Huntly, Dumbennan and Kinnoir

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

Etymology
The present parish of Huntly originally consisted of two distinct parishes, that of Dumbennan and Kinnoir, which were united into one parish in 1727. The former parish lies chiefly between the Bogie and the Doveran, and the old burying ground of Dumbennan is used as the chief burying ground for the parish. Kinnoir lies on the east of the Bogie and the Doveran, and on the right bank of the latter stream are the ruins of the old church and burying ground, which is still used as a Place of interment. Dumbennan appears to be one of the English corrupted spellings of the Gaelic word Dun, which means a "castle," a fort, and some times a heap of stones, or "mound," and, with the affix benn-an, would signify "the fort, or mound on the hill." Kin-noir is from the Gaelic Ceann-oir, or ore, which, in Gaelic, signifies, "the head of the hill on the edge, or margin of the river."

Boundaries
The parish is bounded on the north by the parish of Rothiemay, which is in Banffshire; on the east it is bounded by the parishes of Forgue and Drumblade; on the south it is bounded by the parish and braes of Gartly; and on the west by the parishes of Glass and Cairnie.

Extent
The greatest length of the parish, in a direct line from the head of the Gordons' burn, on the confines of Gartly and Glass, to the lowermost point on the Doveran at Rothiemay, is 9¾ miles, including the interjecting portion of the parish of Cairnie, which lies in the valley of the Doveran. Its greatest breadth, also in a direct line from Lessendrum, in Drumblade, to the top of the Ord-hill (a south-eastern spur of the Beinn in Cairnie), is four miles. The whole area is computed to be 12,576¾ acres.

Topography The surface of this parish is much diversified, and, when viewed from the higher ground south of the town of Huntly, it appears to consist of the two valleys formed by the Doveran and the Bogie, and of a smaller one, lying east of the Kinnoir Hills, bordering with Drumblade. The Clashmach Hill, the top of which is 1,159 feet above sea level, and the ridge of hills between the Bogie and the Doveran, bounding with Gartly on the south, form the chief mountain features of this division; the lower range of the Beinn-hill, the Boddum-hill (699 feet), forms the bounding ridge west of the Doveran; and the ridge of the Kinnoir Hills, viz:- St. Mungo's is 649 feet, and the hill of Greenfold is 718 feet, lie along the east bank of the Doveran, and the Bogie. The lowermost point of the Doveran, at the Mill-town of Rothiemay, is about 300 feet above sea level; and the highest point on the river at the burn of Artloch is 530 feet. The highest point on the Bogie, at the burn of Tulloch-beg is 386 feet; and the Square of Huntly is 408 feet above sea level. The bridge of Gibston is 414 feet, and the bridge over the Bogie is 376 feet.

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