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Fintray

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A New History of Aberdeenshire, Alexander Smith (Ed), 1875

Etymology
The name of this parish is said to be derived from the Gaelic, Fionn-traigh, meaning "the white, or fair margin of coast" or boundary of river, an appellation descriptive enough of the greater portion of the parish which lies along the left, or north bank of the Don, originally forming a portion of the northern Abbey lands, which belonged to the Abbacy of Lindores, in Fife.

Boundaries
The parish is bounded on the north and east by the parish of New Machar; on the south chiefly by the river Don and the parishes of Dyce and Kinellar; and on the west by Kintore, and the parish of Keith-hall.

Extent
The greatest length of the parish, in a direct line from south to north, is 4½ miles; and its greatest breadth, also in a direct line along the valley of the Don from east to west, is 5½ miles; and the whole area is estimated to be 7,388 acres, 916 dec.

Topography
The surface of the parish is undulating, rising from the Don towards the north in gentle knolls and low rounded hills, which are all either cultivated or planted, with, in the central parts, some intervening flat tracts of exhausted peat moss partly cultivated, and some stony muirs. The lowermost pomt in the parish, on the Don, is opposite the Manse of Dyce, 116 feet abeve sea level, ancl about eight miles from the sea, following the windings of the river. The highest point on the river on the boundary with Keith-hall, opposite the royal burgh of Kintore, is 150 feet. The church of Fintray is 245 feet above sea level, and the highest land in the parish is the hill of Tillykeira, which is 415 feet. The roadway on the bridge of Hatton is 158 feet above sea level.

[A New History of Aberdeenshire, Alexander Smith (Ed), 1875]