Echt

"ECHT, a parish, in the district of Kincardine-O'Neil, county of Aberdeen, 12 miles distant (W.) from Aberdeen; containing 1078 inhabitants. This parish is nearly a square in figure, each side measuring about four miles and a half; and comprises between 15,000 and 16,000 acres, of which 7000 are in tillage, 2000 in plantations, and the remainder uncultivated. . . Inclosures and drains have been formed on all the principal farms; the late and present proprietors of Echt have formed upwards of 150,000 ells of stone dykes, and upwards of 40,000 ells of drains: there are many substantial and convenient farm-houses and offices, and above forty mills have been erected for threshing grain. The few sheep kept are the Cheviot and the black-faced; the cattle are mostly of the Aberdeenshire, with a few of the Teeswater. Granite is occasionally quarried. . . Several fairs are held annually, chiefly for sheep, cattle, horses, and corn. Ecclesiastically the parish is in the presbytery of Kincardine O'Neil, synod of Aberdeen, and in the patronage of the Earl of Fife; the minister's stipend is £183, with manse, and a glebe of about four and a half acres, valued at £10 per annum. Echt church, built in the year 1804, is capable of affording accommodation to 600 persons; it is a neat structure, comfortably fitted up, and being centrally situated, is convenient for the bulk of the population. The parochial school affords instruction in the usual branches. . . More"
[From Samuel Lewis A Topographical Dictionary of Scotland (1851) - copyright Mel Lockie 2016]