 |
Aberlour |
 |
Contents |
Parish of Aberlour.
By the Rev. Mr James Thomson. |
Name, Situation, Extent, Surface and Soil.
The ancient name of this parish was Skirdustan, so called from its tutelary
saint, Dustan. Its modern name is Aberlour, derived from its local situation;
being situated at the mouth of a noisy burn, where it discharges itself into
the Spey. It lies in the western part of the county of Banff, about 20
computed miles W. of the county-town, 10 S. of Elgin, and 12 S. E. of Forres.
It gives name to the presbytery to which it belongs, being the presbytery-seat;
and pertains to the Synod of Murray. The figure of the parish resembles a
wedge, being broader at the west end, and growing gradually narrower towards
the E. Its length from E. to W. is about 6 Scotch miles; its breadth from S.
to N. at the west end, about 5 Scotch miles; about the middle, between 2 and 3,
but at the east end it will not exceed an English mile. It is bounded on the
S. and S.E. by the parish of Boharm, from which it is divided by a small river
called Fiddich; on the N. by the parish of Rothes, from which it is separated
by the river Spey; on the N.W. by the parish of Knockandow, from which it is
also separated by the river Spey; and on the W. and S. W. by the parish of
Inveraven, from which it is divided by a hill called the Drum of Carron, the
small water of Tarvey, and the hill of Allachoynachan, upon which the battle
between the Earls of Argyle and Huntly, commonly called the battle of
Glenlivat, was fought. The appearance of the parish is various; that part of
it which lies N.W. N. and E. and runs along Spey and Fiddich, is flat; that
which lies towards the S.E. and S.W. is hilly. In the middle of the parish
stands the high mountain of Belrinnes, from the top of which you can, in a
clear day, see as far S. as the Grampian hills, and as far N. and E. as the
mountains of Ross, Sutherland and Caithness. The soil towards the river is
light, and when you dig to any depth, a stratum of sand. That which is towards
the hills is deep, and a clay bottom. But both the one and the other are
abundantly fruitful when properly cultivated.
Rivers, &c. - Besides the Spey and Fiddich, there are a good number of small rivulets or burns, which abound with trout and eel, as do Spey and Fiddich; in the former of which considerable numbers of salmon used to be caught; and for a liberty of catching them with rods, dikes or cairns, the tenants, along the river-side, paid to their respective heritors a certain yearly rent, which was called water-rent. But, of late years, the quantity of salmon caught within the bounds of this parish is greatly diminished, in consequence of a process between the Duke of Gordon and the upper heritors, wherein it was found, that the Duke had a title to raise cruives across the river, under certain regulations, and with what they call the Sunday's sleep; the few that are still caught are sold within the parish, in the beginning of the season, at 4d. the lb. And not below 2d. at any season. Within these 24 years past, there have been more frequent overflowings of the Spey, than are remembered before that, by the oldest man alive, and whereby the adjacent fields have been much damaged. In September 1768, especially, the river rose about 18 feet perpendicular above the channel, overflowed the fields, carried along with its stream the cut corn, and large trees torn up by the roots, buried the corn which was not cut under a bed of sand above 30 inches deep, and left the salmon dead on the fields, at the distance of above 100 yards from the bed of the river. There have been sundry extraordinary swellings of the river since that time, but never to such a prodigious pitch, although the rains have been greater, and of longer duration, in the low country; from which it has been concluded, that the inundation in 1768 was occasioned by water-spouts on the hills.
Produce. - Though the parish is rather calculated for grain than for pasture, it rears sufficient black cattle, sheep and hogs; not only supplying itself, but sending to market. Some of the best farmers also bring up horses fit for saddle and draught; and although the district cannot be said to be famous for breeding horses, black cattle or sheep of superior qualities, yet there are, of each kind, some raised, which are esteemed very handsome, and well shaped, for which the owners draw for horses from £15 to £20 Sterling; for cows from £5 to £9 Sterling, for oxen from £8 to £12, and for sheep ten guineas the score. And as the parish has these useful animals, it wants not those that are noxious; such as, foxes, badgers, otters, &c. It is also stored with fowls and birds. Being a highland country, abounding with woods, and almost surrounded with hills, there are muirfowls, partridges, plovers, snipes, lapwings, cormorants, hawks, magpies, and woodcocks in their season; sometimes eagles are seen upon Belrinnes, and some of their feathers are found there; the night owl also shows itself. The migratory birds are the cuckoo, which appears in the beginning of April, and disappears in August; the lapwing, about the month of March, and is seldom seen after the end of July; the swallow about the first of June, and disappears in the end of July; the woodcock about October, and is scarce seen after April. - The parish produces grain of all sorts, with any due culture; and not only supplies itself, but fells oats, meal and barley, sometimes to the highlands, and sometimes for exportation. It has also abundance of barren timber, especially oak, allar and birch, which grow naturally in large woods, and some plantations of firs are lately planted. The are also fruit-trees, such as apple, pear, cherry trees, &c. in some gardens. Turnip and potatoes begin now to be raised on every farm, though, being but lately introduced, in small quantities. The practice of planting cabbage in the fields has not got in here; nor is it likely that it will be introduced soon, as almost all the fields are without any fence; and winter herding is not practiced. There is also some flax raised, but no hemp; and no great quantities of sown grass.
Population. - According to Dr Webster's state of the population, the number of inhabitants was 1010. There are, at present, about 920 souls; about 450 males, and 470 females. The births and deaths bear not the ordinary proportion to the population. By summing the baptisms and burials for 20 years, that the baptisms are, at an average, 25, deaths 13, and marriages 8. Though there are scarce any remarkable for longevity, yet the people are generally healthy, and, a few excepted, who are carried off by small pox and consumptions, arrive at the age of 70, 80, and not a few at 84. The whole are of the Established Church, except about 10 or 11, who are Roman Catholics. The inhabitants, except a very few servants and cottagers who come from Strathspey and Badenoch, are natives, descended from ancestors who have lived in the parish for many generations; and as there are very few who come from other places, so there are as few who leave the parish: For since the year 1782, when there were whole families emigrating from the neighbouring parishes to North America, none, except a few aspiring young men, who have had a more liberal education than their neighbours, have left this parish, and gone, some to London, some to the West India Islands. There is but one residing heritor.
Church, Stipend, Poor, &c. - The church seems to be very old, and was repaired in 1786. The stipend till the year 1772 was only £50; but at that period the Earl of Fife, as patron, without any application from the incumbent, or any in his name, with a generosity worthy of his Lordship, proposed an augmentation of the stipend, and desired the incumbent to name what augmentation he thought the minister of Aberlour ought to have; who, with the advice of the presbytery, proposed £8 6s 8d Sterling, of money, with 18 bolls of oat-meal, at 8 stone the boll, which his Lordship agreed to, and obtained a decreet, without any expence to the incumbent: So that, at present, the stipend is £58 6s 8d of money, and 18 bolls of meals, with about a little more than 5 acres of arable ground for a glebe, little more than an acre of grass, a manse, garden and offices. The funds for the poor are not great, though the number on the poor's roll is considerable, there being just now about 30. There is a mortification of 3 bolls of meal, at 9 stone the boll, payable yearly off a small farm. One hundred merks, besides, were mortified by a farmer of the name of M'Erron; another hundred merks by one of the name of Green; both which sums, with any savings made in years of plenty, are lent out upon interest, and amount now to about £80 Sterling of capital. The annual rent of this, with the above mentioned mortified meal, the weekly collections, amounting to about 2 s. Sterling, at an average, each Sabbath, with the produce of the mort-cloth, and any fines for immoralities, are all the funds for assisting this numerous roll. Indeed, in 1782, it was necessary, by reason of the scarcity, to diminish the capital; but since that time it has been raised to what it is at present.
Price of Provisions and Labour. - The prices of victuals and clothing are greatly raised within these 20 years past. Meal, which before that period, would have been bought at 8 s. 4 d. the boll, now sells at 11 s. or 12 s.; beef, which formerly sold at 1 d. a-pound, now gives 3 d. or 4 d.; eggs, which were bought at 1 d. for 14, cost now 1 d. for 12; and fish, which would have been bought at 5 d. the dozen, now cost 1 s.; so in proportion with respect to every sort of provisions. The same proportion holds with respect to clothes and shoes; yet the people seem satisfied with their condition, liver very comfortably, being generally very industrious, and receive proportional high price for any commodity they bring to market; and the labouring people and servants have nearly double the wages of what they had about 20 years ago. A day-labourer gets his victuals and 6 d. a-day, at any season; in harvest, 10 d. and 1 s. A man-servant, who can only drive a cart-horse, is allowed £4 yearly; and he who can plow and sow, gets £5 or £6. A woman-servant gets £2 a-year.
From: The Statistical Account for Scotland, 1791-1799 Volume XVI Banffshire, Moray & Nairnshire. Pages 1-7.