Inverurie

"INVERURY, a parish and burgh (royal), in the district of Garioch, county of Aberdeen, 16 miles (N. W.)  from Aberdeen, and 137 (N. N. E.) from Edinburgh; containing 2020 inhabitants, of whom 1619 are in the burgh. This place, which derives its name from its situation at the confluence of the river Don, is of antiquity, and, as part of the lordship of Garioch, was granted by William the Lion to his brother David, Earl of Huntingdon, youngest son of David I.; from whom King John Baliol, King Robert Bruce, and the present royal family are descended. . . . The TOWN consists of irregularly built and detached houses, scattered along the turnpike-road from Huntly to Aberdeen. From the difficulty of access previously to the existence of the bridge over the Don, which was built at a cost of £2000 in 1791, the place was not much more than an obscure village, and had neither any manufacture nor trade. . . The manufacture of linen is pursued to some extent, affording employment to more than sixty of the inhabitants. Various handicraft trades, also, are carried on for the accommodation of the adjacent district; and there are several shops in the town well supplied with goods. . . . The PARISH, which is bounded on the south by the river Don, and on the north and east by the Ury, is about four miles in extreme length and two miles in breadth, comprising an area of 5100 acres, of which 3000 are arable, 1000 woodland and plantations, and the remainder moorland pasture and waste. . . For ECCLESIASTICAL purposes the parish is within the limits of the presbytery of Garioch, synod of Aberdeen. . . . Inverury old church, built in 1775, contained only 400 sittings, a number very inadequate to the increased population; and consequently, a new church, containing 1330 sittings, has been erected on its site by the heritors and the burgh magistrates. The present structure is of beautiful granite, in the later English style of architecture. The burial-ground is situated near the river, where the church stood previous to 1775. There are places of worship for members of the Free Church, Independents, and Wesleyans; and an episcopal chapel. . . More"
[From Samuel Lewis A Topographical Dictionary of Scotland (1851) - copyright Mel Lockie 2016]