Old Deer

"DEER-OLD, a parish, 10 miles (W.) from Peterhead; partly in the district of Deer, county of Aberdeen, including the villages of Stuartfield and Old Deer; and partly in the county of Banff,, including the village of Fetterangus; the whole containing 4453 inhabitants. The name appears to be derived from a Gaelic word signifying the worship of God, perhaps applied on account of the first Christian church in Buchan having been erected here. . . The parish, or rather the main portion of it, in Aberdeenshire, measures in mean length about nine miles and a half, and about four miles and a half in breadth, containing upwards of 25,000 acres, of which about three-fourths are under tillage or in pasture, 2000 acres are occupied by growing wood, and the remainder is peat-moss, moor, and waste. . . In Stuartfield about thirty persons are employed in weaving linen-yarn for the Aberdeen houses, and at Millbrake and Aden some sorts of woollen-cloth are made. There are also two flax-mills in the parish, and to the larger of the two woollen-mills a dye-house and a fullingmill are attached. . . The turnpike-road from Fraserburgh to Aberdeen runs in a direction north and south, and that from Peterhead to Banff east and west, through the parish. For ECCLESIASTICAL purposcs the parish is within the bounds of the presbytery of Deer and synod of Aberdeen; patron, the Crown. The minister's stipend is £219, and there is a manse, built in 1823, with a glebe wort between £40 and £50 per annum. The church, which was built in 1788, and repaired a few years since, contains 1200 sittings. There is an episcopal chapel; and the members of the Free Church, the Original Secession, the United Presbyterian Synod, and the Independents have places of worship. Three parochial schools are supported: the master of the chief establishment, situated at Old Deer, and in which, besides the usual instruction, Greek and mathematics are taught. . . More"
[From Samuel Lewis A Topographical Dictionary of Scotland (1851) - copyright Mel Lockie 2016]