Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for King Edward

King Edward (pronounced Kin-edart or Kin-eddar), a parish of NW Aberdeenshire, containing King Edward station on the Macduff branch of the Great North of Scotland railway, 4¾ miles SSE of Banff Bridge station, 6¾ N by W of Turriff, 24¾N by W of Inveramsay Junction, and 45½ NNW of Aberdeen, with a post and telegraph office under Banff. Containing also Newbyth village, 8 miles to the ESE, it is bounded N by Gamrie in Banffshire, E by Aberdour and New Deer, S by Monquhitter and Turriff, W by Forglen and Alvah in Banffshire, and NW by Alvah. Its utmost length, from E to W, is 9 miles; its breadth, from N to S, varies between 2 and 45/8 miles; and its area is 18, 646 acres, of which 75¾ are water, and 1046¾ belong to the detached or Montcoffer section. The Deveron flows 17/8 mile northward along the western boundary of the main body, and here is joined by the Burn of King Edward, which, formed by two head-streams near Fisherie, winds 61/8 miles westward through the interior. The surface declines along the Deveron to less than 40 feet above sea-level, thence rising eastward to 328 feet at Wester Keilhill, 443 near Foulzie, 422 at Waller Hill, 701 at the Hill of Overbrae, 563 at the Hill of Tillymauld, and 749 at the Hill of Fisherie. The principal rocks are greywacke and clay slate in the W, Old Red sandstone in the E; and both the greywacke and the sandstone have been quarried. The soil along the Deveron is chiefly fertile alluvium; of many parts in the central districts, is either a loamy clay or a black loam on a gravelly or rocky bottom; and, in the eastern district, is generally of a mossy nature, very various in quality, and incumbent either on gravel or on clay. Rather more than one-half of the entire area is in tillage; some 1600 acres are under wood; and the rest is mostly pasture, moor, or moss. At ' Kenedor, ' in the first half of the 10th century, St Gervadius or Gernadius, a native of Ireland, is said to have built a cell or oratory, and to have led the life of an anchorite. William Guild, D.D. (15861657), principal of King's College, Aberdeen, was minister for 23 years. The Castle of King Edward, 9 furlongs S of the station, crowned a bold precipitous rock on the N side of the deep ravine of the Burn of King Edward, and, occupied in the 13th century by the Comyns, Earls of Buchan, appears to have been a place of great strength, but now is a shapeless ruin. Mansions, all noticed separately, are Byth, Craigston, Eden, and Montcoffer; and 5 proprietors hold each an annual value of £500 and upwards, 1 of between £100 and £500, and 2 of from £20 to £50. Including almost the whole of Newbyth quoad sacra parish, King Edward is in the presbytery of Turriff and synod of Aberdeen; the living is worth £399. The parish church, ½ mile WNW of the station, is an Early English edifice of 1848, containing 600 sittings. A Congregational chapel at Millseat, 6 miles NE of Turriff, was built in 1831, and contains 210 sittings; and 2 public schools, Fisherie and King Edward, with respective accommodation for 60 and 130 children, had (1881) an average attendance of 41 and 123, and grants of £32, 7s. 6d. and £121, 4s. 6d. Valuation (1860) £9562, (1882) £13, 789, 13s. 10d., plus £857 for railway. Pop. (1801) 1723, (1831) 1966, (1861) 2843, (1871) 3111, (1881) 3068, of whom 1164 were in the ecclesiastical parish.—Ord. Sur., shs. 96, 86, 87, 1876.


(F.H. Groome, Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland (1882-4); © 2004 Gazetteer for Scotland)

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a parish"   (ADL Feature Type: "countries, 4th order divisions")
Administrative units: King Edward ScoP       Aberdeenshire ScoCnty
Place: King Edward

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