Fyvie

"FYVIE, a parish, in the district of Turriff, county of Aberdeen, 7½ miles (S. S. W.) from Cuminestown; containing 3,597 inhabitants. This place, the name of which (anciently Fycyn) is of doubtful etymology, is chiefly distinguished for its castle, whose original founder is unknown, but which in 1296 was visited by Edward I. of England in his progress through Scotland. . . The PARISH, which is about thirteen miles in extreme length, and nearly eight miles in extreme breadth, comprises an area of 27,034 acres, whereof 15,950 are arable, 2500 meadow and pasture, 1735 woodland and plantations, and the remainder heathy moorland and moss. . . Fyvie Castle is an ancient and venerable structure, built at various periods with a due regard to the preservation of the original style. It is beautifully situated on the east bank of the Ythan, in a park surrounded with richly-wooded heights; and consists of two sides of a quadrangle, of which that on the south-east, called the Preston tower, is supposed to have been erected about the year 1400. . . There is no village properly so called in the parish; but near the church are a few neat cottages, to which gardens are attached, and about a quarter of a mile distant is a post-office, on the turnpike-road from Aberdeen to Banff. For ECCLESIASTICAL purposes, the parish is within the bounds of the presbytery of Turriff, synod of Aberdeen. . . The church, erected in 1808, is a spacious plain edifice, containing 1114 sittings: in the churchyard is the burying-place of the Gordons of Gight, which was originally within the ancient church. A chapel, where a missionary officiates, has been erected at Millbrex, in the northern district of the parish, about five miles from the church. . . There are two episcopal chapels, one at Woodhead, the other at Meiklefolla; and the members of the Free Church have also a place of worship at Woodhead. . . More"
[From Samuel Lewis A Topographical Dictionary of Scotland (1851) - copyright Mel Lockie 2016]