Bourtie

"BOURTIE, a parish, in the district of Garioch, county of Aberdeen, 1| mile (S.W.) from Old Meldrum; containing 469 inhabitants. This parish in figure resembles an irregular triangle. It measures five miles in length from east to west, and about two in average breadth, and comprises 5000 acres, of which nearly 3600 are under cultivation, 360 in plantations, consisting chiefly of Scotch fir and larch, 1000 uncultivated and waste, and a few acres covered with moss, supplying peat. . . The annual value of real property in the parish is £3150. There are two gentlemen's seats, Bourtic House and Barra, the latter of which is a venerable castle, forming three sides of a quadrangle, with turrets at two of the angles. The road from Aberdeen to Banff passes through a corner of the district. Ecclesiastically the parish is in the presbytery of Garioch, synod of Aberdeen, and in the patronage of the Crown; the minister's stipend is about £230, with a manse, and a glebe, valued at £10 per annum. The church, situated in about the centre of the parish, is a plain structure containing 300 sittings, built in 1807. The parochial school affords instruction in the ordinary branches of education; the master has a salary of £30, with a house, and £8 fees. . . More"
[From Samuel Lewis A Topographical Dictionary of Scotland (1851) - copyright Mel Lockie 2016]