Chapel Of Garioch

"GARIOCH-CHAPEL-OF, a parish, in the district of Garioch, county of Aberdeen, 5 miles (N. W.) from Inverury; containing 2038 inhabitants. This place was formerly called Logie Durno or Durnock, words signifying "a low or hollow place". . . The PARISH, the figure of which is very irregular, is eleven miles in length from north to south, and varies in breadth from two to five miles. It comprises 11,427 acres, of which 8342 are under tillage, including twelve acres of garden and orchard ground; 1010 waste, including nearly 900 acres capable of profitable cultivation; 110 moss; and 1965 wood and plantations. . . The eminence on which the church stands, south of the Ury, and by which the old turnpike-road from Aberdeen passed, commands in one part an interesting view of both local and distant scenery, especially of the Garioch district, the prospect embracing nine churches. This parish is entirely agricultural; and the vale, interspersed by beautifully-formed knolls, of which that of Dun-o-deer is the most conspicuous, is under good cultivation. . . . A new road has been made to Aberdeen, and the marketable produce is generally sent to that city, being conveyed to Port-Elphinstone, six miles distant, and thence transmitted to its destination by the canal. Chapel of Garioch is the seat of the presbytery of Garioch, in the synod of Aberdeen. . . The church is a neat and commodious edifice, built in 1813, and contains 500 sittings. A second church was opened in June 1839, at Blairdaff, in the southern part of the parish, about four miles and a half from the mother church; it contains 500 sittings. . . The members of the Free Church have a place of worship. Garioch parochial school affords instruction in Greek, Latin, practical mathematics, and geography, with the usual elementary branches. . . More"
[From Samuel Lewis A Topographical Dictionary of Scotland (1851) - copyright Mel Lockie 2016]