedral

St. Machar's Cathedral is a Church of Scotland church in Aberdeen, Scotland. It is located to the north of the city centre, in the former burgh of Old Aberdeen....
 in the city suffered damage. The Earl of Huntly
George Gordon, 4th Earl of Huntly

George Gordon, 4th Earl of Huntly , was a Scotland nobleman.The grandson of the 3rd Earl of Huntly, and a childhood companion of James V, he inherited the earldom and estates in 1524....
 offered some resistance, on behalf of the Catholics, to the influence of James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray
James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray

File:James Stewart Earl of Moray.jpgJames Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray , a member of the House of Stewart, was Regent of Scotland from 1567 until his assassination in 1570....
, who was regent
Regent

A regent, from the Latin regens "reigning", is a person selected to act as head of state because the ruler is a minor, not present or debilitated....
 during the reign of James VI
James I of England

James VI and I was List of monarchs of Scotland as James VI, and List of English monarchs and King of Ireland as James I. He ruled in Kingdom of Scotland as James VI from 24 July 1567, when he was only one year old, succeeding his mother Mary I of Scotland....
, but was defeated and killed at Corrichie on the Hill of Fare in 1562.

As years passed it became apparent that Presbyterianism gained less generally support than Episcopacy, of which system Aberdeenshire remained for generations the stronghold in Scotland.

Another crisis in ecclesiastical affairs arose in 1638, when the authorities ordered subscription to the National Covenant
Solemn League and Covenant

The Solemn League and Covenant was an agreement between the Scotland Covenanters and the leaders of the England Roundhead. It was agreed to in 1643, during the First English Civil War....
. Aberdeenshire responded so grudgingly to this demand that James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose
James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose

James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose , was a Scottish people nobleman and soldier, who initially joined the Covenanters in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, but subsequently supported King Charles I of England as the English Civil War developed....
 visited the shire in the following year to enforce acceptance. The Cavaliers, not being disposed to yield, dispersed an armed gathering of Covenanters in the affair called the Trot of Turriff (1639), shedding the first blood of the civil war. The Covenanters obtained the upper hand in a few weeks, when Montrose appeared at the Bridge of Dee
Bridge of Dee

The Bridge of Dee or Brig o' Dee is a road bridge over the River Dee, Aberdeenshire in Aberdeen, Scotland. The term is also used for the surrounding area of the city....
 and compelled the surrender of Aberdeen
Aberdeen

Aberdeen is Scotland's third most populous City status in the United Kingdom and one of Scotland's 32 Local government in Scotland Council areas of Scotland....
, which had no choice but to cast in its lot with the victors.

Montrose, however, soon changed sides, and after defeating the Covenanters under Lord Balfour of Burleigh (1644), delivered the city to rapine. He worsted the Covenanters again after a stiff fight on July 2, 1645, at Alford, a village in the beautiful Howe of Alford. Peace was temporarily restored on the "engagement" of the Scots commissioners to assist Charles I.

Aberdeen
Aberdeen

Aberdeen is Scotland's third most populous City status in the United Kingdom and one of Scotland's 32 Local government in Scotland Council areas of Scotland....
 welcomed Charles II
Charles II of England

Charles II was the Monarchy of Kingdom of England, Kingdom of Scotland, and Kingdom of Ireland.His father Charles I of England Regicide#The regicide of Charles I of England at Palace of Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War....
 on his return from the Netherlands in 1650, but in little more than a year General George Monck entered the city at the head of the Cromwellian regiments. The English garrison remained till 1659, but the following year Aberdeenshire effusively hailed the Restoration
English Restoration

The English Restoration, or simply The Restoration began in 1660 when the English monarchy, Scottish monarchy and Irish monarchy were restored under Charles II of England after the Interregnum that followed the English Civil War....
, and prelacy once more went into the ascendant. Most of the Presbyterians conformed, but the Quakers
Religious Society of Friends

The Religious Society of Friends, commonly known as the Quakers, was founded in England in the 17th century as a Christian denomination by people who were dissatisfied with the existing denominations and sects of Christianity....
, more numerous in the shire and the adjoining county of Kincardine
Kincardine

Kincardine or Kincardine-on-Forth is a small town located on the north shore of the Firth of Forth, in Fife, Scotland. The town was given the status of a Burgh of barony in 1663....
 than anywhere else in Scotland
Scotland

conventional_long_name = ScotlandAlba|common_name= Scotland|image_flag = Flag of Scotland.svg|flag_width = 130px...
, suffered systematic persecution.

After the Glorious Revolution
Glorious Revolution

The Glorious Revolution, also called the Revolution of 1688, was the overthrow of British monarchy James II of England in 1688 by a union of Parliament of England with an invading army led by the Dutch Republic stadtholder William III of England , who as a result ascended the English throne as William III of England....
 (1688) episcopacy passed under a cloud, but the clergy, yielding to force majeure, gradually accepted the inevitable, hoping, as long as Queen Anne lived, that prelacy might yet become the national form of Church government. Her death dissipated these dreams, and as George I, her successor, was antipathetic to the clergy, it happened that Jacobitism
Jacobitism

Jacobitism was the political movement dedicated to the restoration of the House of Stuart kings to the thrones of Kingdom of England, Kingdom of Scotland, and Kingdom of Ireland....
 and episcopalianism
Scottish Episcopal Church

The Scottish Episcopal Church is a Christian denomination in Scotland and a member of the Anglican Communion, although it itself has pre-Anglican origins....
 came to be regarded in the shire as identical, though in point of fact the non-jurors as a body never countenanced rebellion.

The Earl of Mar
John Erskine, 22nd Earl of Mar

John Erskine, 22nd and de jure 6th Earl of Mar, Order of the Thistle , Scotland Jacobitism, was the eldest son of the Charles Erskine, 21st Earl of Mar , from whom he inherited estates that were heavily loaded with debt....
 raised the standard of revolt in Braemar (September 6, 1715); a fortnight later James Francis Edward Stuart
James Francis Edward Stuart

Prince James, Prince of Wales was the son of the deposed James II of England. As such, he claimed the English, Scottish and Irish thrones from the death of his father in 1701, when he was proclaimed king of England, Scotland and Ireland by his cousin Louis XIV of France....
 was proclaimed at Aberdeen
Aberdeen

Aberdeen is Scotland's third most populous City status in the United Kingdom and one of Scotland's 32 Local government in Scotland Council areas of Scotland....
 cross; the Pretender landed at Peterhead on December 22, and in February 1716 he was back again in France
France

France , officially the French Republic , is a country whose Metropolitan France is located in Western Europe and that also comprises various Overseas departments and territories of France....
. The collapse of the first rising ruined many of the lairds, and when the second rebellion occurred thirty years afterwards the county in the main remained apathetic, though the insurgents held Aberdeen
Aberdeen

Aberdeen is Scotland's third most populous City status in the United Kingdom and one of Scotland's 32 Local government in Scotland Council areas of Scotland....
 for five months, and Lord Lewis Gordon won a trifling victory for Prince Charles Edward Stuart
Charles Edward Stuart

Charles Edward Stuart was the exiled Jacobitism claimant to the thrones of England, Scotland, and Kingdom of Ireland. He is commonly known in English and Scots language as Bonnie Prince Charlie....
 at Inverurie
Inverurie

Inverurie is a Royal Burgh in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, approximately 16 miles north west of Aberdeen on the A96 road and lies on the Northern Express Railway Route from Aberdeen to Inverness....
 (December 23, 1745). The Duke of Cumberland relieved Aberdeen
Aberdeen

Aberdeen is Scotland's third most populous City status in the United Kingdom and one of Scotland's 32 Local government in Scotland Council areas of Scotland....
 at the end of February 1746, and by April the Young Pretender
Charles Edward Stuart

Charles Edward Stuart was the exiled Jacobitism claimant to the thrones of England, Scotland, and Kingdom of Ireland. He is commonly known in English and Scots language as Bonnie Prince Charlie....
 had become a fugitive.

Thereafter the people devoted themselves to agriculture, industry and commerce, which developed by leaps and bounds, and, along with equally remarkable progress in education, transformed the aspect of the shire and made the community as a whole one of the most prosperous in Scotland
Scotland

conventional_long_name = ScotlandAlba|common_name= Scotland|image_flag = Flag of Scotland.svg|flag_width = 130px...
.

See also

  • List of pre-1975 counties of Scotland


External links