Volume IV, Number VIII. (COUNTY OF BANFF)
Rapporteur: The Rev. James Thomson, Minister.
[Biographical Notes for the Minister adapted
from the Fasti ecclesiae Scoticanae
JAMES THOMSON (1719-1801) educated at Marischal College, Aberdeen, 1735-9; schoolmaster of Lhanbryd, 1737-43, of Bellie, 1743-7, and of Keith, 1747-66; licensed by the Presbytery of Strathbogie 20th November 1751; ordained by that Presbytery as assistant at Lhanbryd 17th December 1760; presented (to Aberlour) by James, Earl of Fife, 5th December 1763, and (after litigation regarding the right of patronage) admitted 20th February 1766.
He married, 28th December 1759, Helen (who died in 1821, aged 79), daughter
of Alexander Anderson, draper, and had issue —
James, born 8th November 1761, died 13th June 1766;
Alexander, born 13th December 1764, died 31st May 1781;
Patrick, born 8th February 1766, died 8th July 1782;
Elizabeth, born 16th May, and died 26th September 1767;
James, born 9th June 1768, died that year;
Francis, planter, St Vincent, born 27th April 1770;
James, surgeon, New South Wales, born 8th July 1771;
Joseph, born 17th October 1773, died July 1785;
Elizabeth (twin), born 17th October 1773 (married 25th April 1790, James Leslie
of Kininvie);
Maria, born 12th February 1778 (married 28th May 1796, John Gatherer, writer,
Elgin).]
Name, Situation, Extent, Surface and Soil
[64]The ancient name of this parish was Skirdustan, so called from its tutelary saint, Dustan. Its modern name 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 and English mile. It is bounded on the S. and S.E. by the parish of Mortlack, from which it is separated by a small rivulet and a range of hills called the Convals; it is bounded on the E. by the parish of Boharm, from which it is divided by a small [65] 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 Glenlivet, was fought,
The appearance of the parish is various; that part of it which lies NW.N. and E. and runs along Spey and Fiddich is flat; that which lies towards the SE. and SW. 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 Etc.
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 riverside, 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 title to raise cruives across the river under [66] 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 £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, [67] etc. 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 at 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 sells 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. There are also fruit-trees, such as apple, pear, cherry trees etc. 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 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 practised. There is also some flax raised, but no hemp; and no great quantities of town 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 up the baptisms and [68] and burials for 20 years, it appears, 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 Etc
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 applications 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 £8:6:8 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 £58:6:8 of money, and 18 bolls [69] of meal, 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 of poor’s roll is considerable, their being just now about 30. There is a mortification of 3½ 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 McErron ; 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 2s Sterling, at an average 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.