A vision of Britain through time
A vision of Britain from 1801 to now.
Including maps, statistical trends and historical descriptions.
A vision of Britain through time
A vision of Britain from 1801 to now.
Including maps, statistical trends and historical descriptions.
Echt, a village and a parish of SE Aberdeenshire. The village, Kirkton of Echt, stands 332 feet above sea-level, 6 miles NNW of Park station and 12 W of Aberdeen, under which it has a post office. At it are an inn and a branch of the Aberdeen Town and County Bank: and cattle and horse fairs are held here on the first Monday of January, February, April, June, August, September, and December, and the last Tuesday of September o. s.; horse fairs on the first Monday of March and the Monday in July before St Sairs, and hiring fairs on the first Monday of March, the second Monday of May, and the second Tuesday of November. The parish is bounded N by Cluny, NE by Skene, E by Skene and Peterculter, S by Drumoak and Banchory-Ternan in Kincardineshire, and W and NW by Midmar. Its utmost length, from N to S, is 53/8 miles; its breadth, from E to W, varies between 3½ and 5 ¼ miles; and its area is 12, 003 2/3 acres, of which 55¾ are water. Kinnernie Burn runs 4¾ miles east-by-southward to Loch Skene, along all the northern and north-eastern border; Loch Skene (7 x 5 furl.) itself and Leuchar Burn, issuing from it, form part of the eastern boundary; and the Burn of Echt, coming in from Midmar, runs across the south-western district to Gormack Burn, which traces part of the southern boundary. In the furthest E the surface declines to 252 feet above sea-level along Leuchar Burn, along Gormack Burn to 190, and rises thence to 478 at Knockquharn, 410 at Dunecht, 800 at conical Barmekin Hill, 1179 at Meikle Tap, and 1291 at Greymore, the two last being summits of the Hill of Fare. The Howe of Echt is a valley along the course of the Burn of Echt, overhung on the SW by the Hill of Fare, and has a very mild and salubrious climate. The principal rocks are reddish granite and gneiss; and the soil is in some parts mossy, in others is light and sandy, and on the best lands is chiefly a light loam incumbent on clay. About 8000 acres are in cultivation; fully 3000 are under wood (nearly all of it planted during the present century); and the rest of the land is pastoral or waste. Cairns and ancient Caledonian standing stones make up the antiquities, with the celebrated fortress on the Barmekin, which has been separately noticed, as likewise has the battle of Corrichie. Dunecht is the only mansion; and the Earl of Crawford is much the largest proprietor, 1 other holding an annual value of more, and 13 of less, than £100. Echt is in the presbytery of Kincardine O'Neil and synod of Aberdeen; the living is worth £220. The parish church, at the village, was built in 1804, and contains 600 sittings; a Free church stands ½ mile to the E. Three public schools-Cullerley, Kirkton, and Waterton-with respective accommodation for 70, 207, and 106 children, had (1880) an average attendance of 42, 120, and 66, and grants of £37, 15s., £102, 18s., and £55, 11s. Valuation (1843) £5690, (1881) £7486, 9s. 8d. Pop. (1801) 972, (1831) 1030, (1861) 1287, (1871) 1259, (1881) 1296.—Ord. Sur., sh. 76, 1874.
(F.H. Groome, Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland (1882-4); © 2004 Gazetteer for Scotland)
| Linked entities: | |
|---|---|
| Feature Description: | "a village and a parish" (ADL Feature Type: "populated places") |
| Administrative units: | Echt ScoP Aberdeenshire ScoCnty |
| Place: | Echt |
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