Cairnie

   CAIRNIE, a parish, chiefly in the district of Strathbogie, county of Aberdeen, but partly in the county of Banff, 4 miles (N. W.) from Huntly; containing 1638 inhabitants. This place once formed part of the lordship of Strathbogie, which was granted to Sir Adam Gordon, by King Robert Bruce, after the defeat and attainder of Cumin, Earl of Badenoch, and was the original estate of the family of Gordon, whose property, since that period, has become very greatly extended. The surface is hilly, and comprehends 48 square miles, of which extent 8000 acres are in tillage, and 2600 acres were planted in the year 1839 with 6,700,000 trees, by the Duke of Richmond, who is proprietor of nearly the whole of the parish; the soil in the vicinity of the streams is fertile, and the husbandry on a respectable footing. Extensive lime-works are in operation at Ardonald, which, in the twenty-three years previous to 1842, produced a revenue of £69,770. The mosses supply part of the fuel consumed, and the remainder consists of coal brought from the coast, eighteen miles distant; the substrata comprise granite, clay-slate, greenstone, and a few other varieties. The rateable annual value of the parish is £5145. The black-cattle and dairy-produce, which are the principal marketable commodities, are taken for sale to Huntly, or sent to the coast; and facilities of communication are afforded by the road from Aberdeen to Inverness, which passes through the parish. Cairnie is in the presbytery of Strathbogie and synod of Moray, and in the patronage of the Duke of Richmond; the minister's stipend is £210. 0. 3., with a manse, and a glebe valued at £25 per annum. The church, which stands in a central situation, was built at the beginning of the present century. There is a place of worship for members of the Free Church. The parochial schoolmaster has a salary of £18. 16., with sixteen bolls of meal, and £15 fees; he also shares in the Dick bequest.