The county is not a large
one, but its area is compact and well defined. It ranks as twenty-first
of the Scottish counties in extent, twenty-fourth in population, and
twentieth in point of rental., From southwest to north-east it is 32
miles in length, and 24 miles, where widest, from south to north. It
lies between latitude 56° 46' and 570 g' N. and between longitude 2° 4'
and 2° 44' W. The area of the county is 248,195 acres, or approximately
388 square miles. It is only one-eleventh of the area of Inverness, the
largest county in Scotland, but it is almost eight times larger than
Clackmannan, the smallest.
Wedged in between two bigger neighbours, Aberdeenshire and Forfarshire,
Kincardineshire in shape resembles a right-angled triangle, the right
angle being at Mount Battock in the west, while the two sides containing
it are lines which run, roughly speaking, along the course of the river
Dee to Aberdeen, and along the west side of the county towards the mouth
of the North Esk. The other side, formed by the coast-line from near
Montrose to Aberdeen, has a distance of about 35 miles. The whole
outline measures about 100 miles.
The watershed of the Dee on the north, and the watershed of the North
Esk on the west, practically mark out the county limits. The area lying
between these two rivers and the sea comprehends a district the general
slope of which is to the south-east. A picturesque background to the
district is formed by the Grampian heights, varying in elevation from
500 to 2500 feet. From the summits of this natural barrier of hills,
covered with heath and moss, there is a Regular succession of green
hills and cultivated slopes down to the Howe of the Mearns with its flat
or undulating fields. The eastern boundary—the North Sea shore—runs at
first to Bervie, a distance of 10 miles, in a north-easterly direction ;
for the next 10 miles, to Stonehaven, it curves to the north ; and for
the remaining 15 miles, to the Dee, it again takes a north-easterly
direction. Along the north side from Aberdeen the Dee forms the dividing
line as far as Crathes, a distance of 14 miles ; after which the county
boundary sweeps round the north side of Banchory over the Hill of Fare,
touching here the southern Aberdeenshire parishes of Echt, Midmar,
Kincardine-O’Neil, and Birse. The western boundary from Mount Battock to
near Montrose is formed by the North Esk, and the Forfarshire parishes
of Lochlee, Edzell, Stracathro, Logie Pert, and Montrose.
Before 1891 the parishes of Banchory-Ternan, Drum-oak, and
Banchory-Deve'nick were partly in Kincardineshire, partly in
Aberdeenshire. In that year Banchory-Ternan w’as all included in
Kincardineshire, and Drumoak in Aberdeenshire. The designation
Banchory-Devenick was now restricted to the Kincardineshire portion,
while the rest was added to the Aberdeenshire parish of Peterculter. At
the same time the parish of Edzell, which had been partly in
Forfarshire, partly in Kincardineshire, lost its Kincardineshire
portion, which was transferred to the parish of Fettercairn.
|
