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.
Keithhall (Monkegy prior to 1700), a Donside parish of central Aberdeenshire, whose church stands 2 miles E by S of the post-town, Inverurie. Since 1754 comprising two-thirds of the ancient parish of Kinkell, it is bounded N by Bourtie, NE by Udny, E by the Banffshire or detached portion of New Machar and by Fintray, SE by Fintray, SW by Kintore, and W by Kintore, Inverurie, and Chapel of Garioch. Its utmost length, from N to S, is 4¼ miles; its breadth, from E to W, tapering southward, varies between 1 furlong and 41/8 miles; and its area is 7639 acres, of which 38½ are water. The Ury winds 27/8 miles south-south-eastward along all the Inverurie boundary till it falls into the Don, which itself flows 3 miles south-south-eastward along all the Kintore boundary. Where it passes off from this parish, the surface declines to 153 feet above sea-level, thence rising to 395 feet at Cairn More near Balbithan, 458 near Cairnhill, and 616 at Selbie Hill on the northern border. The rocks include granite, trap, and gneiss; and the soil along the streams is a fertile alluvial mixture of clay, loam, and sand, but elsewhere is mostly light and gravelly. Nearly two-thirds of the entire area are in tillage; woods and plantations cover 410 acres; and the rest is either pastoral or waste. Antiquities, other than those noticed under Balbithan and Kinkell, are vestiges of three large cairns and of two or more stone circles; and Kinmuck Moor, according to tradition, was the scene of a great encounter between the Scots and the Danes. Natives were Arthur Johnston (1587-1641), the eminent Latin poet, whose ancestors had held the estate of Caskieben for many generations, and Alexander Keith, D.D. (1791-1880), the well-known writer on prophecy; but the historian, Bishop Gilbert Burnet (1643-1715), was born at Edinburgh, though his father possessed the lands of Crimond. The estate of Caskieben (thereafter called Keithhall) was purchased from the Johnstons about 1662 by Sir John Keith, third son of the sixth Earl Marischal, who in 1677 was created Earl of Kintore and Baron Keith of Inverurie and Keithhall. By the addition about 1700 of a front and E wing to the older house, he rendered it a large and stately mansion, which stands near the Ury's left bank, amidst a nobly-wooded park, 1 mile E of Inverurie. His ninth descendant, Algernon-Hawkins-Thomond Keith-Falconer, tenth Earl of Kintore and thirteenth Lord Falconer of Halkertotjn (b. 1852; sue. 1880), owns 17,021 acres in Aberdeenshire, 1053 in Forfarshire, and 17,370 in Kincardineshire, valued at £15,802, £1562, and £16,909 per annum. (See Inglismaldie.) Two lesser proprietors hold an annual value of more, and 5 of less, than £100. Keithhall is in the presbytery of Garioch and synod of Aberdeen; the living is worth £348. The parish church, built in 1772, and repaired in 1875, contains 500 sittings; and the public school, with accommodation for 140 children, had (1881) an average attendance of 86, and a grant of £75, 5s. Valuation (1860) £4618, (1882) £8551, plus £59 for railway. Pop. (1801) 853, (1831) 877, (1861) 933, (1871) 874, (1881) 880.—Ord. Sur., shs. 76, 77, 1874-73.
(F.H. Groome, Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland (1882-4); © 2004 Gazetteer for Scotland)
| Linked entities: | |
|---|---|
| Feature Description: | "a Donside parish" (ADL Feature Type: "countries, 4th order divisions") |
| Administrative units: | Aberdeenshire ScoCnty |
| Place: | Keithhall |
Go to the linked place page for a location map, and for access to other historical writing about the place. Pages for linked administrative units may contain historical statistics and information on boundaries.