Leslie

"LESLIE, a parish, in the district of Garioch, county of Aberdeen, 7 miles (W. S. W.) from Old Rain; containing 553 inhabitants. This place is said to have derived its name from a family who held the lands so early as the eleventh century. It is very pleasantly situated on the banks of the Gady. . . The inhabitants are chiefly employed in agricultural pursuits; there is no manufacture with the exception of that of worsted stockings, in the knitting of which the aged females are particularly expert. The farm-produce is sold at Huntly and Inverury; but chiefly at the latter town, for conveyance to Aberdeen by canal. There are two commutation roads, one running parallel with the Gady, by Premnay, to the turnpike-road between Inverury and Aberdeen; and the other, in the direction of Kinnethmont, joining the turnpike-road to Huntly. . . Ecclesiastically this place is in the presbytery of Garioch, synod of Aberdeen, and in the patronage of Sir Andrew Leith Hay: the minister's stipend is £159, of which nearly a third is paid from the exchequer; with a manse, and a glebe valued at £11.5. per annum. Leslie church, containing nearly 300 sittings, is situated on the southern bank of the Gady, not far from the eastern extremity of the parish; it was built in 1815. There is a place of worship for Independents. . . More"
[From Samuel Lewis A Topographical Dictionary of Scotland (1851) - copyright Mel Lockie 2016]