BANCHORY-DEVENICK, a parish, partly within,
and partly without, the city of Aberdeen, district and
county of Aberdeen, but mostly in the county of Kincardine;
including the villages of Downies, Findon,
and Portlethen, and containing 2736 inhabitants. The
distinctive appellation of Devenick is derived from a
celebrated saint of that name, who flourished about the
year S87, and at one time ministered in this parish.
The figure of the parish is extremely irregular; its extent
from north-east to the southernmost point at the
sea is about eight miles, and its breadth varies from two
miles and a half to four miles. The river Dee, which
passes through it, and here divides the two counties,
rises among the highest of the mountains of Aberdeenshire,
and after a course of upwards of sixty miles, falls
into the bay of Aberdeen, about a mile and a half
below the eastern extremity of the parish. Its span
near the church is from ISO to 250 feet. Some years
ago, a handsome suspension foot-bridge, connecting the
parishioners of the Aberdeenshire district with the
church and school, was erected over the river, at an
expense of about £1450, by the Rev. Dr. Morison, the
late venerable incumbent of the parish, and father of
the Church of Scotland. The Kincardineshire district
is bisected by the eastern range of the Grampians, the
most elevated part of which afforded a station for the
persons who were employed a short time since, by
government, to make a trigonometrical survey of the
island. For a distance of about three miles this district
is bounded on the south by the sea, the coast of which is
bold, rocky, and in many parts highly picturesque.
The soil is diversified, running through all the varieties,
from pure alluvial to hard till, and from rich loam
to deep moss. Agriculture is much attended to; the
farms are generally small, and the farmers supply the
town of Aberdeen with agricultural produce. The
population is entirely rural, and has been much increased
of late years by the allotment of portions ot
uncultivated land to small tenants, who hold their
farms under improving leases, and by whose means the
greater part of the waste ground in the parish has been
reclaimed. These tenants are mainly supported by the
sale of peat from the extensive mosses in the parish, the
preparation of peat forming a lucrative occupation to a
considerable portion of the population, during the
summer. Abundance of blue granite is to be found in
the hilly parts: owing, however, to the hardness of its
quality, it is not quarried to any extent, but is chiefly
used as paving-stones for home use and for the London
market. There are several plantations in the parish,
one of them covering 250 acres; but those which are
near the sea are not in a thriving state, as there is no
shelter against the blighting influence of the east wind.
In former times, it appears that forests of oak extended
to the sea-shore, where no tree can now be raised. The
annual value of real property in Banchory-Devenick is
£6946. On the coast are three harbours for fishingboats,
Findon, Portlethen, and Downies: the villages
thus named, conjointh' contain a population of about
600; they send to sea about eighteen boats manned by
from four to five men each, and are celebrated for the
smoked fish w-ell known by the general name of Finnan
(Findon) haddocks. The great road from Edinburgh to
Aberdeen passes through the parish, at about the distance
of a mile from the three villages; and the line
of railway from the south to Aberdeen runs between the
above road and the sea. A beautiful line of turnpikeroad
extends along the south side of the river Dee, from
the old Dee bridge nearly to Banchory-Ternan; and another
turnpike-road, from Aberdeen to Ballater, runs
through the Aberdeenshire division of the parish.
Banchory-Devenick is within the bounds of the presbytery
and synod of Aberdeen, and in the patronage of
the Crown: the minister's stipend is £150, being made
up to that sum by an annual allowance from the exchequer
of £22. IS. 10. The church, which contains
900 sittings, was built in the year 1822, on the site of
a former edifice, the bell of which bears the date of
1597: the coping-stone of the old churchyard is dated
1608. At Portlethen, four miles from the church, is a
church in connexion with the Establishment, with a
minister of its own; and two Free churches have been
raised in the parish, one in the Kincardineshire and the
other in the Aberdeenshire division, and each about half
a mile from the parish church. The former of these Free
churches has a settled minister, but none has been
provided as yet for the latter. The parochial school is
situated near the church: the master has a salary of
£30 from the heritors; £20 from a bequest left by
Dr. Milne, of India, for educating twenty-five poor
children nominated by the kirk-session; a third of the
usual allowance from Dick's bequest, and other perquisites.
There is a school at Portlethen, which is
noticed under the head of that place: and at Cults, in
the Aberdeenshire division, is a school erected by
Mr. Symmers, late proprietor at Cults, and endowed by
him to the amount of about £'25 a year. A school is
hltewise held in connexion with the Free Church, and
there is a female school, erected by the late Mr. Hogg,
of Shannaburn, partly endowed by him, and partly by
Dr. Morison. Sabbath schools are taught by the
teachers of all these schools, except the female school.
There is a parish library, consisting of a good many
volumes; also a parish savings' bank, instituted in
1S16, of which the minister is treasurer, and which contains
deposits from the parishioners to the amount of
nearly £5000. The antiquities of the parish consist of
twoDruidical circles, in a fine state of preservation; and
of three very large tumuli, in an elevated situation, on the
north side of the river. In Her Majesty's visit to Scotland
in September 1S48, the royal family, after landing
at Aberdeen, passed through this parish on their way to
Balmoral.