Enzie

   ENZIE, lately a quoad sacra parish, formed of part of the parishes of Bellie and Rathven, in the county of Banff, 4 miles (N. E.) from Fochabers; containing 2103 inhabitants. The district is about six miles in length and from three to four in breadth, and is bounded on the north by the Moray Frith, and on the south by the Aldmore hills and Whiteash. The surface presents, generally, a very pleasing aspect, considerably heightened by the interspersion of wood; and the views embrace a large extent of the Frith and of the opposite coast of Ross-shire and Sutherland. The soil is various, in some places rich and fertile, and in others hard and thin; and the crops, which are usually early, consist chiefly of wheat, oats, and barley, the first being most cultivated. The Duke of Richmond is the principal proprietor of the land. On the hill of Parrymont, in the Rathven portion of the district, is a quarry, whence an abundance of blue slate and stone flags is obtained; and at Gollachie are a woollen-cloth factory and a carding-mill. White-fishing is prosecuted with advantage; cod and haddock are caught in considerable quantity, and the former, and ling, are cured by the inhabitants, and disposed of in the southern markets. There is a salmon-fishing station at Port-Gordon, the chief village, belonging to a company in the neighbourhood; and here, also, a pretty extensive trade is carried on in the exportation of grain, and the importation of coal and salt. Eight or ten vessels belong to the place, by which the commerce in these articles is for the most part conducted; and a kind of temporary harbour affords them a safe anchorage. The north coast-road from Banff to Fochabers, and the road from Keith to Port-Gordon, intersect the district. The ecclesiastical affairs are controuled by the presbytery of Fordyce and synod of Aberdeen, and the patronage is vested in the Committee for managing the Royal Bounty: the stipend of the minister is £62, and there is a glebe of eight acres, valued at about £1 per acre, and for which the minister pays a ground rent of two bolls of barley. The church is a small structure, built in 1785, and enlarged by a gallery at the end in 1815, and by a side gallery in 1822, and now contains 400 sittings; it is nearly equidistant from Rathven church and the church of Bellie, about four miles from each. The Roman Catholics have a place of worship near Achinhalrig, a small hamlet, where, and at Starryhaugh and Curfurrach, are schools supported by the Society for Propagating Christian Knowledge; and at Port-Gordon is a school maintained by the Duke of Richmond. The late celebrated Dr. Alexander Geddes, a Roman Catholic divine, and a translator of Horace's Satires, and of a portion of the Bible, with critical notes, was a native of the place. Enzie confers the title of Earl on the Marquess of Huntly.