A Description of Udny

Udny, a village and a parish of Aberdeenshire. The village stands 283 feet above sea-level and 2¼ miles NW of Udny station on the Formartine and Buchan section (1861) of the Great North of Scotland railway, this being 5 miles SSW of Ellon, 8¼ N by E of Dyce Junction, and 14½ NNW of Aberdeen, under which there is a post and railway telegraph office. There is also a branch (1875) of the Aberdeen Town and County Bank; the Formartine Agricultural Association (1829) holds an annual show of live-stock at the Green of Udny; and horse, cattle, and sheep markets are held at Udny station on the last Thursday of every month. The parish, formed in 1597 out of portions of Ellon, Tarves, Logie-Buchan, and Foveran, is bounded N by Tarves, E by Ellon, Logie-Buchan, Foveran, and Belhelvie, S by New Machar, SW by Fintray, the Banffshire (detached) section of New Machar and Keithhall, and NW by Bourtie and Tarves. Its utmost length, from N by E to S by W, is 6⁵/8 miles; its breadth varies between 1¼ and 6⁵/8 miles; and its area is 18 square miles or 11,554⁷/8 acres, of which only 6½ are water. Streams there are none of any size; but the drainage is carried eastward and north-eastward to the Ythan by four or five little rivulets. In the N, at the Mill of Dumbreck, the surface declines to 83 feet above sea-level; and thence it rises very gently to 309 feet at Newseat, 310 at West Coullie, and 620 at the Changehill on the south-western border. Granite, of a pale greyish hue, has been largely quarried; and an inferior limestone was at one time worked. The soil, in most parts a deep loam incumbent on granite or clay, is here and there naturally marshy, but has been greatly improved by draining. About one-fifteenth is either pastoral or waste; nearly one-thirtieth is under wood; and almost all the remainder is in tillage. Udny Castle, 3 furlongs NNE of the village, is a massive three-storied tower, 46 feet long, 35 broad, and 71 high, with walls 9 feet in thickness. It is supposed to have been founded about the beginning of the 14th century; but a large and handsome addition has been made by the present proprietor, John Henry Fullarton Udny, Esq. (b. 1853; suc. 1861), the descendant of a long line of lairds, who holds 9225 acres in the shire, valued at £9041, 7s. per annum. The mansions of Pitmedden and Pittrichie are noticed separately; and, in all, 10 proprietors hold each an annual value of £500 and upwards, 6 of between £100 and £500. Udny is in the presbytery of Ellon and the synod of Aberdeen; the living is worth £360. The parish church, built in 1821, contains 750 sittings. There is also a Free church; and two public schools, Pitmedden and Udny Green, with respective accommodation for 125 and 185 children, had (1884) an average attendance of 110 and 81, and grants of £102, 19s. and £67, 18s. Valuation (1860) £10,063, (1885) £13,840, 16s. 11d., plus £998 for railway. Pop. (1801) 1242, (1831) 1309, (1861) 1668, (1871) 1663, (1881) 1638.—Ord. Sur., shs. 77, 87, 1873-76.

(Groome, Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland(1882-4))