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Logie Coldstone

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

Etymology
The parish of Logie, anciently Logie-mar, was annexed to Coldstone in the year 1618. Logie is derived from the Gaelic Lag, which signifies a hollow, and is very descriptive of the lower lying portions of the parish. There is no tradition as to the origin of Coldstone, or Colstane, as it is pronounced, but in the Gaelic language the conjoined names would be Lug-cul-duine, which means "the hollow behind the fort."

Boundaries
The parish is bounded on the north by Towie, and two detached portions of the parish of Tarland and Migvie; on the east by the parish of Tarland proper, part of Coull, and part of Aboyne; on the south and south-west by Aboyne and Glenmuick, Tullich, and Glengairn; and on the west by Strathdon.

Extent
The greatest breadth of the parish from south-east to north-west, in a direct line from the lowermost point on the burn of Coldstone, near Tarland, to the Lodge of Deskryshiel, is 6½ miles; and the greatest length, from south-east to north-west, including the intersecting portion of Tarland (Migvie), and in a direct line from Goukstone on the burn of Dinnet, to Boltingstone, on the water of Deskry, is seven miles. The whole area is computed to be 13,624 acres.

Topography
A high ridge of hills runs westward from the Cushnie Hills in the north-east corner of the parish, and along the Towie boundary, to the slack of the hills over which the public road crosses to Donside by Boltingstone. The highest point on this range, the Broomhill of the Daugh, is 1,882 feet above sea level, and the summit level of the Boltingstone road is 1,214 feet. A westerly ridge of hills run from Boltingstone, on the Deskry, southwards to Morven, whose summit stands conspicuous in the south-western corner of the parish, and is 2,954 feet; the bridge at Boltingstone is 996 feet; and the lowermost point in the parish, on the Deskry, near Rippachy, is 966 feet. The church of Logie-Coldstone is 608 feet, and the lowermost point on the burn of Coldstone which is within half a mile of the village of Tarland is about 430 feet above sea level The lowermost point, in the parish on the water of Dinnet at Goukstone is about 590 feet.

The general appearance of the old parish of Logie, which occupies the southern division, is flat, but interspersed with small rounded knolls, which are either cultivated or planted; the surface of the eastern division consists of long irregular rounded ridges rising from the streams into the higher hills of Melgum (in Gaelic Meall-gulm, which means "the gloomy hills"); the aspect of the country is bleak and bare. The surface of the western or Coldstone division is hilly and irregular the lower parts of the valley by Coldstone and Kinaldy are well cultivated, so are the higher parts, by Groddie and Knocksoul, lying contiguous to the western mountains which are cold, rocky, heathy and bleak and barren. The eastern side of the valley of the Deskry which belongs to this parish is comparatively narrow with little cultivated land along it, from Boltingstone upwards to the Deskry-shiel Shooting Lodge, and its clump of stunted firs and larch trees.

As this parisb borders on the Aberdeenshire Highlands, and some of the natives may have a predilection for the Gaelic, which seems to have been the language of the whole country. Of this language there are many traces, which names either mark the local situation, or refer to what has taken place in former times. Of the names of places we havc Corrachree, standing in a very prominent position near Tarland, and the name, in Gaelic, Cruach-ruighe, signifies "the shealing on the round hill;" Ruthven, in Gaelic Ruadh-abhuin, "the red stream;" Tillychermach in Gaelic Tulach-Charmaig, "St. Cormack's height;" Pittentagart, in Gaelic, Pitt-an-t-sagairt, "the priest's hollow;" Pitloine, in Gaelic, Pit-a-lean, or lane, "the hollow of the plain;" Tomachar, in Gaelic, Tom-machair, "the knoll of the field"; Kinaldy, in Gaelic, Ceann-allt-dubh "the head of the dark stream;" and Water-erne, "the east running stream;" as Strath-earn, or Strath-ear-an, signifies "the valley of the east running water."

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