Abernethy and Kincardine
Encyclopedia
Abernethy and Kincardine is a former civil parish
, ecclesiastical parish
and registration district
in the Highland
council area
of Scotland
. The name is not in use for any current (2011) such entity but remains as the usual description for historical purposes, in the case of the registration district being only a name change.
The name "Abernethy" is derived from the local River Nethy ("aber" is Pictish
for a river mouth or junction). The original village, Bridge of Nethy, now more well known as Nethy Bridge
was located around the confluence of the River Nethy and the Duack Burn, at . Earlier growth of the village was mostly upriver along the banks of the Nethy. The name Kincardine is of mixed Gaelic and Pictish origin, "ceann" being Scots Gaelic for head and "cardden" the Brythonic
/Pictish for a wooded area; the latter element also features as "garten" in other nearby placenames.
The baptism registers (up to 1856, since deposited with the Registrar General with microfilm copies at a number of places) have poor coverage around the 1820s, apart from those events not recorded if the parishioners were members of other churches. The pre-1855 marriage registers are in a similar condition but also contain some "extra" entries concerning parishioners who married in other parishes or denominations, including some Roman Catholic marriages (indicated as "married by a priest").
Changes in modern church-going habits have led to Church of Scotland ministers usually covering more than one of the original parishes, in this case resulting in the once "United Parish" of Abernethy and Kincardine becoming separated again and the parts joined to neighbouring parishes; the 2006 circuits for the area are now advertised as "Abernethy, Cromdale
and Advie
" and "Boat of Garten
and Kincardine with Duthil
Carrbridge
".
road, beside the ruins of Castle Roy.
The burial ground has been extended in recent years and is in current use for new lairs. Most pre-1855 inscriptions have been recorded and published A rough-surfaced roadside parking area with space for a number of vehicles gives level access to the church and also serves Castle Roy (to which casual pedestrian access is officially not recommended for safety reasons).
(based on the boundary of the ecclesiastical parish) originally straddled parts of Inverness-shire
and Morayshire; county boundary changes in the latter half of the 19th century resulted in the entire parish being contained within Inverness-shire. The parish council has since been abolished.
It remains as a registration district
(since 1972 renamed as Nethybridge) generally matching the 19th Century census district. Due to a combination of registration district boundaries not being tied to local authority boundaries and later changes of the county boundary, events will be found described as happening in Invernessshire or (until 1862) Morayshire but (barring any confusion with the Perthshire town of Abernethy) the same address within this parish is usually being referred to if only the county varies. The Glenmore area (at the southern end of the parish) was moved to the Rothiemurchus registration district on 1 October 1956 thus transferring some places which would have been recorded as being within Kincardine in this parish and still might be so described in some more recent registrations.
Civil parishes in Scotland
In Scotland, parishes, as units of local government, were abolished by the Local Government Act 1929. The geographical area is sometimes still referred to, however, for statistical purposes....
, ecclesiastical parish
Parish
A parish is a territorial unit historically under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of one parish priest, who might be assisted in his pastoral duties by a curate or curates - also priests but not the parish priest - from a more or less central parish church with its associated organization...
and registration district
Registration district
A registration district in the United Kingdom is a type of administrative region which exists for the purpose of civil registration of births, marriages, and deaths and civil partnerships...
in the Highland
Highland (council area)
Highland is a council area in the Scottish Highlands and is the largest local government area in both Scotland and the United Kingdom as a whole. It shares borders with the council areas of Moray, Aberdeenshire, Perth and Kinross, and Argyll and Bute. Their councils, and those of Angus and...
council area
Council Area
A Council Area is one of the areas defined in Schedule 1 of the Local Government etc. Act 1994 and is under the control of one of the local authorities in Scotland created by that Act.-Legislation :1889...
of Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
. The name is not in use for any current (2011) such entity but remains as the usual description for historical purposes, in the case of the registration district being only a name change.
The name "Abernethy" is derived from the local River Nethy ("aber" is Pictish
Pictish language
Pictish is a term used for the extinct language or languages thought to have been spoken by the Picts, the people of northern and central Scotland in the Early Middle Ages...
for a river mouth or junction). The original village, Bridge of Nethy, now more well known as Nethy Bridge
Nethy Bridge
Nethy Bridge is a small village in Strathspey in the Highland Council Area of Scotland. It is located in the historical parish of Abernethy and Kincardine...
was located around the confluence of the River Nethy and the Duack Burn, at . Earlier growth of the village was mostly upriver along the banks of the Nethy. The name Kincardine is of mixed Gaelic and Pictish origin, "ceann" being Scots Gaelic for head and "cardden" the Brythonic
Brythonic languages
The Brythonic or Brittonic languages form one of the two branches of the Insular Celtic language family, the other being Goidelic. The name Brythonic was derived by Welsh Celticist John Rhys from the Welsh word Brython, meaning an indigenous Briton as opposed to an Anglo-Saxon or Gael...
/Pictish for a wooded area; the latter element also features as "garten" in other nearby placenames.
The Ecclesiastical Parish
The Church of Scotland parish was created in the 16th century by the combination of the parishes of Kincardine and Abernethy, both of which have ancient origins and past or later associations with other churches. Both parish churches (and associated burial grounds) remain in use.The baptism registers (up to 1856, since deposited with the Registrar General with microfilm copies at a number of places) have poor coverage around the 1820s, apart from those events not recorded if the parishioners were members of other churches. The pre-1855 marriage registers are in a similar condition but also contain some "extra" entries concerning parishioners who married in other parishes or denominations, including some Roman Catholic marriages (indicated as "married by a priest").
Changes in modern church-going habits have led to Church of Scotland ministers usually covering more than one of the original parishes, in this case resulting in the once "United Parish" of Abernethy and Kincardine becoming separated again and the parts joined to neighbouring parishes; the 2006 circuits for the area are now advertised as "Abernethy, Cromdale
Cromdale
Cromdale is a village in Highland, Scotland and one of the ancient parishes which formed the combined ecclesiastical parish of "Cromdale, Inverallan and Advie" in Morayshire....
and Advie
Advie
Advie is a small village in Strathspey, in the Highland Council Area of Scotland. It lies to the south of the River Spey, and next to the A95 road, roughly half-way between Grantown-on-Spey and Aberlour.-History:...
" and "Boat of Garten
Boat of Garten
Boat of Garten is a small village and post town in Badenoch and Strathspey, Highland, Scotland. In 1951, the population was less than 400; in 1971, it was almost 500; in 1981, it was almost 700, and the same in 2001.-Etymology:...
and Kincardine with Duthil
Duthil
Duthil is a small village, bypassed from the A938 road,at the junction with the road B9007, near Carrbridge in Inverness-shire, Scottish Highlands and is in the Scottish council area of Highland....
Carrbridge
Carrbridge
Carrbridge is a village in Badenoch and Strathspey in the Scottish Highlands. It lies off the A9 road on the A938 road, west of Skye of Curr, southeast of Findhom Bridge, near Bogroy.It has the oldest stone bridge in the Highlands and nearby ancient pine forest contains the Landmark Forest...
".
Abernethy Kirk
This church is on the West side of the Nethy Bridge to Grantown-on-SpeyGrantown-on-Spey
Grantown-on-Spey is a town in the Highland Council Area in Scotland.It was founded in 1765 as a planned settlement on a low plateau at Freuchie beside the river Spey at the northern edge of the Cairngorm mountains, about 20 miles South East of Inverness .It is the main town in what was the...
road, beside the ruins of Castle Roy.
The burial ground has been extended in recent years and is in current use for new lairs. Most pre-1855 inscriptions have been recorded and published A rough-surfaced roadside parking area with space for a number of vehicles gives level access to the church and also serves Castle Roy (to which casual pedestrian access is officially not recommended for safety reasons).
Kincardine Kirk
This church is on a small knoll set back from the road between Auchgourish and West Croftmore. It is somewhat smaller than Abernethy Kirk and few new lairs have been created in recent years but burials still take place in existing lairs. Most pre-1855 grave inscriptions have been recorded and published . The churchyard contains a very old Yew tree as often found where such a site has pre-Christian associations. There is usually room for two or three vehicles to park on a grassed area beside the churchyard gate; the lane leading to the church is gated to protect animals in the adjacent fields but not locked.The Civil Parish and Registration District
The civil parishCivil parish
In England, a civil parish is a territorial designation and, where they are found, the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties...
(based on the boundary of the ecclesiastical parish) originally straddled parts of Inverness-shire
Inverness-shire
The County of Inverness or Inverness-shire was a general purpose county of Scotland, with the burgh of Inverness as the county town, until 1975, when, under the Local Government Act 1973, the county area was divided between the two-tier Highland region and the unitary Western Isles. The Highland...
and Morayshire; county boundary changes in the latter half of the 19th century resulted in the entire parish being contained within Inverness-shire. The parish council has since been abolished.
It remains as a registration district
Registration district
A registration district in the United Kingdom is a type of administrative region which exists for the purpose of civil registration of births, marriages, and deaths and civil partnerships...
(since 1972 renamed as Nethybridge) generally matching the 19th Century census district. Due to a combination of registration district boundaries not being tied to local authority boundaries and later changes of the county boundary, events will be found described as happening in Invernessshire or (until 1862) Morayshire but (barring any confusion with the Perthshire town of Abernethy) the same address within this parish is usually being referred to if only the county varies. The Glenmore area (at the southern end of the parish) was moved to the Rothiemurchus registration district on 1 October 1956 thus transferring some places which would have been recorded as being within Kincardine in this parish and still might be so described in some more recent registrations.
People
- Colonel John Roy Stewart (1700–1752), poet, soldier and Jacobite
- Rev. William Forsyth (1825–1907), parish minister and author of "In the Shadow of Cairngorm"; his book is now out of copyright and online copies other than those listed below can usually be found.
- Thomas King, Police Constable, was killed by Allan McCallum, a local poacher, when he and a Constable MacNiven attempted to execute an arrest warrant on 20 December 1898. Allan McCallum was tried in Inverness for murder in February 1899, but found guilty of culpable homicideCulpable homicideCulpable homicide is a specific offence in various jurisdictions within the Commonwealth of Nations which involves the illegal killing of a person either with or without an intention to kill depending upon how a particular jurisdiction has defined the offence...
and sentenced to 15 years imprisonment; he was released in 1910. Constable King is buried at Abernethy Kirk.
External links
- A Topographical Dictionary of Scotland (1846) A description of the parish; note that the supposed derivation of "Kincardine" in this book appears fanciful and the implied location of Abernethy Kirk is incorrect.
- Origin of the Kincardine Camerons An extract from "In the Shadow of Cairngorm" by Rev. W.Forsyth.
- In the Shadow of Cairngorm (Chronicles of the United Parishes of Abernethy and Kincardine) The complete text of the book by the Rev.W.Forsyth, published in 1900 and recently re-printed in a limited edition. It describes many features, people and legends of the area as they were at the time of writing and in earlier times.