| PAGE | |
| The lone Kirkyard, Gamrie | [3] |
| Town House, Old Aberdeen | [5] |
| Consumption Dyke at Kingswells | [7] |
| The Punch Bowl, Linn of Quoich, Braemar | [9] |
| Pennan, looking N.W. Showing old and new houses of Troup | [12] |
| Loch Avon and Ben-Macdhui | [14] |
| Benachie | [19] |
| Linn of Dee, Braemar | [21] |
| Old bridge of Dee, Invercauld | [22] |
| View from old bridge of Invercauld | [23] |
| Falls of Muick, Ballater | [24] |
| Birch Tree at Braemar | [26] |
| Fir Trees at Braemar | [28] |
| The Don, looking towards St Machar Cathedral | [30] |
| Brig o’ Balgownie, Aberdeen | [31] |
| Loch Muick, near Ballater | [32] |
| Loch Callater, Braemar | [34] |
| Loch of Skene | [36] |
| Deer in time of snow | [47] |
| The Dunbuy Rock | [48] |
| Girdleness Lighthouse | [53] |
| Sand Hills at Cruden Bay | [56] |
| “The Pot,” Bullers o’ Buchan | [58] |
| Buchan Ness Lighthouse | [60] |
| Kinnaird Lighthouse, Fraserburgh | [61] |
| Entrance to Lord Pitsligo’s Cave, Rosehearty | [62] |
| Aberdour Shore, looking N.W. | [63] |
| Inverey near Braemar | [67] |
| Aberdeen-Angus Bull | [81] |
| Aberdeen Shorthorn Bull | [82] |
| Granite Quarry, Kemnay | [84] |
| Granite Works, Aberdeen | [86] |
| Making smoked haddocks, Aberdeen | [93] |
| Fish Market, Aberdeen | [97] |
| Fishwives, The Green, Aberdeen | [98] |
| North Harbour, Peterhead | [99] |
| Herring boats at Fraserburgh | [100] |
| Fishing Fleet going out, Aberdeen | [101] |
| At the docks, Aberdeen | [103] |
| White Cow Wood Cairn Circle; View from the S.W. | [113] |
| Palaeolithic Flint Implement | [114] |
| Neolithic Celt of Greenstone | [114] |
| Stone at Logie, in the Garioch | [116] |
| “Picts” or “Eirde House” at Migvie, Aberdeenshire | [118] |
| Loch Kinnord | [120] |
| From _The Book of Deer_ | [125] |
| St Machar Cathedral, Old Aberdeen | [127] |
| St Machar Cathedral (interior) | [128] |
| King’s College, Aberdeen University | [129] |
| East and West Churches, Aberdeen | [130] |
| Kildrummy Castle | [133] |
| The Old House of Gight | [138] |
| Craigievar Castle, Donside | [140] |
| Crathes Castle, Kincardineshire | [141] |
| Castle Fraser | [142] |
| Fyvie Castle, South Front | [144] |
| Municipal Buildings, Aberdeen, and Town Cross | [146] |
| Marischal College, Aberdeen | [147] |
| Union Terrace and Gardens, before widening of Bridge | [149] |
| Grammar School, Aberdeen | [150] |
| Gordon’s College, Aberdeen | [151] |
| Bridge of Don, from Balgownie | [152] |
| Old Bridge of Dee, Aberdeen | [153] |
| Balmoral Castle | [155] |
| Cluny Castle | [157] |
| Haddo House | [158] |
| Midmar Castle | [159] |
| Spittal of Glenshee | [161] |
| Professor Thomas Reid, D.D. | [175] |
| The Old Grammar School, Schoolhill | [179] |
| Birsemore Loch and Craigendinnie, Aboyne | [182] |
| Mar Castle | [183] |
| Ballater, view from Pannanich | [184] |
| Braemar from Craig Coynach | [186] |
| The Doorway, Huntly Castle | [188] |
| The Bass, Inverurie | [189] |
| The White Horse on Mormond Hill | [193] |
| Diagrams | [195] |
MAPS
| Orographical Map of Aberdeenshire | [Front Cover] |
| Geological Map of Aberdeenshire | [Back Cover] |
| Rainfall Map of Scotland | [65] |
The illustrations on pp. [3], [12], [62], [63] are from photographs by W. Norrie; those on pp. [5], [9], [14], [19], [21], [22], [23], [24], [26], [28], [30], [31], [32], [34], [36], [48], [53], [56], [58], [60], [61], [67], [86], [93], [97], [98], [99], [100], [101], [103], [120], [127], [128], [129], [130], [133], [140], [141], [144], 146, [147], [149], [150], [151], [152], [153], [155], [157], [158], [159], [161], [182], 183, [184], [186], [188] and [189], are from photographs by J. Valentine and Sons; that on p. [7] from a photograph by J. Watt; that on p. [47] from a photograph by Dr W. Brown; that on p. [84] from a photograph by A. Gordon; that on p. [193] from a photograph by A. Gray.
Thanks are due to W. Duthie, Esq., Collynie, for permission to reproduce the illustration on p. [82]; to J. McG. Petrie, Esq., Glen-Logie, for permission to reproduce that on p. [81]; to Messrs T. and R. Annan and Sons, for permission to reproduce that on p. [175]; to the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland for permission to reproduce those on pp. [113] and [118]; and to Alexander Walker, Jr., Esq., Aberdeen, for permission to reproduce that on p. [179].
1. County and Shire. The Origin of Aberdeenshire.
The term “shire,” which means a division (Anglo-Saxon sciran: to cut or divide), has in Scotland practically the same meaning as “county.” In most cases the two names are interchangeable. Yet we do not say Orkneyshire nor Kirkcudbrightshire. Kirkcudbright is a stewartry and not a county, but in regard to the others we call them with equal readiness shires or counties. County means originally the district ruled by a Count, the Norman equivalent of Earl. It is said that Aberdeenshire is the result of a combination of two counties, Buchan and Mar, representing the territory under the rule of the Earl of Buchan and the Earl of Mar. The distinction is in effect what we mean to-day by East Aberdeenshire and West Aberdeenshire; and the local students of Aberdeen University when voting for their Lord Rector by “nations” are still classified as belonging to either the Buchan nation or the Mar nation according to their place of birth.
The counties, then, are certain areas which it is convenient for political and administrative purposes to divide the country into for the better and more convenient management of local and internal affairs. To-day Scotland has thirty-three of these divisions. In a public ordinance dated 1305, twenty-five counties are named. They would seem to have been first defined early in the twelfth century, but as a matter of fact nothing very definite is known, either as to the date of their origin or as to the principles which regulated the making of their geographical boundaries. It is certain, however, that the county divisions were in Scotland an introduction from England. The term came along with the people who were flocking into Scotland from the south. The lines were drawn for what seemed political convenience and no doubt they were suited to the times. To-day the boundaries seem on occasion somewhat erratic. Banchory, for example, is in Kincardineshire, while Aboyne and Ballater on the same river bank and on the same line of road and railway are in Aberdeenshire. If the carving were to be done over again in the twentieth century, more consideration would probably be given to the railway lines.
A commission of 1891 did actually rearrange the boundaries. Of the parishes partly in Aberdeen and partly in Banff, some were transferred wholly to Aberdeen (Gartly, Glass, New Machar, Old Deer and St Fergus), while others were placed in Banffshire (Cabrach, Gamrie, Inverkeithny, Alvah and Rothiemay). How it happened that certain parts of adjoining counties were planted like islands in the heart of Aberdeenshire may be understood by reference to such a case as that of St Fergus. A large part of this parish belonged to the Cheynes, who being hereditary sheriffs of Banffshire were naturally desirous of having their patrimonial estates under their own legal jurisdiction, and were influential enough to be able to stereotype this anomaly. This explains the place of St Fergus in Banffshire; it is now very properly a part of Aberdeenshire.
