INTRODUCTION
Over the last twenty five years the village of Kemnay has more than doubled in size resulting in a large number of people moving into the village who had no knowledge of the history of the area or the people who had lived and worked in it. A number of those who came originally moved on but many have settled in the village and their families have grown up here.
The Community Council felt that many of the people who had made this their home were blissfully unaware of the significance of the names of their streets – mind you there are many who would never give a second thought to this background information. To try and fill this gap it was decided that a paper should be prepared giving some information on the people after whom the streets were named.
It could be said that I was handed the short straw.
THE EARLY DAYS
The parish of Kemnay lies some fifteen miles north west of Aberdeen. It is a relatively small parish some four and a half miles north to south and no more than three miles wide. The village itself is not old, having only started to grow following the start of commercial granite quarrying on nearby Paradise Hill in 1858 by John Fyfe.
Down through the ages names have been used to identify places, objects and things. More often than not these names were descriptive but with the passing years and changes in language and spelling, the original meaning has sometimes become lost. The eighteenth century writers of the first Statistical Account invariably gave some meaning for the names of their parishes. Rev. Patrick Mitchell, author of the report for Kemnay, gave the Kembs or eskers, that line of low winding hillocks through the centre of the parish and the remains of glaciation, as the origin of the name. [Statistical Account of Scotland (1791-1799), edited by Sir John Sinclair (1982) Vol. XIV, p. 521]. This does not take into consideration the earliest recorded spelling of the name as CAMNAY [Alexander, William M. (1952) The place names of Aberdeenshire, Third Spalding Club, Aberdeen, p. 307] which later scholars say comes from the Gaelic ceann a maigh meaning ‘head of the plain.’ [Johnston, James B., 1970 Place Names of Scotland]. For anyone standing on the rising ground around Kemnay, this is seen to be a very descriptive name indeed.
Imagine our forefathers as they wandered in the area and started to settle down in their newly adopted abode. As they surveyed the scene around them with the large level basin girt around with hills, surely they would have picked a name describing this, rather than a line of low hillocks that were barely discernible amongst the scrubby woodland. ‘Ceann a maigh’ we can hear them say, ‘It is at the head of the plain’
In medieval times roads, - a more apt description might be tracks- were a means of getting from one place to another, and the parish of Kemnay is criss-crossed with a series of tracks connecting the various clachans and hamlets in the area. These roads were usually named by the place they led to; e.g. road to Aberdeen, road to Monymusk, road to Inverury etc. It was not until the early nineteenth century that any noticeable difference took place. The Alford Turnpike, which was opened in 1826 passed through the middle of the parish in an almost east west direction. The route of the turnpike more or less followed an old road from Kemnay to Monymusk. Branching off this old road was a track, which passed through the Mains of Kemnay and skirted the north side of Paradise Hill and headed off in the direction of Inverury with a branch going to Thainstone.
The Alford Valley Railway was opened in 1859. It passed to the north of Paradise Hill whereas the Turnpike lay to the south. Parallel to and some twenty yards from the railway a road was constructed from the Alford Turnpike near the entrance to Kemnay House Avenue to Dalmadilly. This road and the railway cut the road passing over Paradise Hill beside the quarries necessitating the provision of a bridge over the railway to reach Dalmadilly. In the 1891 census this whole road is known as Dalmadilly Road. Soon after the coming of the railway, a bridge was built over the Don and a road constructed from it along the line of the kaim almost parallel to the Turnpike but on the north side of the railway. The kaim provided a springing point for a bridge across the railway in line with the road passing up through the Mains of Kemnay. In the 1871 census this was described as the road commencing at the bridge over the Don and passing through the village to the Aberdeen Turnpike.
In the 1891 census the section of this road to the north of the railway was known as Fetternear Road, the portion through the village was called Main Road. That portion of the old road between the Turnpike and Main Road was known as Middle Road, the portion from there to East Mains remained as Old Road whereas at the quarry houses it was known as Paradise Road.
The Old Road and the Dalmadilly Road converged just to the north of the quarry. With the continuing expansion of the quarrying operations down the north west side of Paradise Hill the path of the Old Road was obliterated during the late 1890s. To overcome this a new link road was made from near the quarry houses to Dalmadilly Road. This has remained ever since just a metalled road and has been known as the Wallie Road (wallie = a small well), so called from a hydraulic ram situated near its junction with Dalmadilly Road, which pumped water up to a cistern beside the old road from where it supplied parts of the quarry. The portion of the Old Road between the Wallie Road and East Mains has remained in an unmade state to the present time and has been known as the High Road to differentiate it from ‘Dalmadilly Road’ which was generally known as The Low Road.
Although sporadic use is made of street names in Kemnay from the beginning of the 20th century [Kemnay Parish Council Minutes (1895-1930), Vol. 3198th March 1900, 11th February 1901, 10th August 1914] the main identification of people was by house name e.g. J A Diack Benview, J G Gray Rowanbank [Garioch District Committee Minute 18th December 1909], sometimes a residence was referred to as The Village e.g. Jessie Reid, Village, Kemnay [Register of Banns, Kemnay Parish Church].
It was not until 1939 that the village streets were named officially: Minute of Garioch District Council 11th Feb 1939 (p.292) Kemnay Special District: II. A letter of 6th inst. was read from the clerk to the Kemnay Special District Sub-Committee, suggesting that the streets in the village of Kemnay should be named as follows: -- Victoria Terrace, Kendal Road, Paradise Road, Aquithie Road, St. Bryde’s Lane, Bridge Road, High Street, Church Lane, Station Road, Grove Road, Riverside Road. The meeting approved of the suggestion.
Grove Road and Victoria Terrace replaced Aberdeen Turnpike; Kendal Road somehow lost an ‘L’ in the naming process - no doubt some ‘well’ informed councillor had thought the Kemnay folk did not know how to spell. Paradise Road now stretched from High Street to the quarry. Aquithie Road ran from the end of High Street to the quarry. Bridge Road ran from Don Bridge to Railway Bridge. High Street replaced Main Street. Church Lane replaced Back Lane. Station Road extended from the foot of High Street to the junction at Grove Road.
Church Lane. When the feus were laid out on the north side of Main Road a lane was made up the back of the feus. This was called Back Lane. In the fullness of time it was renamed Church Lane, the Free Church, now the Church Hall, being built on the hill at the top. The steep brae down from the church was known to a generation, now all but gone, as ‘Brucie’s Brae’ [Downie, D A; Morrison, D M; Muirhead A. M. (1995) Tales o' the Maisters]. Allan Bruce, who ran a joinery business in the sand hole where Daisybank was erected, built and stayed in Clifton Villa, now Kinkellian, across from the Free Church.
Paradise Road. The road leading from the High Street to the quarry is a street that has had several different names over the years. Part of the original road through the Mains, it was known for many years as Dub Lane, no doubt descriptive of its condition. It was not until after World War II that it was surfaced and took on a more favourable appearance. The name ‘Paradise’ was a term used in the 17th and 18th centuries for an area enclosed and planted [Alexander, William M (1952) The place names of Aberdeenshire, Third Spalding Club]. 0An estate map of 1792 in the Burnett Archive describes the area as ‘Top of Paradise, on which formerly a plantation of firs.’
Kendall Road. As the village developed in the late 19th century, a new road was formed between Dalmadilly Road and the Aberdeen Turnpike. This was named after William Kendall Burnett (1854-1912) second son of the laird A. G. Burnett, and always known as Kendall. Called after his maternal grandfather he was educated at Oxford and graduated from Edinburgh University in 1876. He was admitted to the Society of Advocates in 1880 and was apprenticed to the firm of Duncan and Morrice, practising later on his own account in Belmont Street. Mr Burnett entered Aberdeen Town Council in November 1897 and for several years was a Baillie. He was appointed Treasurer in 1911, a post he held until his death. Among the organisations in which he took an interest were Aberdeen Reformatory and Industrial Schools, Distress Committee, Endowment Trust, the Art Gallery, Aberdeen Philosophical Society, Aberdeenshire Cricket Club and the Cyclists’ Touring Club. In his native village he was instrumental in promoting the Public Hall and also served on the local School Board for several terms. The house to the west of Kemnay School called The Grove, which he built in 1888, was his home for a number of years. His death on July 16 1912 at the relatively young age of fifty-eight was a shock to both the city and county. His funeral service was held in South UF Church Aberdeen and he was buried in Kemnay beside other members of the Burnett family [Aberdeen Daily Journal, 18th and 22nd July 1912].
Kendall Green. A gap site on Kendal Road, which was completed in February 1959.
Grove Road leads from the school to the War Memorial and is so called from Kendall Burnett’s house to the south west of the school.
Monymusk Road is a continuation of Grove Road and also the line of the old Alford turnpike.
Aquithie Road. Aquithie lies about half a mile to the north of the quarries. The lands of Aquithie are believed to have belonged to the Knights Templar in the 12th and 13th centuries [Scottish Notes and Queries Vol. II, June 1888-May 1889, p. 12]. This body of men was founded in 1119 to defend the Crusader states set up in Palestine. They received a charter from the Pope in 1128. Numbering 20,000 at its peak, the order became well known throughout Europe as bankers and was entrusted with the transport of money and wealth around Europe for the nobility [Encyclopædia Britttanica 11th Edition Vol. XXV p.591]. From the various names associated with it - North, Nether as well as the name on its own- Aquithie must have been an area of some importance in the past. At the end of the 19th century, the present day farm of Mosshead was known as Nether Aquithie. It has been suggested that the name Aquithie is derived from the gaelic achadh na cuithe, field of the cattle pen [Alexander, William M (1952) The place names of Aberdeenshire, Third Spalding Club, p. 21]
Aquithie Lane, Aquithie Court. Two streets in the development on Alehousewells.
Riverside Road was a cul de sac from Bridge Road towards the Station. This road was created around 1907. Major F R Gregson, who stayed at Place of Tilliefoure some seven miles up Donside, wished to reach the railway station without going through the village. Permission was granted to make a road from the Don Bridge to the station on condition that he built a house on the road. This was the reason for the building of Riverside House. It remained a metalled road for many years with a turning area at the station. John Adam, a local mason, built most of the houses on it starting in 1929. It was not until 1973 that the road was finally made up to standard and carried across the line of the railway to join up with Station Road [Aberdeen County Council, Roads Committee Minute 15th June 1973]. The railway line was lifted in 1966, like many other branch lines, following the Beeching butchery.
The above names, with the exception of Kendal, are descriptive and self-explanatory.
St Bryde’s Lane or Road as it is now known received its name from the Masonic lodge built on the slight hill between St Bryde’s Road and Station Road. When the freemason lodge was inaugurated in the village in 1905, they adopted the name of St Bryde. The masonic lodge was built in 1910.
St Bride, Bridget, Bryde –there are various spellings- was born in Ireland in 452 AD. She was determined to take the vow of perpetual virginity but by mistake the wrong service was used and she received consecration as a bishop, an office she was allowed to retain because of her sanctity. About 490 AD she founded a monastery which was open to both sexes. She died in 524 AD and there are numerous places named after her both in her native Ireland and throughout Scotland [Towill, Edwin Sprott (1983) Saints of Scotland, pp. 29-33].
Tradition is silent as to how her name was adopted in Kemnay but it is known that St Bryde was a favourite with the Douglas family, five generations of whom owned the estate of Kemnay during the 16th and early 17th centuries.
Bogbeth Road. Since time immemorial, well, possibly not as long as that, but certainly as long ago as 1792, the land to the west of the glebe was known as Bogbeth, a very wet piece of land. Over the years the land has been used for various purposes, even since it was handed over by the estate as a recreation area. Earlier this century part of it was used as the village dump; a curling pond was also situated at the corner near Greenkirles Bridge. For a long time the road was simply knows as The Bog Road. When the sign was erected several years ago stating that it was now Bogbeth Road, several locals admitted that they had never heard it called anything but Bog Road. Bogbeth, according to Alexander means Birchbog. [Alexander, William M. (1952) The Place names of Aberdeenshire, Third Spalding Club, p. 180].
Parkhill. For centuries the kirk has been both physically and spiritually the centre of the parish of Kemnay. At one time it was said that no house in the parish was more than three miles from the church. With the change in road systems over the years, this statement no longer holds true.
As one stands at the kirk door and views the world before them, the hamlet of Parkhill is the main vista. A centre of population has existed in this area for centuries and at one time it even had a shop in its midst, the proprietrix of which is said to have transported her merchandise from the station in a wheelbarrow – they were made of sterner stuff then. Final traces of the building finally disappeared in the 1960s. The road passing through the hamlet and joining up with the Aberdeen Road near North Leschangie was always said to be a kirk road. According to the Concise Scots Dictionary a kirk road was a road or path used by parishioners going to the parish church, and constituting a right of way. In the 1841 census the description of the enumeration districts contains the following: District 4; So much of the parish of Kemnay as lies between the Church Road from the Church of Kemnay to Lauchintillie and Scrapehard and the Turnpike from Aberdeen to Monymusk.
The Road over Parkhill was used for vehicular traffic up to the 1960s but since then it has only been used as a footpath beyond the houses of the hamlet. There is quite a high stone wall at the corner below the houses. Before the days of bathrooms the minister's toilet facilities were in a small building on the Parkhill side of the steading, near the midden. The minister of the time commissioned the wall to be built to prevent the good folks of Parkhill from seeing him go about his daily business.
Station Road. The first station at Kemnay was situated behind what is now Alldays store. The entrance gate was immediately opposite the lane beside the Laird's Throat Public House. No record or description of this building is known to exist. A new station on the site of Littlewood Court was built around the turn of the century and was eventually demolished after the railway was finally closed in 1966.
POST WAR DEVELOPMENT
Donview Road. It was not until after the Second World War that housing development necessitated the laying down of further streets. Ten temporary houses were built to the north of the houses on the north side of Kendall Road. These were fondly referred to as the prefabs. The street leading to them was called Donview Road, a descriptive term. Following the prefabs, a number of Cruden Type Houses were built. The first Cruden house to be built in the north of Scotland was officially opened on Friday 27th June 1947 by Major H R Spence MP [Aberdeen County Council, Housing Committee Minute, 6th June 1947]. A number of these houses formed Donview Crescent; the remainder was on Cairn Road, so called from the hill behind Monymusk known as Cairn William.
Bennachie View. A street parallel and to the north west of Cairn Road was laid out between 1954 and 1958. It was very aptly named Bennachie View.
Housing development slowed until the early 1960s when three more streets were laid out, Burnett Road, Gordon Road and Fraser Place. With the forming of Burnett Road, the name Donview Crescent became obsolete.
Burnett Road. The Burnett Family purchased Kemnay Estate in 1688. Thomas, the first laird, was the second son of James Burnet of Craigmyle and nephew of Sir Thomas Burnet of Leys. He died in November 1688, less than a year after acquiring the estate. He was succeeded by his son, also Thomas, a writer or lawyer in Edinburgh. He was an absentee landlord until his marriage. Well known in literary and political circles at home and abroad. He was one of the Court Circle of Sophia Electress of Hanover, and in 1702 was incarcerated for some 18 months in the Bastille. It was through the good offices of the Electress that he gained his freedom. He was involved in securing the Hanoverian succession after Queen Anne’s death. He married Elizabeth Brickenden of Inkpen, Berkshire in 1713.
Their son George (1714–1780) became the third laird of Kemnay. He was also the first Provost of Inverurie. George is remembered for his part in the early agricultural development of the estate. It was in his time that the avenue was planted and he also laid out pleasure gardens with walks and many exotic trees beside the Big House, which became known as the Wilderness. He is reputed to be amongst the first of the improvers to grow turnips in the fields. He married Helen, daughter of Sir Alexander Burnet of Leys, in 1734.
Their son Alexander (1735–1802) was for several years secretary to Sir Alexander Mitchell of Thainstone when the latter was Minister to the Court of Berlin. In all he spent sixteen years abroad, returning to Aberdeen in 1772. On the death of his father in 1780 he continued the work of development on the estate. He married Christian, daughter of John Leslie, professor of Greek at Aberdeen University. Their son John (1786–1847) carried on the work of his father and grandfather, and it was in his time that Kemnay House was extensively remodelled (1830s) to plans by John Smith, the first city architect of Aberdeen, using granite from nearby Paradise Hill. John’s son Alexander George became 6th laird on the death of his father in 1847.
It was in AG’s time that the village started to develop following the lease of the quarry at Paradise Hill to John Fyfe and the start of commercial quarrying. He travelled widely on the continent and wrote papers on his experiences but gave little thought to the future management of his estates. His eldest son John Alexander received no training in estate management, and by the time of his father’s death in 1908 the past glories of the estate were all but gone and during the 1920s parts of the estate began to be sold. During the First World War John A served with the French Ambulance Corps, for which he was awarded the Croix de Guerre. Three of his sons served with distinction in the armed forces. His eldest son Arthur Moubray served in East Africa during the First World War and commanded the Garioch Division of the Home Guard during the Second World War, his brother Charles Stuart was Air Chief Marshal and Robert was Admiral.
Arthur Moubray married Muriel, widow of Seymour Langham, in 1921. Their elder daughter Susan Letitia was born in October 1922 and younger daughter Jean Muriel Moubray in 1926.
Susan Letitia served with the WRNS during the war. She met and married Fredrick J Milton who was serving with the South African Air Force. After the war they farmed in South Africa, returning to Kemnay following the death of her mother in 1963 [Most of the information on the Burnett family has been gleaned from; Burnett, Susan (1994) Without Fanfare, Kemnay House Publishing]
Gordon Road was called after the family of that name who for many years carried on the general merchant’s business in the square. Alexander Gordon took over the business in 1888 when William Maitland moved across the road to the newly built Bremner’s Buildings with the Post Office agency. Alexander Gordon, who was born in Forgue, had a grocery business in Port Elphinstone which he retained on his move to Kemnay. The business prospered and Alexander was followed in the business by his son George. In common with general merchants of the time not only were groceries sold, but also hardware, china, millinery and dresses as well as seeds for the farmers.
Hunter Diack, in his cynical way, says of Alexander Gordon, ‘The most remarkable thing about old Gordon was not that he had two shops but that he begat two first bursars of Aberdeen University – a brother and a sister [Diack, Hunter (1962) Boy in a village, p. 140]. It was a proud day for Kemnay School in 1901 when Netta Gordon became the first female first bursar at Aberdeen University. The schoolchildren were granted a half-holiday in honour of the event. ‘Netta Terras Gordon, who has received the whole of her education at this school, stands first in the published list of the successful candidates at the Aberdeen Bursary Competition' [Downie D A; Morrison, D M; Muirhead, AM; (1995) Tales o' the Maisters p. 51]. She graduated from the University in 1905 with First Class Honours in Classics. She was also awarded the Simpson Greek Prize of £65, the Seafield Gold Medal for Latin, the silver pen for Greek and the Geddes Memorial prize for the same subject. She emigrated to Canada in 1908 and eventually became head of the Classics Department at Havergill College in Toronto. She died in September 1993 at the age of 108 [ibid p.51].
George Gordon was a past-president of the Scottish Grocer’s Federation and the Garioch and Donside Association. He was also secretary of the Garioch and Donside Association for more than thirty years. A Justice of the Peace for Aberdeenshire, he was registrar and burial ground clerk at Kemnay for many years. He was a founder member of Kemnay Golf Club of which he was president for many years and died on 25th January 1960 aged 84 years, several months before his sixtieth wedding anniversary [Press & Journal, 26th January 1960 p. 3].
In the fullness of time he was joined in the business by his son George A Gordon. Shortly after George’s death, the business was sold and George jr. moved to Swindon. It was said that when the family came to Kemnay all their assets arrived in a wheelbarrow and when they departed, everything was in a motor car.
Gordon Green. This is a small scheme of four one bedroomed houses between Gordon Road and Burnett Road.
Fraser Place. Around 1963 the Kirk Brae was widened and re-graded. The summit beside the churchyard was lowered some five feet and the following hollow was raised to give a less undulating path. It was then called Fraser Place to commemorate the family at nearby Castle Fraser. The Fraser family, who traced their origins to the Norman family of Frisel, was granted title to Castle Fraser, or Muchil in Mar to give it its original name, in 1454. The family also held title to the lands of Stoneywood and Kinmundy. Alexander Fraser was raised to the peerage in 1633. By the late seventeenth century the family fortunes were at a low ebb and Castle Fraser estate passed to the Earl of Mar in exchange for Lord Charles Fraser’s debts. Unable to buy back his lands, he saw them pass to William Fraser of Inverallochy, his stepson. Miss Elyza Fraser, his younger unmarried sister, inherited the estate in 1792. On her death in 1814 her grand nephew Colonel Charles MacKenzie Fraser became proprietor. He was a veteran of the Peninsular campaign where he lost a leg and had his hat shot through. The hat is preserved in the castle to this day along with one of his artificial legs. His only son Colonel Frederick MacKenzie Fraser became laird in 1871. On his death in 1897 the estate was left in the hands of Trustees with his widow enjoying a life rent.
Following World War I the fortunes of the estate were at a very low ebb as a result of the agricultural depression and other factors. In 1922 the estate was bought by Lord Cowdray for his second son the Hon Clive Pearson. In turn his second daughter Mrs Lavinia Smiley inherited the estate and she and her husband Major Michael Smiley spent many years restoring the old castle. In 1976 the castle passed into the care of the National Trust for Scotland [Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, (1977-78) Volume 109 pp. 233-241]. The estate was broken up and sold in 1993 following the deaths of both Major and Mrs Smiley in 1991.
The Council had acquired the blacksmith’s croft in 1960 and the last portion of it was developed in 1966 and called Wood Gardens.
Wood Gardens. Alexander F Wood, a member of a well known Aberdeen firm of family butchers, stayed for some years in Windlestralee on Victoria Terrace. He was Councillor for Kemnay and Monymusk for nine years from 1958 to 1967, during which time the development on the smiddy croft was completed and named Wood Gardens at the Housing Committee meeting on 25 July 1966. He left the village very soon after he lost his seat on the Council in 1967.
Fyfe Park was the name given to the housing scheme, built on land purchased by the council from the farm of Kirkstyle and completed in the early 1970s. This name commemorates the man who more than anyone else helped to put the name of Kemnay on the world map. John Fyfe took a lease of part of Paradise Hill in 1858 to obtain stone for bridges on the Alford Valley Railway, which was being constructed at that time. Sporadic quarrying operations had been carried out on the hill since the 1830s when John Burnett extracted stone for alterations at Kemnay House. John Fyfe was only sixteen when his father died in 1846 and he was left to carry on quarrying operations at Tyrebagger Hill some six miles to the west of Aberdeen. By the time he was twenty four he was sending out more granite from Aberdeenshire than any other man in that business. His entrepreneurial skills kept him at the forefront of the quarrying industry for well nigh half a century. It was at Kemnay that the pit system of quarrying was initiated as opposed to face quarrying, quarrying in on the level. The aerial ropeway crane, more commonly known as the Blondin, was devised at Kemnay, he was instrumental in developing the Scotch Steam Derrick Crane and in many other aspects of the business he was a pioneer. It was through his efforts that Aberdeen became known as The Granite City. When the Edinburgh architects Peddie and Kinnear designed Aberdeen Town House in the 1860s sandstone was the proposed material of construction. This suggestion caused local uproar and it was not until John Fyfe guaranteed to supply sufficient granite that the specification was changed.
Following his death in 1906, the following appeared in an ‘In Memoriam’ in the Aberdeen Free Press. Aberdeen itself owes Mr Fyfe a lasting debt of gratitude, not only for the distinct lead he has consistently given in fostering the artistic development of architecture in granite work, but for his public-spirited generosity in making it possible on more than one occasion to retain inviolate the most striking aspect of Aberdeen as the Granite City [John Fyfe. One hundred and fifty years 1846-1996. Time Pieces Publications].
His generosity was also well known in his adopted village of Kemnay. Amongst other gifts to the community was the clock in the then Free Church tower in 1904 and on his death he left a legacy of £1000 for the benefit of the native poor of the parish.
R B Farquhar of Huntly built houses between this scheme and Victoria Terrace in 1998 and 1999. The perimeter road for this scheme was named as Fyfe Park as it was basically an extension of the existing road.
Hillcrest. When the prefabs were finally demolished in the early 1970s a new scheme of houses was built in their place, and on 6th July 1971 it was descriptively called Hillcrest.
1970S HOUSING BOOM
Aberdeen County Council acquired the farm of Alehousewells in 1973 as a site for housing and for the village sewage disposal works. Over the next three years some 400 houses were built mainly of timber construction imported in kit form from Scandinavia. A main loop road served this development with other streets and paths leading off it. When the streets were named in 1975 several of them were descriptive names and some of them commemorated people who had served the community in one way or another. Land lying between Aquithie Road and Paradise Road was also developed at this time. Fraser Place was extended to Aquithie Road and the streets on either side were called; Alexander Crescent, Morrison Place and McCombie Crescent.
Alexander Crescent William Alexander from Aberchirder was appointed headmaster of Kemnay School in 1894 following the retiral of Mr George Proctor, who had held the post for thirty-seven years. Many changes took place during his time as headmaster. At the time of his arrival building works were in progress to enlarge the school. In 1897 the school roll stood at 394, 202 boys and 192 girls. Including Mr Alexander the staff numbered seven, one of whom was a pupil teacher.
In 1905 a Higher Grade Department was recognised at the school and this necessitated further building to provide accommodation for the large influx of pupils. The catchment area stretched as far as Strathdon. Pupils from Alford and nearer travelled daily by train, while those from further up Donside lodged in the village during the week. The curriculum was extended with the introduction of the Classics, and in 1895 Neil Meldrum gained the first bursary for the Garioch District.
Over the years many pupils were successful candidates in the Aberdeen University Bursary Competition and their progress at the University and beyond were noted with pride in the School Log Book. Mr Alexander retired in 1923 and the Inspector’s report for that year makes reference to him: ‘In his conduct of the school, he has shown sound judgement, unflagging energy and an unfailing sense of duty. He leaves behind him a School which is efficient in all branches of instruction and a personal record of the most exemplary and devoted service [Downie D A; Morrison, D M; Muirhead, AM; (1995) Tales o' the Maisters pp. 50-54].
Mr Alexander died in March 1942 at his home in Stirling at the age of 81.
Morrison Place. Norman Morrison, principal teacher of English at Inverurie followed J Minto Robertson as headmaster at Kemnay School. It was now only a Junior Secondary School, taking pupils as far as the third year of the secondary course. Those wishing to carry on to higher education had to travel to Inverurie.
An ardent Scottish Nationalist, he flew the flag of St Andrew from the school flagpole on any day which had a relevance to Scottish history, eg 30th November St Andrews day, June 24th the anniversary of Bannockburn etc.
He retired in 1966.
McCombie Crescent. Henry Durward McCombie took a lease of the farm of Milton in the early 1870s. He was the son of William McCombie, one of the founders and first editor of the Aberdeen Free Press, and Ann Robertson, sister of Joseph Robertson, the noted Aberdeen historian. A man who gave sixty years devoted service to public affairs and was for nine years convener of the County of Aberdeen [Epitaph in Kemnay Churchyard], Durward McCombie was a figure of note in the life of Aberdeenshire. He championed the cause of Agriculture and fought hard for those things in which he believed.
He moved to Norwood in the village in 1915, his son also Henry Durward, carrying on the farm of Milton, and lived there until his death in March 1929. A pioneer farmer in his day Mr McCombie was one of the first to install a steam threshing mill and specialised in raising good quality stock. He was one of the first farmers in Scotland to take up the feeding of Canadian store cattle and when the import of these cattle was stopped he fought hard and long to get the embargo lifted.
At one time or another he served on almost every public board in Kemnay and District, he was a member of Aberdeen County Council from its inception in 1890 until his death and for a time was chairman of the Garioch District Committee. He was particularly interested in improving and maintaining the roads throughout the county [Press and Journal, 11th March 1929].
Bremner Way was the name given to the loop road in the Alehousewells development and commemorates the family who farmed there from 1888 until 1973. William Bremner, a native of Keith, took a lease of the farm in 1888. A man of considerable ability, he was a civil engineer, valuer and assessor and auctioneer as well as a successful farmer. He took a keen interest in local affairs and acted on more than one occasion as surveyor to the School Board when the school buildings were being extended. He was architect for the buildings on High Street which now house the bank office and a tea room. These were built for Andrew Petrie who carried on a general merchant’s business. William Bremner built the block on the other side of High Street which today houses the chemist and post office. Initially there were three shops with accommodation above.
William and his wife Jane had a family of seven. Jane the eldest started her teaching career at Kemnay as a pupil teacher about 1895. Following her college training she taught for a short time at Barthol Chapel before returning to Kemnay in 1904. She was appointed infant mistress in 1910, a post she was to hold until her retirement in 1951 [Downie D A; Morrison, D M; Muirhead, AM; (1995) Tales o' the Maisters p. 91]. Cecilia was organist at the Parish Church for many years and also taught music in the village. Late in life she married Robert Chivas, a farmer in Monymusk. Bessie married John Mortimer, a marine engineer; Claud emigrated to Alberta, Canada where he died in 1958. Following service in Egypt during WW1 Eric went into farm management working for some time at Craibstone. Norman, a couthy fellow, followed his father in Alehousewells and farmed it until his retiral in 1973 when Aberdeen County Council bought the farm for housing. He died in 1976 at the age of 85, his wife Jessie Laing Henry died in 1985 aged 86. Conrad farmed at Little Clinterty, Kingswells. Adelaide, a retired teacher, died at Loch Bulig in Riverside Road in 1963.
St John’s Gardens, was called after the Roman Catholic Chapel at Fetternear the official name of which is ‘The Chapel of Our Lady of the Garioch and St John the Evangelist.’ It was built in the mid nineteenth century by the Leslie family of Fetternear.
Pitmunie Place. Robert Reid served the area as County Councillor and District Councillor from May 1967 until his death in February 1983 at the age of 81. His father farmed at Westside of Monymusk and an uncle, Duncan Reid, farmed at Middle Pitmunie, hence the choice of name. During his time on the council, the development of the village took place. The sheltered housing block in Station road was built and named after his house at Craigearn, ‘Littlewood’. The streets in Alehousewells were named in May 1975, but the press report of the time is very vague.
Kembhill Park. The chain of low rounded sand hills through the middle of the parish, a remnant of the ice age, has given rise to several names in the area. Kemhill croft on the Monymusk road, more commonly known as the coffee rooms, as one of its former tenants Mrs Clark kept a refreshment house there in the days of the horse drawn coaches; and Kaimhill croft on which Springfield Road was built, q.v. to name but two. When the streets were named in Alehousewells, a third variation of the spelling was used.
Craigearn Park. Craigearn was long a sizeable hamlet about a mile to the south of the village. It derives its name from ‘Craig of the fhearn, alder or àirne, sloe [Alexander, William M (1952) The place names of Aberdeenshire, Third Spalding Club, p. 235].
Millstone Place. Called after Millstone hill to the south of Bennachie where millstones were at one time quarried.
Waterside Court. A short street in the Alehousewells development near the river.
Shannoch Path, Shannoch Drive. Called after Craigshannoch, one of the tops of Bennachie.
Heron Close, Heron Way. Heron Road. A descriptive name, depicting the wild life on the river.
Minto Circle, Minto Path. John Minto Robertson was appointed headmaster of Kemnay Secondary School following Mr Alexander’s retirement in 1923. He had previously held the post of Classical Master at Turriff Secondary School. An outstanding classical scholar he breathed fresh life into an already flourishing school. He is still fondly remembered the length and breadth of the county and beyond for the twenty-five open air Shakespeare plays which he produced under a spreading beech tree in the policies of Kemnay House.
He introduced the serving of hot soup in January 1924, the forerunner of school dinners. Boy Scout and Girl Guide units were started and the funds raised from the Shakespeare plays helped to fund these other activities as well as paying for the annual school prizes. The school made a name for itself in music with pupils winning prizes at the festivals in Aberdeen. Continuation classes were inaugurated and the singing class of 1931 produced the operetta ‘The King of Kandy’.
Aberdeen University conferred on him the honorary degree of L.L.D. in 1945 and he retired in 1948 to live in Aberdeen, where he died on 11th January 1951. He was buried in the churchyard at Kemnay. An excerpt from an appreciation of his life reads: Dr Robertson, scholar, gentleman, lover of drama, was a product of two centuries. There was a flavour of Victorianism in his courtesy and charm of manner, while at the same time his sympathies lay with the most modern of educationists, even to the abolishing of hated examinations. … We mourn the passing of a cultured scholar, a fine gentleman and an enterprising and tolerant headmaster, but we are left with a wealth of fragrant memories. We are tempted to make a slight adaptation of Hamlet’s lines and apply them to Dr Robertson: ‘He was a man, take him for all in all, we shall not look upon his like again’ [Downie D A; Morrison, D M; Muirhead, AM; (1995) Tales o' the Maisters pp. 55-83].
Downie Way. James Downie took over the joinery business at Kirkstyle in April 1898 following the death of Charles Leys. Born at Cluny where his father served the laird of Cluny as joiner for sixty years, James served his apprenticeship at Waterton near Ellon. Following the death of Alexander Shepherd, joiner at Millbank, Cluny, he managed the firm on behalf of the widow for some seven years before moving to Kemnay.
The business at that time was mainly servicing the needs of the farmers and included a fair proportion of cart work and wheelwrighting. He also served the needs of the community as funeral undertaker. There were several other joiners’ businesses in the village then. Bruce and Chalmers had their workshop in the sand hole where Daisybank is now in Church Lane, Sandy Bruce, a brother of Allan above, had his workshop at The Cottage; and Alexander Mair had a business at Rosehall in Aquithie Road. In 1917 James was joined by his elder son Grant, who worked there for the rest of his long life. As the years passed the type of work changed, the horse gave way to the tractor, the use of wood on the farm decreased and employment was found in domestic repairs, new construction and renovation of houses in the area. James Downie died in January 1955 and in 1957 Duncan, Grant’s second son, joined the business.
As the stock of local authority housing increased, maintenance of these properties provided most of the work of the firm until a policy change on the part of the council allocated this work to one firm on an all trades basis. Grant Downie died in 1991 and Duncan moved on to the making of custom built furniture as well as carrying on the funeral undertaking side of the business.
The Glebe. Since the time of the Reformation three things promised to ministers were manses, glebes and adequate stipends [Burleigh, J H S (1960) A Church History of Scotland, p. 175]. Down through the years the produce of the glebe no doubt supplied the minister and his family with the necessities of life.
Shortly after the start of his ministry in Kemnay, Alexander Reid requested additional glebe ground and on 9th January 1759 a disposition from George Burnett granted him three riggs of land lying to the west of the existing glebe. This was before much of the estate was enclosed by dykes and the boundaries were given as; bounded on the east side by the said glebe, on the north by the south dyke of Bogbeth, on the west by the Redfold and on the south, by a head rigg of the Redfold and head rigg pertaining to the Tack of Parkhill lying in the Parish of Kemnay [Kemnay Kirk Session Records].
In due course this land was enclosed along with the rest of the glebe land and was worked alongside it over the centuries. Tradition has it that when the ground was being cleared of stones and the dykes built, the womenfolk gathered stones off the fields in their aprons. A study of the remains of the dyke shows that the majority of the stones are indeed, quite small.
It was often the task of the minister’s man to work the glebe as well as looking after the minister on Sunday. As time went by many glebes were let rather than worked by the minister, but the income from the lease went towards the minister’s salary.
Following Government legislation in 1925 all church properties were transferred from the local heritors to the Church of Scotland General Trustees. After more than a century and a half it required considerable effort to mark the boundaries of the original glebe. Three separate parties were invited to point out the boundaries and three different lines were given. At length a decision was reached between the estate and the General Trustees as to a boundary line.
The glebe continued to be worked by Mr Ferries of the neighbouring farm of Wellbush until part of it was sold for housing development in 1977. The name of the development was called simply ‘The Glebe’.
BOAT CROFT
Boat Croft. Prior to the building of the bridge over the Don in the early 1860s there were two options for crossing the river. One was by the ford at Garmonend about 500 metres down stream from the present bridge, the other was by ferry at or near the site of the bridge. A family of Findlay kept the boat for many years and the holding was simply known as ‘The Boat’ or the ‘Boat of Kemnay’. Three generations of the Beattie family have owned the croft during the twentieth century and when part of the land was built on in 1986 by the firm of John R Craig, Kintore, the development was called Boat Croft.
The remainder of the croft was sold to John R Craig in the mid 1990s and two streets were formed in this development.
Craig Lea. Alexander Craig, a native of Meigle in Perthshire, set up in Kintore as a carpenter and joiner in 1882. The business flourished and expanded over the years, and their attention to high quality craftsmanship has given the firm of John R Craig, now being run by the fourth generation of the family, an enviable reputation for excellence and high quality. At their factory on the outskirts of Kintore, the firm manufactures a comprehensive range of joinery products. They also serve the community of Kintore as funeral directors with a branch in Inverurie.
Loch Way. This street was so called in the mistaken belief that a loch had at one time existed in the area.
THE END OF THE CENTURY
Springfield Road. Malcolm Allan from Kintore developed Kaimhill Croft in the early 1990s. The land of this croft lay between the railway and the Kaim hills and was long worked by Alexander Moir, a foreman at the quarry, who built the house. His son, William was for some time manager at the quarry. When work started on the site considerable problems were experienced with ground water at the Bremner Way end of the site. The builder’s submission to the Council for a street name was Springfield Road, which was accepted.
Part of the farm of Milton was sold for development in 1992 and again a mix of descriptive and personal names were used.
Milton Drive. Fredrick James Milton was serving with the South African Air Force during WW2 when he met Susan Letitia Burnett of Kemnay. They were married at the end of the war and returned to South Africa where Fred had farming interests. Following the death of Susan’s mother in 1963 they returned with their family to Kemnay and Fred took on the running of the estate farms. These included East and North Craigearn, Home Farm and Backhill, which Fred ran as one unit, improving the land and erecting modern buildings to cope with newer methods of farming. A serious accident in 1967 curtailed his activities somewhat but he continued to run the farms until his retirement in 1987. He died in February 1993. The Drive was named after him at the suggestion of Councillor Jess Elrick.
Golfview Crescent. A descriptive name of one of the streets on the farm of Milton, it is just across the Monymusk road from the golf course.
Daun Walk. Alexander Daun and his family came to the farm of Dalmadilly from Dyce in 1901. This move came when he was in his early forties and as his family grew up several of them found employment at the local quarries in different trades such as settmaker, stone cutter and labourer. Two sons became farmers and one a butcher. As the years passed, the family left their mark on the community in various ways. A grand daughter, Doris ran a newsagents business along with her husband Oliver Gilbert for many years and it is now carried on by her son and his wife John and Gladys Rae. Doris’s brother Stanley worked at the quarry for many years and a number of his family still stay in the village. George, the youngest of Alexander’s family was hall keeper at the public hall for many years and his wife Flora acted as hall treasurer as well as being deeply involved in the Women’s Rural Institute and for years organised the chiropody clinic in the village on behalf of the Red Cross.
Donald Avenue. William Donald was born in Inverurie, the son of a slaughterman. The family moved to Aberdeen and William started work as a slaughterman at Hutcheon Street. In 1929 he rented a booth at Hutcheon Street and, along with two other employees, began supplying beef to Sainsburys. Business prospered and by the time the firm left Hutcheon Street in 1967 to a purpose built abattoir at Portlethen, there were about 40 employees.
William Donald purchased the farm of Milton of Kemnay in 1939 and became not only a purchaser of cattle but a producer as well. He reared quality cross black cattle and became a well known judge of black cattle. At the time of his death on 6th October 1970, there were about 85 employees and the firm was handling about 800 cattle weekly, with Sainsburys still their main customer.
Mr Donald was a Deacon of the Fleshers Incorporation of the Aberdeen Incorporated Trades, a chairman of the new North-East Slaughtering Contractors Association and Vice Chairman of Aberdeen Hide Skin and Tallow Co [Press & Journal 8th October 1970].
The farm of Milton was sold in 1987 following reorganisation of the firm.
Fetternear View. A descriptive name of one of the streets near the river.
Kirkland. Following years of protracted negotiation, agreement was finally reached in 1998 on the sale of the remainder of the glebe for housing development. The Kirk Session decided to call this development Kirkland.
Croft Road. The last remnants of the kaim hill behind the house of Kaimhill Croft were removed and a small development of eight houses was built by Bob Milton. It was called Croft Road to commemorate Kaimhill Croft, which had been worked by several families since Alexander Moir received a building lease in 1867 to build the croft house. Mrs Gardiner and her daughter, who later married Peter Dunbar, then tenanted it. The final owner before Aberdeen County Council purchased it in 1973 [Aberdeen County Council Housing Committee Minute 29th June 1973] was Alexander Esson.
Beech Court. Another remnant of the kaim was removed behind the Burnett Arms Hotel and a development of twenty six flats was built in the hotel garden and on the cleared area by Crombie Developments Ltd. The name agreed by the Community Council and Councillor Leitch was Beech Court, derived from the boundary hedge between the hotel grounds and the old railway.
During 1998 and 1999 R B Farquhar Ltd built 96 houses on land, part of which Aberdeenshire Council had purchased from the farm of Kirkstyle and the remainder was land which still belonged to the farm. The main road serving this development ran from Victoria Terrace to Fraser Place. It was named Fyfe Park as it was virtually an extension originally serving the development of this name.
Three other roads serve this development; John Gray Drive, Wilson Place and Elizabeth Close.
John Gray Drive. John George Gray was born in Portsoy in 1860. By the age of eight he had lost both his parents and was adopted by William Paterson, a butcher in Portsoy.He won a bursary to Fordyce Academy and in 1876 he was indentured to McDonalds of Banff as an engineer. Following his apprenticeship he worked in Glasgow and Jarrow before returning to Kemnay Quarries where he worked as an engineer until his untimely death from peritonitis on 16th March 1912. He was buried in St. John's burial ground at Fetternear.
John Gray was elected to the Parish Council in December 1904 [Kemnay Parish Council Minutes 12th December 1904] and was at the same time appointed to the sub-committee for special districts of the Garioch District Committee, in both of which he remained until his death.
Wilson Place. Robert Keith Wilso took a lease of Dalriach Farm in 1921. In 1928 he purchased the farm of Kirkstyle which he ran as a dairy unit, delivering milk to the local community. He eventually retired to Aberdeen and was followed in the farm by his son Robert who continued the dairy and extended the unit by purchasing the farm of East Craigearn in 1948.
Robert married Frances Gray the youngest daughter of John George Gray. They had three of a family, Robert Keith and twins Frances and Elizabeth. The farm of East Craigearn was sold to Mr & Mrs Milton of Kemnay House in 1962. Deteriorating health necessitated the closure of the dairy unit in 1966 and the land of the farm was subsequently let on an annual basis for cropping and grazing.
Robert died on 1st August 1973 and his ashes were interred in the family grave in Kemnay Churchyard.
Elizabeth Close. Elizabeth Wilson gained her SRN Certificate at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary. She worked in London specialising in midwifery before leaving for South Africa in 1969 where she spent two years working in hospitals in Durban and Cape Town. During this time she served voluntarily with the Red Cross's 'flying doctor' service. She returned to Scotland via Australia and New Zealand and worked in Edinburgh until she was diagnosed with leukaemia in April 1973. She died on 23rd August 1973 some three weeks after the death of her father [Press & Journal 23rd August 1973.
CONCLUSION
The whole project has been very challenging. Reading through some eighty years of various council minutes seeking elusive information was a considerable task in itself. Trying to track down information on the people and family names used in the village and setting it out in some semblance of order within a prescribed time has not been without its anxious moments – I had pored through Council Minutes for three days before I came across any reference to street names - but hopefully the finished article will be of some interest to those new and not so new residents of the village. It came as a bit of a surprise to find that the streets were not officially named until 1939, but then the village was not so big at that time and everyone knew each other.
Throughout the period of research it became clear that over the years the system of naming streets changed. Initially the District committee supplied names with input from the local elected member. For many years the housing committee was responsible. Latterly the developer of the site submitted names and the Community Council along with the elected member made suggestions and the housing committee usually accepted these. More recently the naming of streets has become the responsibility of Transportation and Roads committee.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Whilst engaged in this project I have been grateful for the help of many people including; my course tutor Professor William F. H. Nicolaisen, staff at Aberdeen University Library (Special Collections), Aberdeenshire Archivist, Aberdeenshire Libraries and Information Services, Aberdeenshire Council, Kemnay Community Council and people within the village of Kemnay, and beyond, who have helped to verify facts.
BIBLIOGRAPHY LIST
ABERDEEN COUNTY COUNCIL MINUTES. (1898 – 1975).
ALEXANDER, William M (1952). The Place Names of Aberdeenshire. Third Spalding Club, Aberdeen.
BURLEIGH, J H S (1960). A Church History of Scotland. Oxford University Press.
BURNETT, Susan (1994). Without Fanfare. Kemnay House Publishing.
CENSUS RETURNS. 1861, 1871, 1881, 1891.
DIACK, HUNTER (1962). Boy in a Village. Ray Palmer Ltd.
DOWNIE, D A; MORRISON, D M; MUIRHEAD, A M (1995). Tales o’ the Maisters. Time Pieces Publications.
JOHN FYFE, ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 1846 – 1996. This is a small booklet published by Time Pieces Publications to mark the above anniversary of John Fyfe in business.
JOHNSTON, James B. BD. FRHistS. (1970). Place Names of Scotland. SR Publishers Ltd. (Republished)
KEITH, ALEXANDER MA LLD. (1972). A Thousand Years of Aberdeen. Aberdeen University Press.
KEMNAY PARISH COUNCIL MINUTES. (1895 – 1930).
MACDONALD, JAMES FSA Scot. (1899). Place Names of West Aberdeenshire. New Spalding Club.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES OF SCOTLAND. VOL 109. (1977-8). National Museum of antiquities of Scotland.
SCOTTISH NOTES AND QUERIES. (1888). First series. Vol. II. D. Wyllie and Son, Aberdeen.
SMILEY, LAVINIA (1988). The Frasers of Castle Fraser. Michael Russell.
STATISTICAL ACCOUNT OF SCOTLAND 1791 – 1799. Edited by Sir John Sinclair, (1982). Vol XIV. Kincardineshire and South and West Aberdeenshire. EP Publishing Ltd.
TOWILL, EDWIN SPROTT. (1983). Saints of Scotland. St. Andrews Press, Edinburgh.