BANCHORY-TERNAN, a parish, in the county of
Kincardine, 15 miles (N. W.) from Stonehaven; containing,
with the villages of Arbeadie and Banchory,
'2'341 inhabitants, of whom 66 are in Banchory. This
place, the name of which, signifying "a fine choir",
has reference to some ancient religiovis establishment,
and the adjunct Ternan most probably to its patron
saint, is of very remote antiquity. St. Terne, or Ternanus,
who is said to have been a native of Mearns,
flourished about the middle of the fifth century. He
accompanied Palladius in his mission to the Irish Scots;
and by him he was ordained, and commissioned to extirpate
the Pelagian heresy, and to establish the true
faith among his own countrymen. In this undertaking,
his eminent success and the sanctity of his life obtained
for him a high degree of veneration; and many churches
were afterwards erected and dedicated to his memory,
among which was the church of this parish. In 156*2, a
battle took place between the army of Mary, Queen of
Scots, under the Earl of Moray, and the forces of the
Earl of Huntly, at the Howe of Corrichie, a glen in the
hill of Faro, towards the northern boundary of the
parish. The latter were defeated with great slaughter,
and the Earl of Huntly, who was taken prisoner, died
before he was removed from the field of battle. In the
bottom of the glen are several tumuli, raised over the
bodies of the slain; and a recess among the rocks overlooking
the glen, in which Mary is said to have witnessed
the engagement, is still called the Queen's Chair.
There are also numerous tumuli on the north side of
Glassel, where the chief carnage took place. In 1644,
the Duke of Montrose, having crossed the river Dee at
a ford near the Mills of Drum, in this parish, passed a
night at the house of Leys, and next day proceeded to
Aberdeen, where he encountered and defeated an army
of the Covenanters; and the remains of his encampment
on a subsequent occasion, on his route to Strathbogie,
are still pointed out, under the appellation of Montrose's
Dyke, near the entrance of the Howe of Corrichie.
The PARISH is situated on the river Dee, which intersects
the southern portion of it, from west to cast,
throughout its whole extent. It is nearly ten miles in
length and about nine miles in breadth, of irregular
form, and comprises an area of "21,600 acres, of which
rather more than 6000 are arable, 5230 woodland and
plantations, and the remainder, a considerable portion
of which might be brought into cultivation, is ni(^dow,
pasture, and waste. The surface is strikingly diversified
with hill and dale, and with wood and water. The hill
of Fare, on the north, has an elevation of 1793 feet:
that of Kerloack, on the south, forming a part of the
Grampian range, and extending eastward to the sea at
Aberdeen, is 1890 feet high; and between these is a
lower ridge, of which the greatest elevation is not more
than 1000 feet. That portion of the parish which is on
the south side of the Dee is intersected by the river
Feugh, and is richly wooded, and interspersed with
masses of barren and precipitous rock; the scenery is
bold, enlivened with numerous rivulets, and embellished
with handsome mansions. At the eastern extremity is
Loch Drum, in the adjoining parish of Drumoak, which
has been nearly exhausted by draining; and in the central
portion is Loch Leys, containing an artificial island,
formed on piles of oak, with remains on it of ancient
houses that appear to have been fortified. The river
Dee, which enters the parish near Trustach Hill, flows
along a rocky channel; and its stream is divided by
two small islands, one of which, about eight acres in
extent, is covered with furze and heath, and the other,
of about one acre, and of greater elevation above the
stream, is planted with trees. The Feugh, after forming
various pleasing falls, divides into two channels,
which, reuniting, flow into the Dee nearly in the centre
of the parish. Before it joins the Dee, the Feugh is
spanned by a bridge of two arches, on the south of
which is a ledge of rocks twenty feet in height, forming
a very beautiful waterfall during the floodings of the
river.
The SOIL varies greatly in different parts, but is generally
light, and not naturally fertile; towards the river,
gravelly; on the higher grounds, a strong loam; and
on the lower, a species of moss, intermixed with gravel.
The system of agriculture is improved; the chief crops
are oats, barley, and some wheat, with potatoes, turnips,
and hay. The moorlands afford tolerable pasture
for sheep and cattle, to the improvement of which
much attention has been excited by the Deeside Agricultural
Association, which holds its annual meeting here,
and awards prizes to the amount of £70 to the most
successful competitors at the show of cattle. The
dairy-farms are more carefully attended to than formerly.
The buildings are substantial and commodious,
and threshing-mills have been erected on most of the
farms. The annual value of real property in the parish
is £7479. The hills are principally of red granite, traversed
by veins of sulphate of barytes; and limestone,
in some parts of coarse and inferior quality, and in
others compact and highly crystallized, is found in
abundance, and is extensively quarried on the lands of
TilwliiJly for agricultural purposes.
The plantations, which are of very great extent, consist
chiefly of pine and larch, interspersed with birch,
oak, beech, ash, and a few other trees. They are of
comparatively modern growth, and considerable additions
have within the last few years been made to the
number of forest-trees, of which nearly 70,000 oaks
have been planted on the lands of Leys. On the road
to Aberdeen is a remarkably fine holly of more than
twenty stems, springing from the crevices of a rock;
and in the grounds of Crathes Castle is a beech-tree
twenty-five feet in girth and sixty feet high. Crathes
Castle, the seat of Sir Alexander Burnett, Bart., a handsome
baronial mansion erected about the year 1512, is
finely situated on a gentle acclivity, at the extremity of
a rocky and richly-wooded ridge, on the north bank of
the Dee. It is a spacious structure, with a lofty square
tower crowned by embattled turrets, and many modern
additions have been made. The ancient hall is still
entire, and contains some family portraits, among which
is a portrait of Dr. Gilbert Burnett, Bishop of Salisbury,
by Sir Godfrey Kneller. The castle of Tihvhilly, on the
opposite bank of the river, is an ancient massive building,
in the occupation of the tenant of the farm. Banchory
Lodge, a few hundred yards from the church, was
erected by the late General Burnett. Inchmarlo is a
handsome mansion, erected in ISOO; and Glassel and
Raenioir are also good modern houses. The village of
Banchory, or the Kirktown, which was anciently a
burgh of barony, and is noticed in 1324 as a place of
considerable importance, has almost disappeared; and
only a few houses in the vicinity of the churchyard,
called the Town Head, are now remaining, and the
shaft of a broken stone cross. A small woollen-factory
has been established, and there are likewise two small
bobbin-factories. Salmon are taken in the Dee, but there
is no regular fishery. Fairs, chiefly for horses, cattle,
and sheep, are held on the second Tuesday in February,
the last Thursday in March, the third Tuesday in June,
the first Tuesday in July, the second Tuesday in August,
and the first Wednesday in December.
For ECCLESIASTICAL purposes the parish is within the
bounds of the presbytery of Kincardine O'Neil and synod
of Aberdeen; Sir Alexander Burnett, Bart., is patron, and
the minister's stipend is £"287 . 10. 9-, with a manse, and a
glebe valued at £10 per annum. The church, rebuilt in
1824, is a handsome structure in the later English
style, and contains 1300 sittings. A place of worship
has been erected in connexion with the Free Church;
and in the village of Arbeadie is a meeting-house for
Independents. There are three parochial schools, the
masters of which divide among them £51. 6. 6|-., in
addition to a house and garden for each, and the fees
average respectively £20, £16, and £10 per annum. A
school was founded and endowed in 1638, by Sir Thomas
, Burnett in conjunction with Dr. Alexander Reid, and
is conducted by one of the parochial schoolmasters, who
derives an additional salary of £16 from the endowment.
A parochial library has also been established, which has
a collection of more than 400 volumes, chiefly on religious
subjects. At Cairnton, on the hill of Trustach,
are some remains of an old intrenchment, now covered
with birch, about 1.50 yards square, defended by two
ramparts of earth 300 yards in length, extending from
the inclosure in a converging direction, leaving an
opening of about twenty yards in width at their extremities:
it is supposed to have been a Roman camp.
Near Kerloack are Druidical remains consisting of three
circles of upright stones, nearly entire, the largest of
which is about twenty-five yards in diameter, and the
others about fifteen yards: in each of them are vestiges
of an inner circle inclosing a small cairn. Bishops
Burnett and Douglas, both of the see of Salisbury,
were descended from families connected with this parish;
and Dr. George Campbell, author of the celebrated
Dissertation on Miracles, The Philosophy of Rhetoric, &c.,
was for some years minister of it. In Her Majesty's
visit to Scotland in September 1848, the royal party
passed through Banchory on their way from Aberdeen
Seal and Arms.
to Balmoral, and here a loyal address was presented to
the queen from the nobility and gentry of the county of
Kincardine.