RATHVEN, a parish, in the county of Banff, 3|
miles (W. by S.) from Cullen; comprising the villages
of Findochty, Porteasie, and Portnockie, the former
quoad sacra district of Buckie, and part of that of
Enzie (in which is the village of Portgordon); the whole
parish containing 6728 inhabitants. The Gaelic terms
Rath Bheann, the former signifying " a circle of stones ",
and the latter " a hill", appear to have given name to
this place, one of its most prominent features being the
eminence of Binhill, which overhangs the south-eastern
part of the locality, and is covered with cairns. The
parish is situated in that portion of the county called
Enzie, and from its north-western exposure suffers
severely from the violence of storms. It stretches along
the coast of the Moray Firth, from north-east to southwest,
for the distance of ten miles, and is nearly five
miles in breadth; comprising 33,750 acres, of which
about 10,540 are cultivated, and 6027 under natural
wood and in plantations. Of the remainder, only 700
acres are considered capable of improvement. The shore
is sandy, and interspersed with small stones rounded
by the action of the water. Near the coast the surface
is level, and the land of good quality. The parish,
however, assumes the character of a mountainous district
towards the interior, where the boundary is formed
by an extensive range of hills covered with heath and
moss, and commencing at Binhill, a lofty elevation rising
945 feet above tlic level of the sea, and i)lantcd to its
summit. A circuitous carriage-road has been made to
the top of this hill by the I'^arl of Seafield, affording
every facility for viewing the beautiful ])rospects that
may be ol)tuined from it. The mountain is well known
by mariners as a landmark, being visible at the distance
of fifteen leagues.
The hills give rise to numerous burns, which run into
the sea; but they afford very little nutritious pasture,
the soil being chiefly hard gravel or moss upon an impervious
clayey subsoil. A light rich loam, however,
resting on clay, is found on the lower grounds; and in
some parts there is a thin fertile soil of the same kind,
incumbent on a reddish clay formed from the decomposition
of the old red sandstone. Nearly all the different
soils are largely intermixed with small round stones.
Grain of all kinds is raised, to the average annual value
of £27,300; and potatoes and turnips also in considerable
quantities; making, with the remainder of the
produce, and £600 for thinnings of wood, an aggregate
of about £43,600. In general the six-shift course of
husbandry is followed; the lands are mostly well farmed,
and inclosed in many parts with dry stone dykes, the
chief deficiency observable being in the farm steadings
and offices. Sea-weed, farm-yard dung, and the refuse
of fish are used as manure: the last, when mixed with
moss, is found a valuable compost for green crops. The
farms vary in value from a rental of £30 to one of £500,
and are held under several proprietors, among whom are
the Earl of Seafield and the Duke of Richmond: land
lets at from l^*'. to £3 per acre. The sheep are of a
mixed kind, and few in number. Much attention is
given to the rearing of cattle; the Aberdeenshire breed
is prevalent, and cattle are sold in considerable numbers
for the southern markets. The horses, also, are of superior
symmetry and strength, having been improved
through the encouragement afforded by the agricultural
society instituted some years since at Cullen. The rocks
along the coast consist principally of gneiss, mica-slate,
clay-slate, schist, greyvvacke, and various kinds of sandstone
and limestone; the two last are quarried, as also
is the clay-slate. Other minerals, of inferior importance,
are to be found; and the proceeds of the quarries
in the parish amount to £300 per annum. The chief
mansions are Letterfourie, Tannachy, Burnside, Buckie
Lodge, and Cairnfield, the plantations around some of
which, comprising all the ordinary trees, are in a flourishing
condition. The pleasure-grounds of Cullen House
are chiefly in this parish, and contain fine oak, ash, elm,
beech, larch, and Scotch fir. The annual value of real
property in Rathven is £9539.
Besides the village of Rathven, there are five fishingvillages,
namely, Buckie, Porteasie, Pindochty, Portnockie,
and Portgordon, each containing a considerable
population engaged in the herring-fishery, and in the
fisheries off the coast, comprising haddock, cod, halibut,
sole, mackerel, plaice, flounders, and other kinds. There
are some salmon in the burns, and many crabs and
lobsters about the shores. The whole of the fish annually
obtained is valued at £45,000, of which the herring
branch is estimated at £18,400. The number of
boats belonging to the parish is 245, and each of them
carries four men, and sometimes a boy also. There are
two harbours, one at Buckie and the other at Portgordon.
The former is chiefly used as a landing-place for the
fishermen, and a retreat for their boats; the latter, where
ships of considerable burthen can enter, has an extensive
traffic in the exportation of grain, and the importation
of salt and English coal. In the village of Buckie
are upwards of 2000 iahabitants. The linen manufacture
was pursued on a large scale in the parish till about
the year 1*63, employing a great number of spinners
and about sixty weavers, the aggregate earnings of the
former amounting annually to nearly £2000: there are
now but four weavers, who make linen, plaiding, &c.,
for family use. A small rope-work is in operation at
Buckie, and the parish contains a mill for carding wool,
four corn-mills, and a mill for grinding flour and making
pot-barley. At Buckie is a post-office with a daily delivery.
The post-road from Elgin to Banff passes through
the parish for ten miles; and on its north and south
sides, in the direction of Cullen, wide tracts of moorland
have been reclaimed, and neat and commodious houses
erected, through the encouragement of the Earl of Seafield,
who gives a bounty of £5 for each acre improved,
and allows the occupier to hold it rent-free for five years.
The fuel used in the district consists chiefly of peat and
turf, but coal is also burnt. A fair is held in July for
cattle, sheep, and cheese.
Ecclesiastically the parish is in the presbytery of Fordyce,
synod of Aberdeen, and in the patronage of Sir
Andrew Leith Hay, of Rannes: the minister's stipend is
£207, with a manse, and a glebe of seven acres valued
at £12 per annum. The church, which is conveniently
situated, contains 1000 sittings. There is a chapel at
Enzie, to which a district was for a time annexed as a
quoad sacra parish. It was erected in 1785, with money
raised by collections in all the churches of Scotland, at
the recommendation of the General Assembly; and contains
sittings for 400 persons. The chapel is endowed
with lands left by a Mr. Anderson, under the management
of the Committee of the Royal Bounty, and the
presbytery of Fordyce; the clergyman receives £62. 8.
a year from the procurator of the church, and the amount
of the seat-rents, and has also eight acres of land, worth
about £8 per annum. The eastern extremity of Rathven,
containing the village of Portnockie, has been long annexed
quoad sacra to Cullen: a chapel was lately built
in the village, by subscription, at the cost of £400; the
Hon. Colonel Grant, now sixth Earl of Seafield, contributing
£100. There are also two episcopal chapels;
one at Buckie, with 200 sittings; and the other at
Arradoul, built about the year 1788, containing 211
sittings. The members of the Free Church have places
of worship at Buckie and Enzie; and the Roman Catholic
population, amounting to about 1500 persons,
possess a chapel at Buckie, and another at PreshoIm,the
latter built in 1788: the bishop resides in the parish,
with three priests.
The parochial school affords instruction in Latin and
Greek, in addition to the usual branches; the master
has a salary of £32. 1., with £25, being a portion of the
Dick bequest, a house, and about £10 fees. A school is
supported at Curfurrach, near Enzie chapel, by the Society
for Propagating Christian Knowledge, the master
receiving £15 per annum from the societ}', and having
a free dwelling-house and schoolroom from the Duke of
Richmond. In Portgordon, a master has a salary of
£15 from the duke, and a free house and schoolroom;
while in the village of Portnockie the Earl of Seafield has
built a good school-house, and allows the master £10
per annum, with permission to charge the same fees as
those at the parochial school. There are other schools
in the parish. A public library, supported by a quarterly
contribution, was instituted some years since in the
village of Rathven. Here, also, is an ancient hospital
once adapted for seven leprous persons, for whom it was
founded by Jolin Bisset in 1226. The house was lately
repaired, and two of the six beadsmen still on the establishment
live in it. Each beadsman holds, on the
lands of Rannes, half an acre of good croft land, and
receives one boll of oatmeal annually; also, from the
lands of Findochty, 84-. l^d.; and from John Gordon,
Esq., of Cluny, as proprietor of the lands of Freuchnie,
which formerly were part of the estate of Rannes, Iji. 4frf.
The half acre brings, if let, £1. 1. per annum.
Remains of Druidical temples, and cairns, are numerous
in the parish: the chief of the latter is a large
heap of stones south of the public road, called the King's
Cairn, and traditionally said to be the grave of Indulphus,
seventy-seventh king of Scotland, who, after obtaining
a signal victory over the Danes, was killed near
this spot. There are several very extensive caves on the
coast, one of which is called Farskane's, the proprietor
having taken refuge in it with two friends, in 1*15, to
escape from the troubles consequent on the Earl of Mar's
rebellion: after a stay of five or six weeks, they returned
to their houses. In 1S05 some coins were found in a
small box, of the reigns of Queen Mary, James VI., and
Charles I. The parish contains several medicinal springs,
two of them chalybeates, and much frequented. The
celebrated Dr. Alexander Geddes was born at Pathheads,
in the parish, in 1737; he died in London in 1802.
See Buckie, Enzie, &c.