Newmachar

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

Etymology
In the earlier registers of this parish, the name is the "Upper Parochin of Saint Machar;" and in some of a later date, it is called Upper Machar, and part of the Deanry of St. Machar. The modern name, New Machar, appears to have been given to the parish in 1689, when a church was built, where the present now stands; and in 1641, the minister at the chapel of Monycabock was removed to it. In the Chartulary of Aberdeen, there appears, among the other constitutions of Bishop Peter Ramsay, an order, dated "apud Aberdon, 14 Kal. Maii 1256," that the Dean, being parson of Kirkton (Old Aberdeen), is obliged to maintain a chaplain at St. Combs, Monycabock, as well as at Kirkton. There are some remains of this chapel; and the burying-ground around it is still used as a place of interment. At one period there were other three chapels in the parish, viz., the Virgin Mary´s at Straloch, said to have been built by the Cheynes; and the site of this chapel, which is near to the mansion house, is known by fragments of the building, and pieces of the tombstones, of which inscriptions are in part legible, and by the chapel well, which is close by. Another Virgin Mary´s is said to have stood upon Clubs-goval; and another on the Bishop´s Manor, on a small island in Loch Goul, or the Bishop´s Loch.

Boundaries
The parish is bounded on the north by Udny; on the east by Belhelvie and Old Machar; on the south by the river Don and the parish of Dyce; and on the west by the parishes of Fintray and Keith-hall.

Extent
The greatest length of the parish, in a direct south-east and north-west line, from the Corbie-loch in Old Machar, to Pitcow in Udny, and including Torryleith, the interjecting portion of Udny is seven miles; and the greatest breadth, in a direct north-east and south-west line, from the top of Kingseat to the Fintray boundary, west of Monycabbock, is a little over three miles. The area of the main division is computed to be 6,958¾ acres; and the detached, or Banffhire portion of the parish contains 2,088¼ acres; together, 9,047 acres.

Topography
The surface of the parish is gently undulating, and rises from the bridge of Dyce, which is 128 feet above sea level, by the old house of Rosehall (190 feet); the church, which is 300 feet; and the new lodge of Straloch, is 326 feet. The wood of Highlands is 372 feet; the old chapel of St. Mary´s, Straloch, is 330 feet; and the junction of the Udny with the Old Meldrum road, at Whiterashes, is 486 feet. The hill of Clyne, on the Fintray boundary, is 543 feet; and the Change-hill, which lies along the Udny boundary, is 620 feet, and the highest land in the parish.

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