of their work. We have already remarked that Kintore and Inverurie seemed to be the centre from which the sculptured stones radiated. In the same region are the group of castles, Castle Fraser, Craigievar, Midmar and Cluny (now destroyed), all within an easy radius of the centre. Castle Fraser and Midmar were built by a mason called John Bell, whose work was characterised by sterling qualities. The art would almost seem to have been handed down through several generations of craftsmen, for the modern Cluny Castle and Dunecht House, as well as their chapels, besides other palatial and extensive fabrics, were built entirely by local masons, without any extraneous help. It seems as if the building art were indigenous to this particular locality.
22. Communications—Roads, Railways.
In ancient times the chief means of communication between Aberdeenshire and the south was the old South and North Drove Road, which crosses the Cairn-o-Mounth from Fettercairn in Kincardine, and, passing the Dye and Whitestones on the Feugh, reaches the Dee at Potarch. It then ran along the hill to Lumphanan and on through Leochel to the Bridge of Alford, thence to Clatt and Kennethmont and along the valley of the Bogie to Huntly.
There was another—a supposed Roman road—which, coming up from the direction of Stonehaven, crossed the Dee at Peterculter, and, proceeding northward through Skene, Kinnellar, Kintore and Inverurie, went on to Pitcaple. Thence it passed through Rayne and across the east shoulder of Tillymorgan to what has been regarded as a Roman camp at Glenmailen, and by the Corse of Monellie, Lessendrum and Cobairdy, to the fords of the Deveron below Avochie.
Another ancient road crossed the mountains from Blairgowrie by the Spittal of Glenshee, over the Cairnwell, Castleton of Braemar, and the upper waters of the Gairn to the valley of the Avon at Inchrory and thence by Tomintoul to Speyside.
Spittal of Glenshee
After the ’45 General Wade adopted the southern part of this road as the line of his great military route from Blairgowrie to Fort George, but from Castleton he turned to the east, went down the Dee valley to Crathie, and thence across the hills to Corgarff in Upper Strathdon from which he reached Tomintoul by the “Lecht.” This route he completed in 1750.
These roads had naturally to lead to fords in the rivers, and, when bridges came to be built, it was just as natural that they should be placed in the line of established routes. When the Bridge of Alford was built over the Don in 1810-11 and the Bridge of Potarch over the Dee in 1812-13, a new line of road was made across country to connect them. It went from Dess through Lumphanan and Leochel to the Don valley.
The first turnpike made in Aberdeenshire was the road from the Bridge of Dee to the city of Aberdeen _viâ_ Holborn Street, which completed the northern section of the great post-road between Edinburgh and Aberdeen. This was in 1796.