A Topographical Dictionary of Scotland (1851), Samuel Lewis

REMNAY, a parish, in the district of Garioch, county of Aberdeen, 3½ miles (S. S. W.) from Old Rain; containing, with the village of Auchleven, 691 inhabitants. This parish is about four miles and a half in length from north to south, and four miles in extreme breadth. It comprises between 5000 and 6000 acres, of which 3200 are arable, fifty acres plantations, and the remainder, with the exception of a small extent of good pasture, is waste, moor, and mountain. The surface is considerably diversified. A chain of beautiful little hills or undulations extends along the centre from east to west: it is entirely cultivated except on the summits, which are covered with whins on a thin rocky soil: and from the bases of the range, extensive tracts of arable land rise on each side with gentle ascent. The northern portion of the parish is watered by the Shevock, a small stream forming about a mile of its boundary, and separating it from the parish of Insch; and the southern by the stream of the Gady, which enters on the west near the church of Leslie, and continues its course to the eastern limit, between acclivities well cidtivated, and occasionally ornamented with picturesque hedge-rows. On the south side of this stream, which like the Shevock affords good trout, and opposite to the parish church, which is situated on its northern bank, rises the elevation of Tillymuick, a hill of moderate height and bleak appearance. A little farther southward is the mountain of Benochie, having its western extremity in this parish, and the summit of which, 1500 feet above the level of the sea, commands interesting and extensive prospects, embracing on the east many miles of the shore of the German Ocean, and on the north the Moray Firth, and the Caithness hills in the distance. In general the soil is dry and productive, incumbent on a gravelly subsoil or on rock, and well suited to turnip husbandry; near the bases of the two principal hills it is poor, and rests upon a hard tenacious earth. The crops consist of oats, bear, turnips, potatoes, and grass; the cultivation of which, with the rearing of black-cattle and a few sheep and horses, constitutes the chief employment. A rotation of crops is practised; but the inclosures are very few in number, as well as deficient in condition, and many improvements in husbandry are still wanting. The annual value of real property in Premnay is £2226. There are several kinds o rock. The most abundant species is red granite, which is found in great plenty in Tillymuick and Benochie, and, being easily wrought, is extensively used throughout the neighbouring district for building purposes. The hills in the centre of the parish supply a coarse stone well adapted for roads and drains. Serpentine and limestone also exist, and there are some beds of very fine clay. The mosses on the lower grounds are almost entirely exhausted, and nearly the whole brought into cultivation; the mosses on Benochie are also in a great measure exhausted, but still resorted to for fuel. Licklyhead, a castellated mansion, long the family seat of the proprietors of Premnay, was erected about 200 years since, and is still inhabited. Overhall is a modern residence, built in a plain manner, and in pretty good repair. The village of Auchleven contains about twenty houses, and also one of the three corn-mills in the parish, which is turned by the water of the Gady; one of the others is on the Shevock, and the third at Gariochsford. The females are partly employed in spinning wool, and in knitting stockings and under-clothing of worsted. There is also a small manufactory at Auchleven, where two spinning-jennies, two carding-engines, and two or three hand-looms are employed in the manufacture of woollen cloth. The public road from Insch to Keig passes over the Gady, at the village, by a bridge of two arches, erected in 1836 at a cost of £70; and this road is crosse near the centre of the parish by another, leading from the upper district of the county to Mill of Garden, where it joins the great road from Inverness to Aberdeen. A third road, lately made from Kinnethmont to Inverury, passes through the north side of the parish. The produce is generally sent to Inverury, eleven miles distant from the church; whence coal, lime, and guano and bones for manure, are obtained at all times for the use of the district. Bear from this place is used at the distilleries of Inverury and other places. Ecclesiastically the parish is within the limits of the presbytery of Garioch, synod of Aberdeen, and in the patronage of Sir Andrew Leith Hay, of Rannes: the minister's stipend is £159, with a manse, and a glebe valued at £ per annum. Premnay church, built in 1792, has 360 sittings, all of which are free with the exception of sixty in a gallery erected in 1827 by the Kirk Session, with consent of the heritors. The parochial school affords instruction in Latin, Greek, mathematics, geography, bookkeeping, and all the elementary branches: the master has a salary of £27, with a house, an allowance for a garden and £11 fees; also a share of the Dick bequest. Th interest of £1000, left by the late Thomas Gordon, Esq. is distributed among the poor.

[From Samuel Lewis A Topographical Dictionary of Scotland (1851) - copyright Mel Lockie 2016]