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Methlick

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

Etymology
The old spellings of the name of this parish are Methelak, Methlayky, Mythlik, and Methlik, now it is Methlick. The prefix Meth is evidently a corruption of the Gaelic word Magh, signifying a plain, which may be at the bottom of a ridge, or on the top of a hill, and a-lich would signify flag stones; the name would, therefore, be in Gaelic, Magh-a-lich, the plain, or "field of the flag stones." The name, says the author of the Statistical Account of the parish, 1842, is derived from two Gaelic words, which signify the "vale of honey," but he does not give the words from which he derives the name.

Boundaries
The parish is bounded on the north by the parishes of Monquhitter and New Deer; on the east by New Deer and Tarves; on the south by Tarves; and on the west by Fyvie. A detached portion of the parish lies on the left bank of the Ythan, and is bounded by that river on the south, the Ebrie on the east, and by the parish of Tarves on the west and north.

Extent
The distance from Keithfield, on the Tarves boundary, in the south, to the Myre of Bedlam, in New Deer on the north, is seven miles in a direct line; and the distance from the Tangland ford on the east, to the Fyvie boundary on the west, in a direct line, is 4½ miles. The area of the princial division of the parish is 14,420¾ acres; that of the detached portion is about 492 acres; together, 14,912¾ acres.

Topography
The south-east division of the parish is but slightly undulating, and that of the south-west is rather more so. The northern division-that which lies to the north of the Ythan-is hilly, rising from the river into the hills of Balquhindachy on the west, and Belnagoak, the latter of which is 560 feet above sea level. The lowest point in the parish proper is at the Tangland ford, and the highest about 63 feet above sea level, and 12 miles two furlongs from the sea by the course of the river. The highest point of the river is at Haddo (17 miles six furlongs), and is 97 feet. The church of Methlick is 87 feet, and Haddo House is 177 feet six inches above sea level.

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